Dimensions
129 x 198 x 28mm
The only surviving work of the Roman poet Lucan, 'The Civil War' tells of a world gone awry. It presents an apocalyptic vision dominated by the terrifying figure of Julius Caesar, whose resistless will to power driver him to plunge his own nation into civil war. 'The Civil War' also reflects the violence and tyranny of Lucan's own age - a world of terrifying portents, unspeakable magic rites and relentless depictions of cruelty and carnage. Lucan also brought to his epic masterpiece rhetorical and parodic brilliance and philosophical power.
This is the first fully modernised edition of Rowe's classic 1718 translation, among the supreme achievements of Augustan verse, which Dr Johnson would later hail as "one of the greatest productions of English poetry".
A comprehensive edition, with introduction and notes.