Conclusion

The Conclusion ties together the variety of ways Lucan seeks to uproot and close off the epic genre and then considers what he does make survive—that is, where there may be openings in this grand gesture of closure. With the story of Rome dead and now an object of lament, with that story transformed into the story of the place that killed Rome, what lives on is Pharsalia nostra. This is the story of a dead thing that lives on; and Lucan’s persistent manner of personifying and giving agency to “Pharsalia” throughout the poem reinforces this sense. In this regard, Lucan puts an end to the epic genre while his own epic lives on, opening itself up to not only readers living under the reign of Nero, but also new readers in new times.