An Epic of Civil War

Lucan, Bellum Civile (aka Pharsalia) I.1-7 Wars more than civil through Emathian fields And right granted to wickedness we sing – A mighty people turning its right hand Fresh from conquest against its own innards, Battle-lines joined by kinship, and – the pact Of rule now shattered – a fight with all the strength Of the shaken world turned toward common blasphemy; Standards in the path of hostile standards, Equal eagles, and javelins threatening javelins. Bella per Emathios plus quam ciuilia campos iusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem in sua uictrici conuersum uiscera dextra cognatasque acies, et rupto foedere regni certatum totis concussi uiribus orbis in commune nefas, infestisque obuia signis signa, pares aquilas et pila minantia pilis.

The Battle of Pharsalus and the Death of Pompey, Apollonio di Giovanni, between 1455 and 1460