Lucan: Pharsalia
07/11/2019
The Pharsalia or On the Civil War (Latin: De Bello Civili) is an epic by the Roman poet Lucan (39-65 CE) recounting the conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey. It consists of ten books, of which the last appears to be incomplete, breaking off during Caesar's campaign in Egypt.
Lucan strongly favours the republican side and the poem has been seen as a riposte to the Augustan propaganda of Virgil's Aeneid. Lucan's stoicism is reflected in his portrayal of Cato, and in his avoidance of divine intervention as a plot device.
The Pharsalia at Amazon
Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Loebulus. L220 - Lucan -- The Civil War (Pharsalia). PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.
Perseus: Latin text and English translation by Edward Ridley (1896). HTML and XML formats.
English translations
Gutenberg: Pharsalia, Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars, edited by Douglas B. Killings (1996). HTML, EPUB, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: The Pharsalia, translated by Henry T. Riley (1853). PDF, EPUB, TXT, and MOBI formats.
Medieval and Classical Literature Library: Pharsalia, translated by Edward Ridley (1896). HTML format.
Poetry in Translation: Pharsalia, translated by A.S. Kline (2014). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide: The Pharsalia of Lucan, translated by Edward Ridley (1896). Multiple formats.
University of Virginia: Lucan's Pharsalia, translated by Arthur Gorges (1614). HTML format.
Latin texts
Intratext: Bellum Civile. HTML format.
Latin Library: De Bello Civili sive Pharsalia. HTML format.
Wikisource: Pharsalia (Book 1). HTML and other formats.
Other Resources
Librivox: Lucan - public domain audiobook in progress.
University of Virginia: Introduction to Latin Epic - Lucan's Bellum Civile, by Laura Gorney.
The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes
Latin Resources: Online materials for learning Latin.
Caesar: The Civil War - the dictator's own prose account of the campaign.
Virgil: The Aeneid - the model Latin epic from which Lucan borrowed a number of motifs.
Ovid: The Metamorphoses - an important influence on Lucan's narrative style.
Quintilian: The Institutes - comments on Lucan's prose.
Bloom's Western Canon: The Pharsalia is listed.
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