Servire and servare : the ideological tradition of dominance, subservience and tyrannicide in Lucan's Pharsalia

Abstract

The image of dominance, subservience and tyrannicide is prevalent in Lucan's Pharsalia. For him, Caesar's descendents will dominate the universe and enslave the people. Murder is the only political solution. This ideological belief has a Republican and Augustan tradition. Lucan's presentation of dominance and subservience exemplifies the evolution of a specific political ideology in the early Empire.