La Mort de Pompée dans la Pharsale de Lucain: l'infamie transfigurée

Abstract

The Pharsalia of Lucan describes the complete destruction of moral values during the Civil War. In this terrifying context, the death of the characters is particularly instructive to understand the influence of events on human destiny. The only protagonist whose death is shown is Pompeius, and his death shows that vice and virtue, good and evil, horror and hope are mixed even at this crucial moment. Although his attitude during the battle of Pharsalia is highly reprehensible, the imminence of death transforms him deeply: the Stoic conception of virtue seems to reappear in a very paradoxical way.