[OMACL release #16a] Pharsalia (aka “The Civil War”), by Lucan ***************************************************************** THE ONLINE MEDIEVAL AND CLASSICAL LIBRARY The Online Medieval and Classical Library (OMACL) is an archive being assembled as a service to the Internet. The purpose of this archive is to provide a free and easy way for the average computer user to access some of the most important works of Classical and Medieval civilization. Unless otherwise noted, all OMACL texts are PUBLIC DOMAIN in the United States. Because copyright laws vary from country to country, OMACL does not make any representation as to copyright status outside of the United States. Please check with the copyright laws of your country before posting this text. OMACL encourages the free distribution of its texts, provided that they are distributed in their entirety. OMACL also asks that if you plan on using its texts as source material for your own research, please cite us as such. OMACL can be reached at: INTERNET — [email protected] FTP — ftp://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu Anonymous login, then set for directory: pub/history/Europe/Medieval/translations WWW — http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/ Some texts have also been released, in slightly different form, via PROJECT GUTENBURG. For information about Project Gutenburg texts, contact Michael Hart at [email protected] ***************************************************************** Pharsalia (aka “The Civil War”) by Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) A.D. 39 - A.D. 65 Originally written in Latin, approximately A.D. 61-65, by the Roman poet Lucan, and probably left unfinished upon his death in A.D. 65. Although the work has been generally known through most of history as the “Pharsalia”, modern scholarship tends to agree that this was not Lucan’s choice for a title. English translation by Sir Edward Ridley, 1896. The text of this edition is based on that published as “The Pharsalia of Lucan”, as translated by Sir Edward Ridley (Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1896). This edition is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN in the United States. This electronic edition was edited, proofed, and prepared by Douglas B. Killings ([email protected]), May 1996. ***************************************************************** PREPARER’S NOTES: Lucan’s “Pharsalia” (or, “Civil War”, as many scholars now prefer to call it) was written approximately a century after the events it chronicles took place. Lucan was born into a prominent Roman family (Seneca the Elder was his grandfather, and Seneca the Younger his uncle), and seems to have befriended the young Emperor Nero at an early age. He was for several years a poet of some prominence in the Emperor’s court, and it is during this period that the “Civil War”/“Pharsalia” was probably begun. However, Nero and Lucan’s friendship evidently soured, and in A.D. 65 Lucan joined Calpurnius Piso’s conspiracy to overthrow Nero. When the conspiracy was discovered, Lucan was given the option of suicide or death; he chose suicide, and recited several lines of his poetry while he died (possibly Book III, l. 700-712). Lucan’s “Pharsalia” was left (probably) unfinished upon his death, coincidentally breaking off at almost the exact same point where Julius Caesar broke off in his commentary “On the Civil War”. Ten books are extant; no one knows how many more Lucan planned, but two to six more books (possibly taking the story as far as Caesar’s assassination in B.C. 46) seem a reasonable estimate. It should be noted that, as history, Lucan’s work is far from being scrupulously accurate, frequently ignoring historical fact for the benefit of drama and rhetoric. For this reason, it should not be read as a reliable account of the Roman Civil War. However, as a work of poetic literature, it has few rivals; its powerful depiction of civil war and its consequences have haunted readers for centuries, and prompted many Medieval and Renaissance poets to regard Lucan among the ranks of Homer, Virgil, and Ovid. –DBK SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: ORIGINAL TEXT — Duff, J.D.: “Lucan: The Civil War” (Loeb Classics Library, London, 1928). Latin text with English translation. OTHER TRANSLATIONS — Braund, Susan H.: “Lucan: Civil War” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992). NOTE: Highly Recommended Translation! RECOMMENDED READING — Fuller, J.F.C.: “Julius Caesar — Man, Soldier, and Tyrant” (DaCapo Press, New York, 1965) Gardner, Jane F. (Trans.): “Caesar: The Civil War” (Penguin Classics, London, 1967). Also contains “The Alexandrian War”, “The African War”, and “The Spanish War”, all anonymous. Getzer, Matthias: “Caesar, Politician and Statesman” (Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1968). Holmes, T. Rice: “The Roman Republic” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1923). 3 Volumes. ***************************************************************** BOOK I THE CROSSING OF THE RUBICON Wars worse than civil on Emathian (1) plains, And crime let loose we sing; how Rome’s high race Plunged in her vitals her victorious sword; Armies akin embattled, with the force Of all the shaken earth bent on the fray; And burst asunder, to the common guilt, A kingdom’s compact; eagle with eagle met, Standard to standard, spear opposed to spear. Whence, citizens, this rage, this boundless lust 10 To sate barbarians with the blood of Rome? Did not the shade of Crassus, wandering still, (2) Cry for his vengeance? Could ye not have spoiled, To deck your trophies, haughty Babylon? Why wage campaigns that send no laurels home? What lands, what oceans might have been the prize Of all the blood thus shed in civil strife! Where Titan rises, where night hides the stars, ‘Neath southern noons all quivering with heat, Or where keen frost that never yields to spring 20 In icy fetters binds the Scythian main: Long since barbarians by the Eastern sea And far Araxes’ stream, and those who know (If any such there be) the birth of Nile Had felt our yoke. Then, Rome, upon thyself With all the world beneath thee, if thou must, Wage this nefarious war, but not till then. Now view the houses with half-ruined walls Throughout Italian cities; stone from stone Has slipped and lies at length; within the home 30 No guard is found, and in the ancient streets so Scarce seen the passer by. The fields in vain, Rugged with brambles and unploughed for years, Ask for the hand of man; for man is not.