Abstract

Pompey's dialogue with his helmsman about celestial navigation at Lucan 8.165-92 is designed to illustrate the impossibility of mental escape from civil war. Seeking reassurance after Pharsalus in the Stoic refuge of astronomy, Pompey is instead reduced to despair by celestial portents of his imminent death, namely, the helmsman's reference to stellar deceit (a pessimistic reworking of Manilius) and his gratuitous mention of the ill-omened star Canopus. Pompey's mental collapse casts doubt on the usefulness of stellar observation for either consolation or spiritual progress, in contrast with the optimistic view of astronomy espoused by Lucan's uncle Seneca the Younger.