The short notices of this poet in common circulation, such as that prefixed to the edition of Weise, although particularly meagre, contain a series of statements many of which rest upon very uncertain evidence, while the longer biographies, such as that of Nisard, are almost purely works of imagination. In order that we may be enabled to separate those portions of the narrative which admit of satisfactory proof from those which are doubtful or fictitious, we must examine our materials and class them according to their quality.
I. The facts collected from the writings of Statius, Martial, Juvenal, Tacitus, the Eusebian Chronicle as translated by Jerome and Sidonius Apollinaris, may be received with confidence. According to these authorities Lucan was a native of Cordova; his father was L. Annaeus Mella, a man of equestrian rank and high consideration, who, satisfied with amassing a large fortune by acting as agent for the imperial revenues (procurator), did not seek the same distinction in literature or politics, which was achieved by his brothers M. Seneca and Junius Gallio. The talents of the son developed themselves at a very early age and excited such warm and general admiration as to awaken the jealousy of Nero, who, unable to brook competition, forbade him to recite in public. Stung to the quick by this prohibition the fiery young Spaniard embarked in the famous conspiracy of Piso, was betrayed, and, by a promise of pardon, was with some difficulty induced to turn informer. In order to excuse the hesitation he had at first displayed, and to prove the absolute sincerity of his repentance, he began by denouncing his own mother Acilia (or Atilia), and then revealed the rest of his accomplices without reserve. But he received a traitor's reward. After the more important victims had been despatched, the emperor issued the mandate for the death of his poetical rival who, finding escape hopeless, caused his veins to be opened. When, from the rapid effusion of blood, he felt his extremities becoming chill, but while still retaining full consciousness, he recalled to recollection and began to repeat aloud some verses which he had once composed descriptive of a wounded soldier perishing by a like death, and with these lines upon his lips expired (A. D. 65). The following inscription which, if genuine, seems to have been a tribute to his memory proceeding from the prince himself, was preserved at no distant period in one of the Roman churches: --
M. ANNAEO . LUCANO . CORDUBENSI . POETAE . BENEFICIO . NERONIS . FAMA . SERVATA.
From the birthday ode in honour of the deceased, addressed to his widow Polla Argentaria, by Statius, we gather that his earliest poem was on the death of Hector and the recovery of his body by Priam; the second, on the descent of Orpheus to the infernal regions; the third on the burning of Rome; the fourth, an address to his wife; the last, the Pharsalia; there is also an allusion to the success which attended his essays in prose composition, and we infer from an expression of Martial that his muse did not confine herself exclusively to grave and dignified themes. (Stat. Silv. ii. praef. and Carm. 7; Martial, Mart. 1.61, 7.21, 22, 23, 10.64, 14.194; Juv. 7.79; Tac. Ann. 15.49, 56, 70, 16.17; comp. Dialog. de Orat. 20; Hieron. in Chron. Euseb. n. 2080; Sidon. Apollin. 10.239, 23.165; Wernsdorff, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. iv. pp. 41, 587.)
II. In a short trumpery fragment entitled " Vita Lucani," ascribed to Suetonius, and which may be an extract from the treatise of that grammarian, " De claris Poetis," we are told that Lucan made his first public appearance by reciting at the quinquennial games the praises of Nero, who ranked him among his chosen friends, and raised him to the quaestorship. This good understanding, however, was short-lived, and the courtly bard having been, as he conceived, insulted by his patron, from that time forward seized every opportunity of attacking him in the most bitter lampoons, and eventually took a lead in the plot which proved the destruction of himself and his associates.
III. Another "Vita Lucani," said to be " Ex Commentario Antiquissimo," but which can scarcely be regarded as possessing much weight, furnishes sundry additional purticulars. It sets forth that he was born on the 3d of Nov. A. D. 39, that he was conveyed from his native country to Rome when only eight years old, that his education was superintended by the most eminent preceptors of the day, that he gave proofs of extraordinary precocity, attracted the attention of Nero, and while yet almost a boy was admitted into the senate, raised to the dignity of the quaestorship, that he exhibited in that capacity gladiatorial shows, and was soon after invested with a priesthood, that he incurred the hatred of Nero by defeating him and carrying off the prize with his Orpheus, in a poetical contest at the quinquennial games, in consequence of which he was prohibited from writing poetry or pleading at the bar; that, seeking revenge, he found death, and perished on the last day of April, A. D. 65, in the 26th year of his age. Then follows a catalogue of his works, many of the names being evidently corrupt: Iliacön. Suturnulia. Catascomon (probably Catacausmos, i. e. κατακαυσμός). Sylvarum X. Tragoedia Medea imperfecta. Salticae Fabulac XIV, Hippamata prosa
As to the accuracy of the above list it is impossible to offer even an opinion; but it is confirmed to a certain extent, at least, by an old scholiast upon Statius, generally known as Lutatius, who quotes some lines from the Iliacon (ad Stat. Theb. 3.641, and 6.322), besides which he gives two hexameters from a piece which he terns Catagonium (ad Stat. Theb. 9.424). With regard to the story of the public defeat sustained by Nero, which has been repeated again and again without any expression of distrust, and has afforded the subject of a glowing picture to a French critic, we may observe that it is passed over in silence by all our classical authorities, that it is at variance with the account given by the compiler of the life attributed to Suetonius, that, à priori, it is highly improbable that any literary man at that period, however vain and headstrong, much less a court favourite, whose nearest kinsmen were courtiers, would ever have formed the project of engaging seriously in a combat where success was ruin. That no such event took place under the circumstances represented above, can be proved from history, for the quinquennial competition (quinquennale certamen -- triplex, musicum, gymnicum, equestre) instituted by Nero, and called from him Neronia, was held for the first time A. D. 60, when, as we are expressly informed by Suetonius, " carminis Latini corona, de qua honestissimnus quisque contenderat ipsorum consensu concessam sibi recepit," words which indicate most clearly the amount of opposition offered by these mock antagonists; the second celebration did not take place until after the death of Piso and his confederates (Tac. Ann. 14.20, 16.4; Sueton. Ner. 12, comp. 21; D. C. 61.21). In all probability the fable arose from an obscure expression in the Genethliacon of Statius (5.58), which, although hard to explain, certainly affords no sufficient foundation for the structure which has been reared upon it.
[W.R]