Lucan
Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars
"Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars" by Lucan is a Roman epic poem written around AD 61-65. This unfinished work chronicles the brutal civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, culminating in the decisive Battle of Pharsalus. Lucan abandons traditional divine intervention, focusing instead on human ambition and the destruction of Roman liberty. Through ten surviving books, the poet follows Caesar's ruthless march from the Rubicon to Egypt, while Pompey struggles against fate. The work remained incomplete when Lucan was forced to suicide in AD 65.