Civil War

Lucan, the grandson of Seneca the Rhetorician, and nephew of Seneca the Philosopher, was a remarkable product of the stimulating literary climate promoted by Nero. His epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, unfinished at the time of his death, is one of the most important works of Latin epic, together with the poems of Virgil and Ovid. The work is a condemnation of civil war, and Lucan emphasizes the stark, dark horror of the catastrophes which the Roman state inflicted upon itself. This translation in free verse aims to convey the full force of Lucan's writing and his grimly realistic view of the subject. The introduction sets the scene for the reader unfamiliar with Lucan and explores his relationship with earlier writers of Latin epic, and his interest in the sensational.