Lucanian Pragmatism and the Manilian Cosmos

Abstract

Lucan’s invocation to Nero (1.33-66) is notorious for its seemingly contradictory praise and condemnation of the emperor. While analyses of this passage often turn to Virgil’s Georgics (1.24-28, 489-497, 500-515) to begin to explain this inherent paradox, Grimal (2010) has demonstrated the importance of Manilius’ Astronomica as a cosmological framework for these lines which invites a more positive reading of Nero’s presentation here. By examining the presence of two Manilian models in Lucan’s invocation to Nero, their contributions to the Lucanian cosmos, and their consequences for our understanding of the options laid out for the emperor’s heavenly future, this study argues for a more pragmatic—even hopeful—reading of Nero’s apotheosis and the implications of this for Lucan’s commentary on the Neronian present.