The Student's Companion to Latin Authors

Livius Andronicus, 1; Naevius, 4; Plautus, 7; Ennius, 26; Pacuvius, 34; Caecilius Statius, 37; Terence, 39; Early Minor Authors, 52; Cato, 53; Accius, 55; Lucilius, 58; Atta and...

Cicero, 69; Q. Cicero, 89; Tiro, 90; Atticus, 90; Varro, 91; Laberius, 97; Bibaculus, 99; Caesar and the Corpus Caesarianum, 100; Pollio, 112; Nepos, 112; Lucretius, 119; Sallus...

Velleius Paterculus, 231; Valerius Maximus, 234; Celsus, 235; Phaedrus, 237; Seneca the Younger, 240; Curtius Rufus, 256; Columella, 258; Pomponius Mela, 259; Persius, 260; Luca...

L. Livius Andronicus, according to the poet Accius, was taken prisoner at the capture of Tarentum by Q. Fabius Maximus in B.C. 209, and exhibited his first play in B.C. 197.

Naevius was banished and went to Utica, where he died, probably about B.C. 199. It must have been after peace was concluded (B.C. 202), as otherwise he could have reached Utica...

etc., says that Varro admitted twenty-one plays which were given by all the canons, and added some more. 'Nam praeter illas unam et viginti, quae Varronianae vocantur, quas idci...

The inference from l. 979, 'Nam ecastor nunc Bacchae nullae ludunt,' that the play was written after the S.C. de Bacchanalibus in B.C. 186, is improbable; the words rather show,...

Now, triumphs were not frequent till after the Second Punic War, and were especially frequent from B.C. 197 to 187. The play probably refers to the four triumphs of B.C. 189, an...

15. _Poenulus_.--The original was a Greek play, +Karchêdonios+, the author of which is unknown, as the fragments of Menander's +Karchêdonios+ do not fit in with Plautus' play. T...

Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius; iii., the last three kings; iv.-v., the republic down to the war with Pyrrhus; vi., the war with Pyrrhus; vii., First Punic War, etc....

Servius on Verg. _Aen._ viii. 630-4, says 'Sane totus hic locus Ennianus est.' Cf. Servius also on _Aen._ i. 20; xi. 608, etc. A large number of imitations are quoted by Macrobi...

M. Pacuvius, the son (not grandson as Jerome states) of Ennius' sister, was born at Brundisium, B.C. 220, spent most of his life at Rome, and died at Tarentum shortly before B.C...

Jerome yr. Abr. 1838 = B.C. 179, 'Statius Caecilius comoediarum scriptor clarus habetur, natione Insuber Gallus et Ennii primum contubernalis. Quidam Mediolanensem ferunt. Mortu...

Terence died B.C. 159, on his way home from Greece, where he had probably gone the year before. The place of his death is uncertain. Whatever plays he may have written while in...

The play was produced at the Ludi Megalenses in B.C. 163, as is seen from the didascalia, 'Incipit Heauton Timorumenos Terenti. Acta ludis Megalensib. L. Cornelio Lentulo L. Val...

The same subject was treated by _L. Cincius Alimentus_, who was praetor B.C. 210 (Liv. xxvi. 23, i), and took an active part in the war in Sicily during the next two years (Liv....

Two divisions of the work may be recognized--(i) Books i.-xxi. (to which xxii.-xxv. may be an addition) in hexameters; these Books are referred to as one collection by Varro, _L...

M. Tullius Cicero, the son of a Roman knight, was born at Arpinum on 3rd January, B.C. 106. Jerome yr. Abr. 1911, 'M. Tullius Cicero Arpini nascitur matre Helvia, patre equestri...

Lucullus, Catulus, Hortensius, and Cicero, and the scene, Hortensius' villa. Cicero was not satisfied with this arrangement (_ad Att._ xiii. 12, 3, 'homines nobiles illi quidem,...

scripseras, totam Academiam ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli transtulique ad nostrum sodalem et ex duobus libris contuli in quattuor'). Of this second edition in four Books we...

establish Caesar's veterans in Campania: Plin. _N.H._ vii. 176, 'Varro auctor est xx. viro se agros dividente Capuae,' etc. He also held the office of tribune (Gell. xiii. 12, 6...

According to Jerome, Bibaculus was born B.C. 103, but, as he laughs at the old age of the grammarian Orbilius (114-c. 17 B.C.), authorities put the date twenty years later.

Memmius on behalf of Patro for the preservation of the gardens of Epicurus), it appears that he was not an Epicurean. Memmius is the only contemporary mentioned by Lucretius; i....

swerve introduced to explain free-will. The varieties of atoms are shown to be limited. In Book iii. the nature of the mind and life is shown to be material. _Religio_ and the f...

and particularly of love. Book v. treats of the formation of the earth and the heavenly bodies, the origin of life, and the progress of civilization. It is shown that nothing ha...

The object of the book is to give a picture of the low state of the oligarchical government (cf. _Iug._ 8, 'Romae omnia venalia esse'), and to glorify Marius, the chief of the d...

It is probable that the acquaintance began in B.C. 61. In B.C. 62 Clodia was the wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer (Cic. _ad Fam._ v. 2, 6), and in that year Metellus was gove...

When Catullus, on account of his brother's death, left Rome for Verona, he already knew that Lesbia had other lovers (c. 68, ll. 27 _sqq._, 135 _sqq._). There are many poems aga...

is from Euphorion, fr. 158 (Meineke), +Okeanos, tô pasa perirrytos endedetai chthôn+; c. 63, the 'Attis' in Galliambic metre; c. 62, a translation of a Sapphic epithalamium. C....

Our chief authority for the life of Virgil, apart from his own writings and those of his contemporaries, is Donatus, whose work is probably based on Suetonius' _De Poetis_. Dona...

Mantua, while in ll. 39-43 a Sicilian scene is introduced from Theocritus. The lofty mountains, _e.g._ 1, 84, are Sicilian, and so are many of the trees, as chestnut and pine, w...

Donatus, 'Cui [Augusto] multo post perfectaque demum materia tres omnino libros recitavit, secundum quartum sextum, sed hunc notabili Octaviae adfectione, quae cum recitationi i...

to Maecenas in the spring of B.C. 38. Now all the references to Maecenas, with the exception of the prologue in _Sat._ 1 (written last), are in the second half of the book, ther...

time. We have references to Actium (B.C. 31), as in _Sat._ ii. 5, 63; and _Sat._ ii. 1 (written last) speaks of Augustus (ll. 11-15) as the hero in war, not yet the bringer of p...

offence, and in _Sat._ i. 10 he gives reasons for his former criticism. Horace's Epicureanism is more pronounced in Book i. than in Book ii. In _Sat._ i. 1 and i. 3 (cf. ll. 99-...

institutions of Augustus: (1) the professional soldier as opposed to the citizen-soldier of the republic. The officers were taken from the two privileged classes, and there was...

iii. 3 touches intimately the political questions of the day. Pointed reference is made to Cleopatra; she is the _mulier peregrina_ (l. 20), the _Lacaena adultera_ (l. 25), who...

Delia's real name was Plania (+dêlos+ = _planus_): cf. Apuleius, _Apol._ 10, 'eadem igitur opera accusent ... Tibullum quod ei sit Plania in animo Delia in versu.' She was a _li...

Tibullus was on friendly terms with Horace, who addressed to him _Od._ i. 33 and _Ep._ i. 4. Horace was doubtless attracted by the frank nature of Tibullus (_Ep._ i. 4, 1, 'Albi...

written several years later. It is unfinished, not having received the author's final revision, and was probably published soon after his death, certainly several years before O...

of that name is mentioned in ancient literature, and it has been suggested that the author may have been a young relative of Tibullus who used a Greek adaptation of the gentile...

The remarkable coincidence between iii. 5, 15-20, and Ovid, _A.A._ ii. 669-70, _Tr._ iv. 10, 6, _Amor._ ii. 14, 23-4, is best explained by Hiller (_Hermes_, xviii. 360-1), who s...

He had been introduced to Maecenas after the publication of his first Book, but naturally was not on such intimate terms with him as older men like Virgil and Horace were. ii. 1...

He sought no higher office, having neither strength nor inclination for the Senate; he assumed the narrow stripe of the _eques_, and devoted himself to poetry and pleasure. _Tr....

'Carmina cum primum populo iuvenilia legi, barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit. Moverat ingenium totam cantata per urbem nomine non vero dicta Corinna mihi. Multa quidem scrip...

The work is thus a medley of religion, history, and astrology, and in its explanations of customs may be compared to the +Aitia+ of Callimachus. For information about religious...

Quint. ii. 5, 20, 'quemadmodum Livius praecipit' (on models of style); Sen. _Contr._ ix. 2, 26, 'Livius de oratoribus ... aiebat' (on obscurity of expression); Sen. _Contr._ ix....

exposui.' The division into decades (_i.e._ sets of ten Books) is first mentioned towards the end of the fifth century; it is merely a conventional arrangement, the subject-matt...

auctorem habui'; xxi. 38, 3, 'L. Cincius Alimentus, qui captum se ab Hannibale scribit, maxime auctor moveret.' Criticism of his authorities is most conspicuous in the case of V...

In dealing with the legendary period he admits that his narrative has no trustworthy foundation, and gives it merely for what it is worth: Praef. 6, 'Quae ante conditam condenda...

C.[72] Velleius Paterculus was born at latest B.C. 19, as he was quaestor-elect A.D. 6. He was descended from a distinguished family in Campania (Vell. ii. 16, 2; Liv. xxiii. 7...

ministerii locum. Finita equestri militia designatus quaestor necdum senator aequatus senatoribus, etiam designatis tribunis plebei, partem exercitus ab urbe traditi ab Augusto...

There are, besides the five Books, thirty fables usually printed as an appendix, and probably composed by Phaedrus. The fables are all in 'impure' iambic senarii, like those of...

L. Annaeus Seneca, the son of Annaeus Seneca, the rhetor, was born at Corduba in Spain. For information about his family see under 'Seneca the elder,' pp. 226-7. He was probably...

sustinetur, ruit. Proinde iure meritoque populus Romanus salutem se principi suo debere profitetur, qui noctis, quam paene supremam habuimus, novum sidus inluxit. Huius hercule,...

'Non quia te superi patrio privare sepulchro maluerint, Phariae busto damnantur harenae: parcitur Hesperiae; procul hoc et in orbe remoto abscondat fortuna nefas, Romanaque tell...

The gods are not introduced as chief agents; cf. the censure of Petronius quoted below. Lucan prides himself on despising the gods, and substitutes for them his favourite divini...

_Rhetorical treatment_ is seen in (1) the vast amount of hyperbole employed; cf. the account of the siege of Massilia, iii. 538-762; (2) the geographical and mythological learni...

The full name of Silius is got from an inscription (_C.I.L._ vi. 1984), and is Ti. Catius Silius Italicus. Our chief information about his life is found in Pliny, _Epist._ iii....

The failure of Piso's conspiracy in A.D. 65 and the consequent downfall of the Senecas must have affected Martial's position. In A.D. 96 Martial addresses as his patroness Argen...

Martial is unsparing in his flattery of Domitian and his freedmen. Cf. ix. 79, iv. 45, of Parthenius, the emperor's chamberlain; vii. 99, viii. 48, of Crispinus, the emperor's f...

Later he had a house of his own (ix. 18, 2, etc.), and mentions his slaves (i. 101; v. 34, etc.). That he was still poor in A.D. 98 is evident from Pliny, _Ep._ iii. 21, 2, 'Pro...

_Martial's Models._--His manner is very original, but some of his motives are taken from Greek epigrammatists, especially from Lucillius, who flourished under Nero. Thus iv. 53...

In iv. 55, 3, Arpi is given as Cicero's birthplace; in v. 30, 2, etc., Calabria instead of Apulia is given as Horace's native district. Catullus is Martial's chief model for hen...

Some are tell-tale names, as Vetustilla, 'an old woman,' iii. 93; Dento, 'a gourmand,' v. 45; Eulogus, 'a herald,' vi. 8; but the same names, _e.g._ Zoilus, are often used to de...

Quintilian married late in life. His wife died at the age of eighteen, his younger son soon afterwards at the age of five, the elder one subsequently at the age of nine.

to the young princes, who are mentioned along with Geta and Quintilian's elder son; Book vi. prooem. was written not long afterwards, and refers to his bereavements; in Book xii...

satisfeceram huic parti, nihil eorum, quae legi vel didici, quod modo probabile fuit, omittendo; sed eruere in animo est, quae latent, et penitus ipsa huius loci aperire penetra...

quis eos antiquitatis nimius admirator in Graccorum Catonisque et aliorum similium lectione durescere velit ... Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis huius lasciviae flos...

'instantem regi Armenio Parthoque cometen,' refers to a comet seen at Rome in November A.D. 115; and 6, 411, 'nutare urbes, subsidere terras,' to the earthquake at Antioch, 13th...

eulogized in 7, 1-35. Dürr thinks it probable that 7, 36-243, was written under Trajan, and that the introduction, in praise of Hadrian, was written afterwards. This is also Fri...

Fonteius Capito and C. Iulius Rufus were consuls A.D. 67, in which year the sexagenarian friend whom Juvenal addresses was born. The date of writing will therefore be A.D. 127.[...

Pro Caecina, C. A. Jordan, Leip. '47 De Imp. Cn. Pompei, A. S. Wilkins, Lond. '94 Pro Cluentio, W. and G. G. Ramsay, Oxf. '89 Pro Cluentio, W. Y. Fausset, Lond. '88 De Lege Agra...

*Sallust.* Cat. and Iug., W. W. Capes, Oxf. '89 Cat. and Iug., C. Merivale, Lond. '84 Cat. and Iug., (and frags. of Hist.), R. Jacobs and H. Wirz, Berl. '94 Cat., A. M. Cook, Lo...

*Pliny the Elder.* L. van Jan and Mayhoff (text), Leip. '75-92 J. Sillig, Hamburg, '51-58 J. Hardouin, Paris, 1723 D. Detlefsen (crit.), Berl, '66-82 (Selections) Chrestomathia...

*Juvenal.* L. Friedländer, Leip. '95 A. Weidner, Leip. '89 XIII. Satires, J. E. B. Mayor, Lond. '93 " C. H. Pearson and H. A. Strong, Oxf. '92 " E. G. Hardy, Lond. '95