Lucan's Apotheosis of Nero

Author(s): Lynette Thompson

Source: Classical Philology, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Jul., 1964), pp. 147-153
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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 CLASSICALPHILOLOGY
VOLUME LIX, NUMBER 3

July 1964

LUCAN'YSAPOTHEOSIS OF NERO
LYNETTE THOMPSON

S IiNCE epic poets customarily state similarities make plain, Lucan is here
their subject at the beginning of recalling the verses preceding the ap-
their poems it may be assumed pearance of Anchises to Aeneas in Sici-
that at the time Lucan wrote verses ly (Aen. 5. 700-2: "Aeneas... / nune
1-66 of the Bellum civile he had fixed huc ingentis, nunc illuc pectore curas/
in his mind the outline of the whole, mutabat versans, Siculisne resideret
however vague the particulars of the arvis").5 Just as Anchises appeared to
design may have been and however his son in the Aeneid, so it may be pre-
altered they may have become as the sumed that Pompey was to appear to
work progressed. In 1950 R. T. Bruere his son Sextus in Lucan's poem. From
suggested that the complete poem this it results not only that the poem
would have encompassed the whole was to continue into 43 B.C., since
period of civil warfare from 49 B.C. to Sextus did not reach Sicily until this
the peace following Actium.1 More re- year, but that (since Pompey was to
cently, 0. A. WV. Dilke has inclined to advise Sextus on his future course) the
the same view,2 whereas H. P. Syndikus latter was to play a role of significance
has reiterated the traditional termini of in the poem, as he did in the later stages
15 March 44 B.C. or Philippi in 42,3 and of civil warfare until his defeat off
H. Haffter has implausibly proposed Naulochus in 36 and his death the fol-
that Lucan's tenth book, had it been lowing year. The overthrow of Sextus
finished, would have marked the end of would however be an impossible ending
the epic (47 B.C.).4 for a poem dealing with plus quam ci-
To the present writer the hypothesis vilia bella, for Actium, the culminating
that Lucan planned to include the en- and final engagement of the "more-
tire period of plus8quam civilia bella than-civil" struggle, was yet to come.
which ended only with the overthrow This paper will argue that certain fea-
of Antony and Cleopatra seems the tures of Lucan's description of Nero's
only tenable one. Scholars favoring an future apotheosis at the opening of his
earlier terminal point fail to appreciate first book give strong additional sup-
the implications of the prophecy made port to the hypothesis that the poet
by the witch Erictho to Sextus Pom- proposed to treat the entire period of
peius "tibi certior omnia vates/ ipse civil warfare that preceded the estab-
canetSiculi8 genitor Pompeius inarvi8," lishment of the pax Augusta after
BC 6. 812-13. As verbal and other Actium.
(CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY, LIX, July, 1984 4 147

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148 LYNETTE THOMPSON

Lucan's debt in his invocation to identification of Nero with Jupiter and

Virgil, Ovid, and Manilius has often the analogy between the civil wars and
been noted, and the circumstance that the Gigantomachia emphasize the sig-
the passages of these earlier poets which nificance, for the scope of Lucan's epic,
Lucan imitates regard the period of of the identifications and associations
civil warfare from the Rubicon to of Nero with Hercules and Augustus.
Actium as a unit cited to show that Conversely, these latter identifications
Lucan shared this view.6 The influence confirm the import of Lucan's juxta-
of these poets is also marked in Lucan's position of Nero and Jupiter and of the
description of Nero's apotheosis and Roman plus quam civilia bella and the
indeed throughout the introductory Gigantomachia. They, thereby, indicate
verses.7 While admitting the significance that Lucan proposed to treat, as a
of the influence of these poets in de- single complex, the civil wars down
termining Lucan's intended scope, we through 31 B.C.
would point out that in his account of Detailed analysis of Lucan's adap-
Nero's future apotheosis (BC 1. 45-63) tation of the passage from the Hercules
Lucan has drawn to a much greater Oetaeus will demonstrate that Lucan,
extent upon Seneca's Hercules Oetaeus, when composing the apotheosis, was
especially the description of Hercules' following primarily Seneca's account of
deification, and that the use of this the deification of Hercules; that, by
source suggests an assimilation, in praising Nero with an amplified version
Lucan's mind, of Nero to Hercules. In of the praise of Hercules, he wished to
the light of this association it becomes indicate the superiority of the emperor;
clear that the reminiscences of Virgil, and, most important, that he intended
Ovid, and Manilius, being echoes of an identification of the two as estab-
laudes Augusti in the earlier writers, lishers or preservers of peace.
are the means by which Lucan has Upon the death of the hero in the
implied an association of Nero with Hercules Oetaeus, the chorus, after
Augustus. The significance of this declaring that he has earnied a place in
Hercules/Augustus shadow behind Nero the sky, wonders where that place
is explained by the explicit equation of will be:
Nero with Jupiter preceding the de- "Sed locum virtus habet inter astra.
scription of the apotheosis: sedis arctoae spatium tenebis
an graves Titan ubi promit aestus ?
quod si non aliam uenturo fata Neroni an sub occasu tepido nitebis,
inuenere uiam magnoque aeterna parantur
unde commisso resonare ponto
regna deis caelumque suo seruire Tonanti audies Calpen? loca quae sereni
non nisi saeuorum potuit post bella gigantum,
deprimes caels? quis erit recepto
iam nihil, o superi, querimur [BC 1. 33-37]. tutus Alcide locus inter astra?
The stated relevance of this equation horrido tantum procul a leone
det pater sedes calidoque cancro,
lies primarily in the lasting peace ob- ne tuo vultu tremefacta leges
tained by, and following, strife. Ju- astra conturbent trepidetque Titan.
piter's kingdom became aeterna only
after the god defeated the giants; the tu comes Phoebo, comes ibis astris"
[HO 1564-75, 1581].
peace under Nero is the pax Augu8ta
established by Octavian after the de- Lucan's lines read:
struction of Antony and Cleopatra ... te, cum statione peracta
marked the end of civil warfare. The astra petes serus, praelati regia caeli

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 LUCAN'S APOTHEOSIS OF NERO 149

excipiet gaudente polo: seu sceptra tenere at pairis to outdo his uncle and his other
seu te flammigeros Phoebi conscendere currus predecessors, represents Nero as taking
telluremque nihil mutato sole timentem
igne uago lustrare iuuet, tibi numine ab omni
over, at will, Phoebus' prerogatives or
cedetur, iurisque tui natura relinquet even Jupiter's. This extension of the
quis deus esse uelis, ubi regnum ponere mundi. divine positions open to the emperor
sed neque in Arctoo sedem tibi legeris orbe was apparently inspired by Virgil's
nec polus auersi calidus qua uergitur Austri, consideration of the choices available
unde tuam uideas obliquo sidere Romam.
aetheris inmensi partem si presseria unam, to Augustus, although the language
sentiet axis onus. librati pondera caeli shows little similarity.9 At any rate, in
orbe tene medio; pars aetheris illa sereni stressing that every god will give way
tota uacet nullaeque obstent a Caesare nubes. to the recent arrival, Lucan stresses,
tum genus humanum positis sibi consulat
armis
with greater emphasis than Virgil, the
inque uicem gens omnis amet; pax missa per emperor's privilege to choose.
orbem Not only the new god's rights and
ferrea belligeri conpescat limina Iani. privileges, but also the site of his resi-
nedmihi iam numen ... [BC 1. 45-63].
dence become a question of importance.
Although Lucan's "cum statione In like manner the chorus in the Hercu-
peracta/ astra petes serus," (BC 1. les Oetaeus had been concernied about
45-46) has no exact precedent in the Hercules' position in the sky:
language of the Senecan passage, the "sedis arctoae spatium tenebis
words astra petes may have been sug- an graves Titan ubi promit aestus?
gested by Seneca's description of Her- an sub occasu tepido nitebis" [HO 1565-67].
cules on his pyre, "voltus petentis Lucan, insisting upon the pre-eminence
astra, non ignes erat" (HO 1645).8 of Nero, explicitly asserts that nature
Certainly the clause summarizes the will allow him to select the seat of his
theme of the prologue to the Hercules divine power: "sed neque in Arctoo
Oetaeus. The hero there recounts his sedem tibi legeris orbe/ nec polus aversi
labors and states his belief that he has calidus qua vergitur Austri" (BC 1.
at last, with all his work accomplished, 53-54). The wording of HO 1565 and
earned a place among the stars. The BC 1. 53 is markedly similar; in ad-
fact that for the time being that place dition, the epic poet retains the force
seems denied him may have induced of Seneca's tepido (HO 1567) in calidus
Lucan to assure an audience familiar (BC 1. 54) and the motion of nitebis
with his uncle's poetry that such was (HO 1567) in vergitur (BC 1. 54). As
not true in the case of Nero: the gods Hercules, in the western sky, could
had no hesitancy about admitting him; listen to the waves breaking against
indeed, his coming was a reason for Calpe, so significant for him, in the
rejoicing (gaudente polo, BC 1. 47). And same way Lucan imagines Nero looking
Lucan may have remembered Ovid's down upon Rome: "unde tuam videas
te desideret aether (Trist. 5. 2. 51). obliquo sidere Romam" (BC 1. 55).
The statione peracta (BC 1. 45) and Although the meaning of Lucan's clause
virtus (HO 1564) establish the equiva- is modified by the neque and nec of lines
lent credentials of Nero and Hercules; 53-54, it is in structure very like that of
the destination of both is astra (BC 1. the tragedy, "unde commisso resonare
46; HO 1564). In the opinion of Seneca's ponto/ audies Calpen ?" (HO 1568-69).
chorus, Hercules will be comes Phoebo, Each begins with unde and each ends
comes.... astris (HO 1581). Lucan, ever with the object of the hero's attentions.

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150 LYNETTE THOMPSON

The epic poet hopes that Nero will Hercules' apotheosis, Lucan here in-
select a site at neither the north nor the tended an identification of Nero with
south pole, not only because he would Hercules. The significance of this identi-
be forced to view Rome obliquely, but fication is indicated by the reaction of
also because his weight would throw the the Senecan chorus to the passing of
heavens out of balance: Hercules, as well as by Hercules' per-
aetheris inmensi partem si presseris unam, sonal view of his mission onl earth. Be-
sentiet axis onus. librati pondera caeli lieving the hero dead, the chorus cries,
orbe tene medio; ... [BC 1. 56-58]. " Quis dabit pacem populo timenti/ ... ?"
The first line here is suggested by "loca (HO 1541). Hyllus, reporting his father's
quae sereni/ deprimes caeli ?" (HO 1569 passing to Deianira, repeats the hero's
-70), but has an even closer parallel in words: "pacata tellus ... et caelum et
Deianira's address to Juno: "quam- freta :/feris subactis omnibus victor
cumque partem sedis aetheriae premis,/ redi" (HO 794-95). Finally the chorus,
coniunx Tonantis" (HO 256-57). Lucan after Hercules has obtained his glory in
exploits the idea of ponderousness in the sky, makes this plea:
these verses to suggest Nero's im- "sed tu domitor magne ferarum
portance.10 The chorus had proposed orbisque simul pacator ades.13
that Hercules find a position in the nune quoque nostras respice terras"
heavens far from certain constellations, [HO 1989-91].
lest he cause turmoil among the mytho- In the two latter passages, pax could
logical creatures in the sky. Octavian be, and was, attained only by means of,
had been represented by Virgil as and at the completion of, the hero's
destined to assume the place of Libra; struggle to clean out the monsters. The
on his arrival the scorpion would draw implication is that pax was permanent.
in his claws.11 Seneca adapted this idea Lucan's explicit assertion that Jupiter
to Hercules' situation by describing the acquired his kingdom by cleaning out
fear that would naturally be felt by the the giants, whereupon the kingdom
lion and the crab at Hercules' ferocious became aeterna (BC 1. 34), supports, by
presence. Lucan, in his modern manner, paralleling it exactly, the validity of
eliminates his uncle's mythology but the Hercules pattern. Lucan, following
retains, as an honor to Nero, the spa- this pattern, expresses the wish that
ciousness of a serene portion of the sky: Nero seek his place in heaven as late as
"pars aetheris illa sereni/ tota vacet possible after his tasks on earth have
nullaeque obstent a Caesare nubes" been accomplished (statione peracta, BC
(BC 1. 58-59). The sereni derives from 1. 45) and prays,
the Hercules Oetaeus: "loca quae sereni/
tum genus humanum positis sibi consulat
deprimes caeli ?" (HO 1569-70). Seneca armis
provided the basis for Lucan's expres- inque uicem gens omnis amet; pax missa per
sion, but the effect is intensified, the orbem
personal note emphasized, and the po- ferrea belligeri conpescat limina Iani
[BC 1. 60-62].
sition of Phoebus now enhances the
dignity of the emperor, since Lucan The pax Augusta still obtaining in
adds "nullaeque obstent a Caesare Nero's time was established when
nubes" (BC 1. 59).12 Augustus, Nero's ancestor and early
It may reasonably be supposed that, model, cleaned out the rebellious forces
by imitating the Senecan account of in the Roman world.

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 LUCAN'S APOTHEOSIS OF NERO 151

While he followed so closely the pat- tifications, substantiating each other,

tern in the Hercules Oetaeus, thereby have their significance brought into
establishing an identification of Nero sharp focus by the Nero/Jupiter equa-
and Hercules, Lucan simultaneously tion: Augustus eliminated the mon-
created an association of Nero with strous revolutionary elements in the
Augustus by enriching his description state and instituted, for the Roman
of the apotheosis and its context with people, the pax Augusta over which
reminiscences, mentioned above, from Nero now presided. Nero is a kind of
Virgil, Ovid, and Manilius. The most Augustus par excellence, free in the
pertinent of the imitations of the earlier early period of his reign, at any rate,
poets are all from contexts concerned from such ill repute as came to Augustus
with the divinity or apotheosis of as a result of his part in the civil dis-
Augustus, and of Augustus only, al- cord. The descendant and imitator of
though Lucan could have drawn from Augustus,16 he stated in a speech
any number of Ovid's accounts of quoted by Tacitus that because he had
apotheoses, including that of Julius not, in his boyhood, experienced civil
Caesar. That is, statements concerning wars and domestic feuds, he did not
the prediction or description of Au- suffer from a sense of wrong and there-
gustus' divinity or apotheosis in the fore had no desire for vengeance.17
passages which Lucan is imitating have That is to say that in a comparison
now been adapted to fit the account of with Augustus, Nero, perhaps, could
the apotheosis or divinity of Nero who be the more just emperor, since he had
has, in actuality, assumed Augustus' always enjoyed the pax Augusta. His
position. Of special significance then is rule was not marred by internal strife
the influence of Virgil's description as Augustus' had been. The civil wars
(Georg. 1. 32-39) of Augustus' apothe- therefore prepared the way for Nero as
osis upon the Lucanian lines which are they could not for Augustus since the
concerned with the site in the heavens latter was embroiled in them. This is
of Nero's future residence. For Servius implicit in Lucan's "quod si non aliam
states, in his comments on line 34 of venturo fata Neroni/ invenere viam"
the Virgilian passage, that this epic (BC 1. 33-34).18
poet, as a tribute, assigned to Augustus Lucan's explicit identification of Nero
the route by which Hercules had gone with Jupiter followed the tradition of
to the heavens and the site of Libra equating Roman emperors with the
which the demigod had occupied.14 The ruler of the gods;19 his implicit identi-
late Professor R. J. Getty has pointed fications of Nero with Hercules and
out that in BC 1. 57-58, "librati pon- Augustus show that Lucan was familiar
dera caeli/ orbe tene medio," there is a with Nero's desire to emulate and be
hint of Libra and that Lucan is fol- associated with these two.20 On these
lowing and surpassing Virgil's ex- grounds alone Lucan's interweaving of
ample.15 By means of this "hint" in these relationships in his invocation is
librati Lucan designates as Nero's the apt and he could hardly have ac-
path which Hercules had marked out complished more in the way of flattery.
for Augustus. Yet mere flattery was not his aim; the
Lucan's extensive imitation of the identifications here established affirm
Hercules pattern serves to validate this the program set forth in the first
Nero/Augustus association. These iden- book.

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 152 LYNETTE THOMPSON

A statement that his theme is bella mention of the strife, the catalogue in
... plus quam civilia and a condem- the invocation is his first specific enu-
nation of this nefarious strife precede meration of the civil wars which he
Lucan's invocation. The terms em- will treat. Here they are regarded as a
ployed are general; there is no mention single complex including the clashes
of any specific period of struggle; down through Actium.21 To them Rome
Lucan's words are the plural form, owed, according to Lucan, the pax
civilia bella. Immediately following the Augusta. These wars are specifically
invocation, in the epic tradition, Lucan enumerated; they are equated in toto
proposes to set forth the causes which with the eradication of the giants and
forced a frenzied people to arms and the monsters; the victor in them is
drove peace from the world. Set be- compared to Jupiter and Hercules
tween these two sections is the invo- after their final and decisive conflicts;
cation to Nero, which contains an they are said to be the purchasing price
explicit and precisely formulated list of of peace, and the peace which followed
the wars, as well as the description of them is emphasized as enduring. It is
the emperor's future apotheosis. It true that Nero had experienced no such
begins with the equation of Nero's struggle as Jupiter, Hercules, and
advent as emperor subsequent to the Augustus; however, he is identified with
civil wars and Jupiter's obtaining an Augustus, considered a kind of super-
everlasting kingdom after crushing the Augustus, and the peace during his
assault of the giants. In each instance, reign is actually an extension of the
emphasis is placed upon the peaceful peace under Augustus, acquired only
reign which followed strife and was after Actium. Its price is Lucan's theme
bought at the price of a specifically and is stated in the series of battles
named conflict. The reason for Lucan's named in the invocation.
choice of Hercules and Augustus as ad- It may be concluded that by implicit-
ditional prototypes is then clear. Jupi- ly associating Nero with Hercules and
ter, Hercules, and Augustus were all with Augustus in his description of
eradicators of revolutionary or de- Nero's future apotheosis Lucan wished
structive forces in their time; they to justify his dedication to the young
cleansed their respective worlds of dis- emperor of a poem telling of the mon-
cordant elements, thereby instituting strous plague of more-than-civil con-
peace. Jupiter cleared the heavens of flicts of which Octavian-Augustus rid
opposition once and for all when he the Roman world, just as Hercules had
overwhelmed the giants; Hercules freed once rid the world of monstrous
the world forever of monsters; Augustus beasts.22 Perhaps Lucan's inability to
rid the Roman state of the villains of maintain this estimate of either the first
civil warfare. Nero and his reign are the or the fifth princeps was as responsible
ultimate results of the final extirpation for the inchoate condition of his poem
of civil strife by Augustus and the as was his suicide.
establishment of the pax Augusta.
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
Although Lucan makes previous

NOTE S
1. "The Scope of Lucan's Historical Epic," CP, XLV 2. M. Annaei Lucani "De beUocivili" liber VII. Revised
(1950), 217-35. For a summary of conclusions prior to 1950, from the edition of J. P. Postgate by 0. A. W. Dilke
see pp. 217-18. (New York, 1960), Intro., p. 9.

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 LUCAN'S APOTHEOSIS OF NERO 153
3. Lucans Gedicht vom Biirgerkrieg (diss., Munich; the identification of Nero with Augustus and the latter's
Munich, 1958), p. 121. homage to Apollo. Furthermore Lucan's source had pro-
4. H. Haffter, "Dem schwanken Zunglein lauschend claimed the status of Hercules and Apollo as about to be
wachte Ciisar dort," Museum Helveticum, XIV (1957), equal (HO 1581).
118-26. Haffter's analysis of the symmetrical arrangement 13. The orbisque ... pacator seems an echo of Propertius'
of Lucan's ten books does not preclude other such decades, pacato. . in orbe (3. 2. 19). Cf. also Eur. Herc. 696-700.
nor does it take adequate cognizance of the poem's internal 14. Despite Housman's assertion in his second edition
evidence for proposed greater length. See n. 21. of Manilius' Astron. (London, 1937), I, lxx, n. 1, that Virgil
5. See note to 6.814 in C. E. Haskins' edition of Lucan's invited Augustus to take the place of Libra in the zodiac
Pharsalia (London, 1887), p. 226. 0. S. Due in "An Essay because there was no other site available, Getty notes that
on Lucan" (Class. et Med., XXII [1962], 68 ff.) revives the since Libra was the natal sign of Rome and the appropriate
hypothesis that Lucan meant to end with Philippi. He sign for the horoscope of a just ruler, Virgil was being rather
states "we must admit that according to Lucan's plan more complimentary toward Augustus. See R. J. Getty,
somehow or other the poem was to have touched upon "Liber et alma Ceres," p. 178.
Sextus Pompeius' operations in Sicily from 43 B.C." (p. 128), 15. "Liber et alma Ceres," p. 182, n. 12. Lucan compli-
citing 6. 812-16 (p. 129). The essayist fails to see that the ments Nero as Virgil had Augustus (see note above), but
chronological and aesthetic implications of this passage even more pertinently in view of the identification of Nero
weigh heavily against an ending before 36 B.C., when the with Hercules here. Dio 63. 20. 5 states that Nero was
defeats of Mylae and Naulochus made it necessary for hailed as Apollo, Augustus, and Hercules.
Sextus to seek refuge outside of Sicily.
16. Suet. 6. 10. 1. For numismatic evidence see M. Grant,
6. J. P. Postgate in his revised edition of the seventh
Roman History From Coins (Cambridge, 1958), p. 28, and
book De bello civili (Cambridge, 1927) in note on 1. 872
P1. 8, No. 1. The obverse of Nero's coin shows Augustus and
(p. 88) points out the similar catalogues in Verg. Georg.
1. 489-505; Ov. Met. 15. 822-28, 832-33; and Manil. Astron. Claudius in a ceremonial chariot. The letters EX S C point
1. 906-26. Bruere notes the "unitarian attitude" in the to Nero's respect for the senate in the early years of his
reign.
Manilianpassage andstrikingsimilaritieswith Luc. 1.38-45,
op. cit., pp. 222-23. Although Manilius and Ovid list only 17. Ann. 13. 4.
18. In a typical exaggeration in the later lines of his
the battles in which Octavian had engaged, Lucan, for his
purposes, was compelled to add the earlier phases of the invocation (60-62) Lucan hopes that the end put to civil
war by Augustus will be extended to all war under Nero.
conflict.
This wish is pertinent to BC 1. 33-34 and again indicates
7. See esp. R. J. Getty's notes to lines 33-66 in his
how Nero might be greater than Augustus.
edition of De bello civii, liber I (Cambridge, 1940); R.
Pichon, Les Sources de Lucain (Paris, 1912), pp. 227, 237, 19. For the association of Augustus with Jupiter see
239; W. E. Heitland's introduction to C. E. Haskins' edi- Margaret M. Ward, "The Association of Augustus with
tion of the Phar8alia (London, 1887), p. cx. Jupiter," Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni, IX (1933),
8. Noted by Oliver C. Phillips, Jr., "The Influence of 203-24, and for Ovid's equation of Augustus with Jupiter
Ovid on Lucan's Bellum civile" (diss., University of Chicago, see K. Scott, "Emperor Worship in Ovid," TAPA, LXI
1962), p. 113. (1930), 43-69, esp. pp. 52-58. For Virgil's association of the
9. According to the earlier poet it is uncertain what god- same emperor with Jupiter, see Lily Ross Taylor, The
ly powers Augustus will wish for himself (Georg.1. 24-32). Divinity of the Roman Emperor (Middletown, Conn., 1931),
10. Cf. Ovid's "sensit Atlas pondus. . . " (Met. 9. 273) as pp. 111-15, 174-78, R. J. Getty, "Romulus, Roma, and
Hercules was translated into a constellation and HO 1599: Augustus," CP, XLV (1950), 1-12.
"passus an pondus titubavit Atlas ?" Whether or iiot 20. For the association of Nero with Hercules, see Dio
Lucan's expression is veiled sarcasm, he certainly found the 63. 9. 4, 63. 20. 5; Suet. 6. 53. For numismatic evidence see
dea in his sources. E. A. Sydenham, op. cit., pp. 138, 148, 151. For the asso-
11. Georg. 1. 34-35. Servius, in his comments on 1. 33, ciation of Nero with Augustus, see Dio 61. 20. 5, 63. 20. 3,
istates that in the Babylonian system Scorpio occupied 63. 20. 5; Suet. 6. 10. 1; 6. 12. 4. For numismatic evidence
space equivalent to two zodiacal signs in the Egyptian see M. Grant, loc. cit.
system: Scorpio and Libra. Scorpio is therefore to draw 21. See n. 6. The battles named in Lucan's catalogue are
in his claws to make room for Augustus. See R. J. Getty substantiated by the prophecies with which the first book
in "Liber et alma Ceres," in Studies in Honour of Gilbert is concluded. There Figulus seeing the blurred outlines of
Norwood (Toronto, 1952), p. 174. the entire civil conflict describes it in general terms. The
12. Lucan has made the identiflcation of Nero and Roman matron's frenzied vision is focused upon one section
Apollo before in "seu te flammigeros Phoebi conscendere from a closer point of view. It introduces the first stages of
currus" (BC 1. 48). For Nero's desire to emulate Apollo, the war without losing sight of those of the more distant
see Dio 61. 20. 5, 63. 20. 5; Suet. 6. 53; Tac. Ann. 14. 14. future. They have all, however, been set forth in Lucan's
For numismatic evidence see E. A. Sydenham, The Coinage invocation.
of Nero (London, 1920). Pp. 72-74 list some thirty coins of 22. Inspite of Lucan's "republicanism, " there is no reason
the "Nero as Apollo" type. Also pp. 37-38, and passim. why he, as a Stoic, should not have admired a "good" em-
Although the equation of the emperor with Apollo is not peror as Nero apparently was in the first five years of his
essential to our argument, it perhaps is relevant in view of reign.

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