SOURCE: An introduction to Lucan's Civil War, translated by P. F. Widdows, Indiana University Press, 1988, pp. xi-xxv.

In the following excerpt, Widdows offers an overview on Lucan's life, writing, and reputation.

Gi; life =~ Slife

Our knowledge of the life of Marcus Anneus Lucanus—known variously in the modern vernacular as Lucan, Lucain, and Lucano—is derived principally from two short "lives" prefixed to medieval manuscripts of his poem, one attributed to Suetonius (c. A.D. 70-160), and the other to a grammarian named Vacca, who is thought to have lived in the sixth century, but who derived his material froma much earlier source. Lucan came from a distinguished family of Spanish Romans living in Corduba. His father, M. Anneus Mela, a wealthy knight and businessman, had two brothers, the philosopher Seneca, and Lucius Anneus Junius Gallio, proconsul of the Roman province of Achea (i.e., Greece) in the...