The poet Lucan was born in Spain, and brought up under the direction of his uncle, the Stoic philosopher Seneca. He was also implicated, with far more justification than his uncle, in the Piso conspiracy of 65 AD to assassinate the emperor Nero, and was forced to commit suicide at the age of just 25.

The Pharsalia is an epic poem by Lucan recounting the story of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great (49-45 BCE), named after the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE) a defining moment in the conflict. Considered one of the greatest Latin poems of the Imperial period, it is presumed to be incomplete as it abruptly ends at the murder of Pompey in Alexandria in 48 BC. Because of this, the humanist scholar and professor of Grammar, Giovanni Sulpizio da Veroli added an extra eleven verses to 'complete' the work. It was very popular after the classical era becoming a staple school text, and more than 400 manuscript copies survive. It was first printed in 1469 by Sweynheim and Pannartz in Rome; this is the 5^th printed edition, produced by the otherwise unknown printer Guerinus.