Sarsfield, Patrick, earl of Lucan, d. 1693, Irish Jacobite general. A firm supporter of James II, he went with him into exile. He commanded James's forces in Ireland and had some successes, bu...

Pharsalus, ancient city, Thessaly, Greece. Near there in 48 B.C., Julius Caesar decisively defeated Pompey, who had a much larger force. Lucan's Bellum Civile (often called Pharsalia) is an ep...

Spanish literature, the literature of Spain. Literature flourished on the Iberian Peninsula long before the evolution of the modern Spanish language. The Latin writers Seneca, Lucan, Martial, ...

Caledonia, Roman name for that part of the island of Great Britain that lies N of the firths of Clyde and Forth. The name first occurs in the works of Lucan (1st cent. A.D.) and has been used ...

May, Thomas, 1595–1650, English author, b. Sussex, grad. Cambridge, 1612. Besides writing several tragedies on classical subjects, he wrote two comedies, The Heir (1620) and The Old Couple (c....

Seneca, the elder (Lucius, or Marcus, Annaeus Seneca), c.60 B.C.–c.A.D. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spain; grandfather of Lucan and father of Seneca the...

Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de, 1580–1645, Spanish satirist, novelist, and wit, b. Madrid. In 1611 he fled to Italy after a duel and became involved in revolutionary plottings. When Philip I...

Housman, A. E. (Alfred Edward Housman), 1859–1936, English poet and scholar, whose verse exerted a strong influence on later poets. He left Oxford without a degree because he had failed his fi...

Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar), A.D. 37–A.D. 68, Roman emperor (A.D. 54–A.D. 68). He was originally named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and was the son of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul in A.D...