Lucānus, M. Annaeus
, usually called Lucan, a Roman poet, was born at Corduba in Spain, A.D. 39. His father was L. Annaeus Mella, a brother of M. Seneca, the philosopher. Lucan was carried to Rome at an early age, where his education was superintended by the most eminent preceptors of the day. His talents developed themselves at a very early age, and excited such general admiration as to awaken the jealousy of Nero, who, unable to brook competition, forbade him to recite in public. Stung to the quick by this prohibition, Lucan embarked in the famous conspiracy of Piso, was betrayed, and, by a promise of pardon, was induced to turn informer. He began by denouncing his own mother, Acilia or Atilia, and then revealed the rest of his accomplices without reserve. He received, however, a traitor's reward. After the more important victims had been despatched, the emperor issued a mandate for the death of Lucan, who, finding escape hopeless, caused his veins to be opened. When, from the rapid effusion of blood, he felt his extremities becoming cold, he began to repeat aloud some verses which he had once composed, descriptive of a wounded soldier perishing by a like death; and, with these lines upon his lips, expired A.D. 65, in the twentysixth year of his age. Lucan wrote various poems, the titles of which are preserved, and also prose works; but the only extant production is an epic poem, in ten books, entitled Pharsalia, in which the progress of the struggle between Caesar and Pompey is fully detailed, the events, commencing with the passage of the Rubicon, being arranged in regular chronological order. The tenth book is imperfect, and the narrative breaks off abruptly in the middle of the Alexandrian War; but it is not known whether the conclusion has been lost, or whether the author ever completed his task. The whole of what now remains was certainly not composed at the same time, for the different parts do not by any means breathe the same spirit. In the earlier portions we find liberal sentiments expressed in very moderate terms, accompanied by open and almost fulsome flattery of Nero; but as we proceed, the blessings of freedom are loudly proclaimed, and the invectives against tyranny are couched in language the most offensive, evidently aimed directly at the emperor. The work contains great beauties and great defects. It is characterized by copious diction, lively imagination, and a bold and masculine tone of thought; but it is at the same time disfigured by extravagance, far-fetched conceits, and forced similes. The hero of the poem is Cato , of whom the following very famous line of Lucan is written:Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni. The oldest MS. of Lucan is a palimpsest, perhaps as early as the fourth century, the leaves of which are distributed between Vienna, Naples, and Rome. There are editions of the Pharsalia with notes by Grotius (Antwerp, 1614); Oudendorp (Leyden, 1728); Burmann (Leyden, 1740); Weber (3 vols. Leipzig, 1821-31); Lemaire (2 vols. Paris, 1830); and Haskins (London, 1889). It was translated into English verse by N. Rowe (London, 1719); and there are German versions by Bothe (Stuttgart, 1855) and Krais (Stuttgart, 1863). On the style, etc., see Körber, De Lucani Usu Syntactico (St. Petersburg, 1874); Berthold, De Elocutione Poetica (Grimma, 1879); and Obermeier, Sprachgebrauch des Lucanus (Munich, 1886). See also the introduction by Heitland to the edition of Haskins cited above.