Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 May 2015
A small but significant aspect of Lucan's presentation of both Pompey and Caesar in the Bellum Civile is the use of complementary and contrasting doublets. In the case of Pompey, the doublet comprises the two dreams narrated at the beginning of Book 3 (of his dead wife Julia) and the beginning of Book 7 (of the crowd acclaiming him in his theatre); in the case of Caesar, it comprises the apparitions that mark the beginning and end of his presence in the poem, the first of the goddess Roma and the second of Scaeva, which because of their position have an obvious framing function.