Online Encyclopedia

long. Lucan is said to have defeated Nero in a public poetical contest; Nero forbade him to recite in public, and the poet's indignation made him an See also:

ACCOMPLICE (from Fr. complice, conspirator, Lat. complex, a sharer, associate, complicare, to fold together; the ac- is possibly due to confusion with " accomplish," to complete, Lat. complere, to fill up)

accomplice in the See also:

CONSPIRACY (from Lat. conspirare, literally to breathe together, to agree, combine, and especially to form a secret plot)

conspiracy of See also:

PISO

Piso. Upon the See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery of the See also:

plot he is said to have been tempted by the See also:

hope of See also:

PARDON (through the Fr. from Late Lat. perdonare, to remit a debt or other obligation on a penalty)

pardon to denounce his own mother. Failing to obtain a See also:

REPRIEVE (reprise, from Fr. reprendre)

reprieve, he caused his See also:

VEINS

veins to be opened, and expired repeating a passage from one of his poems descriptive of the See also:

DEATH

death of a wounded soldier. His father was involved in the proscription, his mother escaped, and his widow Polla Argentaria survived to receive the See also:

HOMAGE (from homo, through the Low Lat. hominaticum, which occurs in a document of 1035)

homage of See also:

STATIUS, PUBLIUS PAPINIUS (c. A.D. 45-96)

Statius under See also:

DOMITIAN (Thus FLAVIUS DOMITIANUS)

Domitian. The birthday of Lucan was kept as a festival afterhis death, and a poem addressed to his widow upon one of these occasions and containing See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information on the poet's See also:

WORK

work and career is still extant (Statius's Silvae, ii.

7, entitled Genethliacon Lucani). Besides his See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal performance, Lucan's See also:

WORKS

works included poems on the See also:

RANSOM (from Lat. redemptio, through Fr. rancon)

ransom of See also:

HECTOR

Hector, the nether See also:

WORLD

world, the See also:

FATE

fate of See also:

ORPHEUS

Orpheus, a eulogy of Nero, the burning of Rome, and one in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of his wife (all mentioned by Statius), letters, epigrams, an unfinished tragedy on the subject of See also:

MEDEA (Gr. Mi/Seta)

Medea and numerous See also:

MISCELLANEOUS

miscellaneous pieces. His See also:

minor works have perished except for a few fragments, but all that the author wrote of the Pharsalia has come down to us. It would probably have concluded with the ;See also:

BATTLE

battle of See also:

PHILIPPI (Turk. Filibejik)

Philippi, but breaks off abruptly as See also:

Caesar is about to plunge into the See also:

HARBOUR (from M.E. hereberge, here, an army; cf. Ger. Heer and -beorg, protection or shelter. Other early forms in English were herberwe and haiborow, as seen in various place names, such as Market Harborough.. The French auberge, an inn, derived through

harbour of See also:

Alexandria. The Pharsalia opens with a See also:

PANEGYRIC

panegyric of Nero, sketches the causes of the See also:

war and the characters of Caesar and See also:

POMPEY

Pompey, the See also:

CROSSING

crossing of the See also:

RUBICON

Rubicon by Caesar, the See also:

FLIGHT

flight of the tribunes to his See also:

CAMP (from Lat. campus, field)

camp, and the panic and confusion in Rome, which Pompey has abandoned. The second See also:

BOOK

book describes the visit of See also:

BRUTUS (originally an adjective meaning " heavy," "stupid," kindred with Gr. aap(s, cf. Eng. " brute," " brutal")

Brutus to See also:

Cato, who is persuaded to join the See also:

side of the See also:

SENATE (Lat. senatus, from root sen-, as in senex, old; the root is the Sanskrit sana, cf. Gr. 'vos; the same element appears in senor, seigneur, seneschal)

senate, and his See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage a second See also:

time to his former wife Marcia, See also:

AHENOBARBUS (" brazen-bearded ")

Ahenobarbus's See also:

CAPITULATION (Lat. capitulum, a little head or division; capitulare, to treat upon terms)

capitulation at See also:

CORFINIUM

Corfinium and the retirement of Pompey to See also:

GREECE

Greece. In the third book Caesar, after settling affairs in Rome, crosses the See also:

ALPS

Alps for See also:

Spain. Massilia is besieged and falls. The See also:

FOURTH

fourth book describes the victories of Caesar in Spain over See also:

AFRANIUS, LUCIUS

Afranius and Petreius, and the defeat of See also:

CURIO, OAIUS SCRIBONIUS

Curio by See also:

Juba in See also:

Africa. In the fifth Caesar and Antony See also:

LAND

land in Greece, and Pompey's wife See also:

CORNELIA (end cent. Bc.)

Cornelia is placed in See also:

SECURITY (Lat. securus, free from care, safe)

security at See also:

LESBOS (Mytilene, Turk. Midullu)

Lesbos. The See also:

SIXTH

sixth book describes the repulses of Caesar See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round Dyrrhachium, the seventh the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia, the eighth his flight and assassination in See also:

EGYPT

Egypt, the ninth the operations of Cato in Africa and his See also:

march through the See also:

DESERT

desert, and the landing of Caesar in Egypt, the tenth the opening incidents of the Alexandrian war. The incompleteness of the work should not be See also:

LEFT

left out of See also:

account in the estimate of its merits, for, with two See also:

capital exceptions, the faults of the Pharsalia are such as revision might have mitigated or rendered.

No such pains, certainly, could have amended the deficiency of unity of See also:

ACTION

action, or supplied the want of a legitimate protagonist. The Pharsalia is not true to See also:

HISTORY

history, but it cannot shake off its shackles, and is rather a metrical See also:

CHRONICLE (from Gr. Xpovos, time)

chronicle than a true epic. If it had been completed according to the author's See also:

DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

design, Pompey, Cato and Brutus must have successively enacted the See also:

PART

part of nominal See also:

hero, while the real hero is the See also:

arch-enemy of See also:

LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty and Lucan, Caesar. Yet these defects, though glaring, are not fatal or See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to Lucan. The false See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste, the strained See also:

RHETORIC (Gr. psroperctj TEXvq, the art of the orator)

rhetoric, the ostentatious erudition, the tedious harangues and far-fetched or See also:

COMMONPLACE

commonplace reflections so frequent in this singularly unequal poem, are faults much more irritating, but they are also faults capable of See also:

AMENDMENT (through the O. Fr. amender, to correct, from Lat. mendum, a fault)

amendment, which the writer might not improbably have removed. Great See also:

ALLOWANCE (from "allow,' derived through 0. Fr. alouer from the two Lat. origins adlaudare, to praise, and allocare, to assign a place; so that the English word combined the general idea of "assigning with approval")

allowance should also be made in the See also:

case of one who is emulating predecessors who have already carried See also:

art to its last perfection. Lucan's See also:

TEMPER (from Lat. temperare, to mingle or compound in due proportion, to qualify, rule, regulate, to be moderate, formed from tempos, time, fit or due season)

temper could never have brooked See also:

mere See also:

IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate)

imitation; his versification, no less than his subject, is entirely his own; he avoids the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of outward resemblance to his great predecessor with a persistency which can only have resulted from deliberate purpose, but he is largely influenced by the declamatory school of his grandfather and See also:

UNCLE

uncle. Hence his partiality for finished See also:

ANTITHESIS (the Greek for " setting opposite ")

antithesis, contrasting strongly with his generally breathless See also:

style and turbid diction. See also:

QUINTILIAN [MARCUS FABIUS QUINTILIANUS] (C. A.D. 35-95)

Quintilian sums up both aspects of his See also:

GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius with pregnant brevity, " Ardens et concitatus et sententiis clarissimus," adding with equal See also:

JUSTICE (Lat. justitia)

justice, " Magis oratoribus quam poetis annumerandus." Lucan's See also:

ORATORY (Lat. oratorio, sc. ors; from orare, to speak or pray)

oratory, however, frequently approaches the regions of See also:

POETRY

poetry, e.g. the See also:

APOTHEOSIS (Gr. aaoOeou)

apotheosis of Pompey at the beginning of the ninth book, and the passage in the same book where Cato, in the truest spirit of the Stoic See also:

PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy, refuses to consult the See also:

ORACLE (Lat. oraculum, from ora' to pray; the corresponding Greek word is uavreiov or Xpnuri7pwov)

oracle of See also:

JUPITER

Jupiter See also:

Ammon. Though in many cases Lucan's rhetoric is frigid, hyperbolical, and out of keeping with the See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the See also:

SPEAKER

speaker, yet his theme has a genuine hold upon him; in the age of Nero he celebrates the See also:

REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

republic as a poet with the same See also:

ENERGY (from the Gr. ivipyela; iv, in, ipyov, work)

energy with which in the age of See also:

CICERO

Cicero he might have defended it as an orator. But for him it might almost have been said that the Roman republic never inspired the Roman muse. Lucan never speaks of himself, but his epic speaks for him.

He must have been endowed with no See also:

COMMON

common ambition, See also:

INDUSTRY (Lat. industria, from indu-, a form of the pre, position in, and either stare, to stand, or struere, to pile up)

industry and self-reliance, an enthusiastic though narrow and aristocratic patriotism, and a See also:

FACULTY (through the French, from the Lat. facultas, ability to do anything, from facilis, easy, facere, to do; another form of the word in Lat. facilitas, facility, ease, keeps the original meaning)

faculty for appreciating magnanimity in others. But the only See also:

PERSONAL

personal trait positively known to us is his conjugal See also:

AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection, a characteristic of Seneca also. Lucan, together with Statius, was preferred even to See also:

Virgil in the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages. So See also:

LATE

late as 1493 his commentator Sulpitius writes: " See also:

MAGNUS, HEINRICH GUSTAV (1802-1870)

Magnus profecto est Maro, magnus Lucanus; adeoque prope See also:

PAR (Lat. par, equal)

par, ut quis sit See also:

major possis ambigere." See also:

Shelley and See also:

SOUTHEY, ROBERT (1774-1843)

Southey, in the first transport of admiration, thought Lucan See also:

SUPERIOR

superior to Virgil; See also:

Pope, with more See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment, says that the See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire which See also:

burns in Virgil with an equable glow breaks forth in Lucan with sudden, brief and interrupted flashes. Of late, notwithstanding the See also:

ENTHUSIASM

enthusiasm of isolated admirers, Lucan has been unduly neglected, but he has exercised an important See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence upon one great See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department of See also:

MODERN

modern literature by his effect upon See also:

Corneille, and through him upon the classical See also:

French See also:

DRAMA (literally "action," from Gr. Snail, act or do)

drama. AuanoarriEs.—The Pharsalia was much read in the middle ages, and consequently it is preserved in a large number of See also:

MANUSCRIPTS

manuscripts, the relations of which have not yet been thoroughly made out. The most See also:

RECENT

recent See also:

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical See also:

TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text is that of C. See also:

Hosius (2nd ed. 1906), and the latest See also:

COMPLETE

complete commentaries are those of C. E. Haskins (1887, with a valuable introduction by W. E.

Heitland) and C. M. See also:

FRANCKEN

Francken (1896). There are See also:

SEPARATE

separate See also:

EDITIONS

editions of book i. by P. Lejay (1894) and book vii. by J. P. Postgate (1896). Of earlier editions those of Oudendorp (which contains the continuation of the Pharsalia to the death of Caesar by See also:

Thomas May, 1728), See also:

BURMANN, PIETER (1714-1778)

Burmann (1740), See also:

Bentley (1816, See also:

POSTHUMOUS

posthumous) and See also:

Weber (1829) may be mentioned. There are See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

TRANSLATIONS

translations by C. See also:

Marlowe (book i. only, 1600), See also:

Sir F. See also:

GORGES, SIR FERDINANDO (c. 1566-1647)

Gorges (1614), Thomas May (1626), N. Rowe (1718) and Sir E.

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LUBRICATION

[next]
LUCARIS, CVRILLOS (1572-1637)