The Bottom Line
Pros
- A manageable amount of material
- Ample commentary
- Clear, to-the-point introductory notes
- Well-priced
Cons
- Lucan is not easy Latin reading
Description
- Shows the horrors of civil war.
- Lucan inserts himself into the narrative and addresses the Romans.
- Civil War presents Stoic ideas.
- There is a great deal of repetition and speech outweighs action in Lucan.
- Braund has made certain orthographical choices to be noted before starting.
Guide Review - A Lucan Reader - Selections from "Civil War"
Lucan wasn't simply writing prose history as a Livy or Tacitus, but telling an epic with three protagonists. It's the story of "anti-hero" Caesar's fight against his son-in-law Pompey, and when Pompey dies, Cato. Earlier Roman historians had not only written prose, but also verse. Ennius used the epic meter (hexameters) to write his annals.
Lucan differs from earlier epic writers in commonplace diction and his treatment of the gods. As the nephew of the famous Stoic Seneca who served the Emperor Nero, Lucan's depiction of the gods is less as anthropomorphic busybodies and more as vague gods with only Fortune and Fate taking an active role.
In addition to showing the tradition from which Lucan comes and the stylistic elements readers should be aware of, Braund describes the structure of Civil War, highlighting bits that are included in the selections. Following the introduction come the 25 pages of Latin selections, copious commentary, and 29 pages of vocabulary. The Latin student still has to work at the text to put it all together, but that's the point of a Latin reader.
