Author: LUCAN
Biography:
LUCAN (39-65 CE: OCD)
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus was born in Cordoba, Spain. The family moved to Rome when he was an infant, and he received the education in rhetoric suited to his high station. The philosopher Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE-65 CE) was his uncle. His literary talent was given early recognition by the emperor Nero, who recalled him to Rome from studies in Athens and rewarded him with the offices of quaestor and augur. At the Neronian games of 60 CE, he won the poetry prize with a poem in praise of Nero. In 62 or 63 he published three books of his epic poem on the comparatively recent civil wars between Caesar and Pompey (he favouring the loser, Pompey). The Pharsalia eventually grew to ten books and is the only surviving work by him, although he is known to have written shorter poems, including one to his wife. Nero however turned against him and forbade him to recite his poems or to plead in the courts. Lucan joined the Pisan conspiracy against the emperor and, when the plot was discovered, was forced to commit suicide by bleeding to death—as was his uncle Seneca. In the following centuries, Lucan’s reputation as a Roman epic poet was for a time second only to that of Virgil, but he gradually went out of fashion. Major English translations were published by Arthur Gorges (1614) and Thomas May (1627). The only new verse translation in this bibliography is by Arthur W. Wallis, q.v. (OCD 11 Apr. 2025; Harvey; Grafton et al., eds, The Classical Tradition [2010]) HJ