M. annaei lucani pharsalia, sive de bello civili Caesaris et Pompeii lib x

Amstelodami [i.e. Amsterdam]: Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1681. 330pp. Contemporary blind-ruled sheep, blind-stamped initials 'W. M.' to both boards. Extremities marked and heavily worn. Hinges exposed, early inked calculations and later book-label of David Crawford to FEP, without FFEP, title page browned, with early inked ownership inscriptions of 'Lucan', 'Gulielme Murray', and 'J. Robertson' to verso. An adaptation by schoolteacher and grammarian Thomas Farnaby (1574/5-1647), with notes by Dutch humanist, Hugo Grotius (1583- 1646), of Roman poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus' (39-65 AD) Pharsalia. Also known as De Bello Civili, the verse epic recounts in ten books the civil war between Caesar and the traditionalist elements of the Roman Senate, with forces led by Pompey. Lucan's inspiration for the title is taken from the decisive Battle of Pharsalus, which secured victory for Caesar's forces in 48 BC - an account of which occupies the entire seventh book. Beginning in 1612 with the satires of Juvenal and Persius, Farnaby annotated the works of many classical authors (Ovid, Virgil, Martial, Seneca, and Terence) with the intention to render them more accessible for the classroom. . 12mo.