In Lucan’s poem on the civil war with Pompey, Ceasar’s centurion, Laelius, utters a chilling oath of loyalty. Hear the extract in Latin and follow in English here.
See the blog post with David’s “Oath of the Horatii” here.
In one of the most famous moments of European history, Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon.
Hear Lucan’s Latin and follow in English here.
To Laelius, brother, parent, wife and child mean less than his loyalty to Caesar his commander. Hear his chilling speech in Lucan’s Latin and follow in English here.
The illustration is David’s “Oath of the Horatii”.
Who was Lucan? In preparation for a short series of extracts from his poem on the civil war that followed Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon, read about him in his poet page here.
In the coming days Pantheon Poets will be posting a short series of extracts from Lucan’s poem. Lucan, forced to commit suicide in his mid-twenties by the Emperor Nero, pulls no punches on his account of the struggle between Julius Caesar and his adversary, Pompey the Great. As a prelude, read more about Lucan and his work on his poet page here.
This is a short selection about the poet Lucan, destined to die young by Nero’s orders, and his epic poem about the civil war, “De Bello Civile”.
You can read about Lucan’s life and modern and ancient critical views of his work here.
Lucan sums up the contestants, Caesar and Pompey.
Lucan describes Caesar crossing the Rubicon.
In no uncertain terms, Caesar’s troops pledge their loyalty.
As civil war threatens, the poet Lucan sums up the protagonists: Pompey (pictured) has popularity, authority and the advantages of a mighty reputation, but Caesar has something more.
See and hear Lucan’s Latin from his De Bello Civile and follow in English here.