Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/70

 34 Cicero in Bruto. Nonius Marcellus, lusGe'llius, &c. Vofiiusde pnet. Latm _ tuc. xiu. C.'ic. Rhe- toric, lib. H. A C C I U S. Rome 583; but there appears fomewhat of confufion and perplexity in this chronology. He made himfelf known be- fore the death of Pacuvius, a dramatic piece of his being ex- hibited the fame year that Pacuvius brought one upon the fiage, the latter being then eighty years of age, and Accius only thirty. We do not know the name of this piece of Accius, but the tides of feveral of his tragedies are mentioned by various Authors. He wrote on the moft celebrated ftories w hj cn had been reprefented on the Athenian ftage, as An- dromache, And/omeda, Atreus, Clytemncftra, Medea, Me- leager, Philocletes, the civil wars of Thebes, Tereus, the Troades, &c. He did not always, however, take his fubjech from the Grecian ftory ; for he compofed one dramatic piece wholly Roman : it was intituled Brutus, and related to the expulilon of the Tarquins. It is affirmed by fome, that he wiote alfo comedies, which is not unlikely, if he was the au- thor of two pieces, the Wedding, and the Merchant, which have been afcribed to him. He did not confine himfelf to Dramatic writing, for he left other productions, particularly his Annals, mentioned by Macrobius, Prifcian, Feftus, and Nonius Marcellus. Decimus Brutus, who was conful in the year of Rome 615, and had the honour of a triumph for feve- lal victories gained in Spain, was his particular friend and patron. This general was fo highly pleafed with the vevfes which Accius wrote in his praife, that he had theai infcribed at the entrance of the temples and monuments raifed out of the fpoils of the vanquilhed. Though this might proceed from a principle of vanity, and may not be fo much a proof of his affection for the poet as his love of applaufe ; yet it is thereby evident, that Brutus had an opinion of Accius's poetry, and Brutus was far from being a contemptible judge. He has been cenfured for writing in too harfh a ftyle, but in all other refpecls efieemed a very great poet. Aulus Gellius tells us, i^at Accius, being in his way to Afia, palled through Taren- tum, where he paid a vifit to Pacuvius, and read to him his play of Atreus ; that Pacuvius told him his verfe was lofty and fororous, but fomewhat harfh and crude,. * c It is as " my future productions will be better upon this account; for <c as in fruit fo in geniufes, thofe which are at firft harfh and " four, become mellow and agreeable; but fuch as are at firft " foft and fweet, grow in a fhort time not ripe, but rotten." Accius was fo much efteemed by the public, that a comedian was punifned for only mentioning his name on the ftage. Cicero fpeaks with great derifion of one Accius who had written a hiftory,
 * c you obferve," faid Accius, " nor am I forry for it, fince