Civil War

Lucan's epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey stands beside the poems of Virgil and Ovid in the first rank of Latin epic; powerful in its condemnation of the civil war. This new translation uses English and free verse with the same number of lines as the Latin for easy cross-reference. The notes and glossary explain all the names, places, customs, and allusions to mythology, history, literature, and astronomy in the poem. The substantial introduction sets the scene for the reader unfamiliar with Lucan, covering the poet and his time; the events of the civil war as a theme of poetry; and the characteristics of Lucan's poem--in particular his relationship with earlier writers of Latin epic and his interest in the sensational.