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The Lucan trilogy: 1 — Lucan, Stoic poet
Next week I will be traveling to Marshall University in West Virginia, for my first work-related trip since the beginning of the pandemic. My last trip of this kind took place on March 4–8, 2020 in Boston, to present a paper at the Northeast Modern Language Association on Stoicism in Tom Wolfe’s novel, A Man in Full. This time I will facilitate a workshop on Stoicism for veterans and their families, followed by a public lecture later the same day.
In preparation for the workshop, I read a lot about Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, better known as Lucan, a first century Roman poet and the nephew of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the playwright, philosopher, and senator who is one of our most important ancient sources concerning Stoic philosophy.
The reason to talk to veterans about Lucan is that he wrote an incomplete poem, Pharsalia, or De Bello Civili, which tells the epic story of the the civil war between Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate, which ended in the defeat of the Republican forces and essentially represented the last step before Empire. (Caesar, as is well known, was then assassinated in 44 BCE, but his nephew, Octavian, took control of things and became the first emperor, Octavian Augustus.)
I intend to write three posts inspired by my visit to Marshall. In this one we will take a look at Lucan’s life and the general import of…
