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.RECEPTION AND INFLUENCEAs mentioned above, Lucan’s widow, Polla, likely took care to publish his poetry.During his life the civil-war epic had caused enough sensation to inspire a smart parody of the first book by Petronius in his satirical novel the Satyricon (for a translation of which see the appendix in this volume).Had Nero lived longer it is conceivable that efforts to suppress the epic might have occurred.As it was, Lucan’s ignominious end as a conspirator against Nero sufficed to cast a radioactive cloud over his name and verses; or so one surmises from the sharply divided opinion on his epic in the next generation.His poems were popular enough to sell well, but still generated negative criticism.The epigrammatist Martial (who was Lucan’s age, but lived into Trajan’s reign, dying ca.AD 104) summarized Lucan’s current reputation thus:There are some who say that I am not a poet.But the bookseller who sells me sure thinks so.(14.194)Martial is apparently countering the view of certain harsh critics with the author’s obvious popularity in the market.Suetonius’ life of Lucan, probably written in the reign of Trajan (98–117) and generally unfavorable, ends with this comment on Lucan’s dissemination: “I remember his poems being lectured on, copies made and put out for sale, not only with care and attention to detail but also poor, sloppy editions.” With a touch of disdain this makes the same point as Martial: Lucan’s poetry (one assumes especially his epic) had made it into the curriculum of at least some schools, and enjoyed a vigorous appeal on the street, such that upscale and down-market publishers found it worth the ink and papyrus to have their scribes make copies.The rhetorician Quintilian (ca.35–100, also from Spain; it is possible he met Lucan and/or Seneca) wrote a brief judgment on Lucan that both reflects the contemporary range of opinion and has greatly influenced his later reception: “Lucan is fiery and excited and most illustrious for his clever phrases [sententiae], and (to say what I think) should be imitated more by orators than by poets” (Inst.10.1.90).This laconic sentence is frequently read as sharply dismissive, but this oversimplifies it.For Quintilian clearly grants Lucan’s merits—abundant energy and skillful expression—then presents him as a model for orators, at least, if not one easily imitated by other poets.That he is exemplary for orators is praise in a textbook on the art of rhetoric.Still, the studied qualification seems again to reflect the opinion that Lucan is not quite a poet, or somehow does not set a good example for poets.The weird view that Lucan was simply “not a poet” quickly worked its way into the received wisdom of late imperial grammarians.The Christian rhetorician Lactantius (ca.240–320), the Virgilian commentator Servius (early fifth century), and the encyclopedist Isidore of Seville (ca.560–636) all reflect this view.16 Servius wrote: “Lucan hasn’t earned a place in the number of poets, since he seems to have composed history, not a poem” (commentary on Aen.1.382).Isidore expands, with an opinion some scholars have attributed to Suetonius: “a poet has the duty to take things that have actually happened and give them a different appearance with ambiguous/indirect images [obliquis figurationibus], transforming them with a certain dignity.For this reason Lucan is not put in the number of poets…[same as in Servius above].” It is beside the point here that a reasonable case can be made that Lucan fits this description of the poet’s duty.Modern critics have shown that the real issue is Lucan’s refusal to represent gods in human form, following the paradigmatic model that looms behind this reductive definition of “poetry”: Virgil’s Aeneid.Since epic narrative represents gods acting in human history and Lucan’s poem does not, therefore it cannot be epic or, more sweeping, not a poem, nor its author a poet
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