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\f8Wordplay\f6 is indulged in to some extent.
A few instances are simple puns;
so: \f7fax stellis comitata nouis incendia\f6 (v. 139),
a familiar play on the related etymologies of the word for hair and the word for a comet.
Slightly more sophisticated is: \f7sunt qui coniugibus maerentia pectora iungant\f6 (v. 229).
This is a play on the derivation of \f7coniunx\f6:
there is an echo of the \f7*iug-\f6 root
in both \f7coniugibus\f6 and \f7iungant\f6.
A translation maintaining the link might run something like:
``some join themselves to those with whom they are joined in marriage.''
In addition to these simply playful examples,
Eumolpus demonstrates he can develop puns which are more innovative.
Connors draws attention to the words \f7non uerno persona cantu /
mollia discordi strepitu uirgulta locuntur\f6 (v. 72–3),
used to describe the birdless setting for the meeting of Dis and Fortuna.
The pun is on the name of the place, Avernus, which was renowned for
being birdless and whose name had been related to both the Latin word
for bird, \f7auis\f6, and the Greek word for birdless, αορνοσ.
``Though \f7non\f6 negates \f7loquuntur\f6 in the following line,
the juxtaposition of \f7non\f6 and \f7uerno\f6 momentarily
re-etymologizes the name of Lake Avernus.''\|\c
.f "Connors (1998) 122."
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Other examples of wordplay contribute an additional hint of foreboding
to their context.
The ``useless uses'' (\f7uanos … usus\f6, v. 92)
which Romans find for construction materials
point up the paradox of Roman excess.
The words \f7onerata triumphis\f6 (v. 157)
hint at the great burden which success brings,
recalling the conceit of vv.\ 63–6,
where the earth could not bear the combined burden
of the graves of Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar.
That passage was also concerned with the concept of weight,
and its sentential cap, \f7hos gloria reddit honores\f6,
plays on the supposed connection between
the words \f7honos\f6 and \f7onus\f6.\c
.f "Connors (1989) 70; Varro quotes the common saying: \
\f7onus est honos qui sustinet rem publicam\f6, \f7Ling.\f6 5.73."
The German blood which Caesar has spilt
(\f7Germano perfusas sanguine turmas\f6, v. 214)
foreshadows the brotherly blood to be spilt in the Civil War,
punning on the adjectives \f7Germanus/germanus\f6.\c
.f "Another popular pun, \
cf. \f7Germanum Cimber occidit\f6, Cic. \f7Phil.\f6 11.6.14; \
Quint. \f7Inst.\f6 8.3.29."
Finally, Eumolpus' decision to have Discordia refer to the city Dyrrhachium
by its former name in her exhortation of Pompey
(\f7Epidamni moenia quaere\f6, v. 293)
is surely due to the dark overtones to be got from the term `Epidamnus'.\c
.f "Perhaps the reason for the change of the city's name; Plin. \f7Nat.\f6 3.23."
Lucan employs the same technique at \f7Phars.\f6 10.540–6;\c
.f "Rose (1971) 65."
the fact that Eumolpus breaks off here, just as Lucan breaks off his \f7Pharsalia\f6,
lends the pun an even greater sense of foreboding.
On the whole, the \f7Bellum Ciuile\f6 demonstrates a range of wordplay,
from conventional puns to the more innovative variety,
and to those which are more sinisterly proleptic.

The preceding has shown that on several points
of metrical, linguistic, and rhetorical technique
the \f7Bellum Ciuile\f6 produces useful poetic effects.
Such achievements may not be testament to great originality,
but after all that is not the aim of its author, who seeks to conserve, not innovate.
Rather, an appreciation of the poetical attributes of Eumolpus' \f7magnum opus\f6
ought simply to prove that the poem is not altogether without merit.
Indeed, the findings presented here suggest that even ``mediocre''
is not as appropriate a label for the \f7Bellum Ciuile\f6 as is usually accepted;
that is, the poem's many qood qualities seem to outweigh the bad.
But before the implications of a better-than-mediocre Eumolpus can be dealt with,
the poet's success ought also to be judged against the
programmatic precepts which he helpfully offers.