Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/838

Rh 824 LUCILIUS. antiquity alone, just as we ourselves speak fami- liarly of old Chaucer and old Marlowe. The writings of Lucilius being filled with strange and obsolete words, proved peculiarly attractive to the grammarians, many of whom devoted them- selves almost exclusively to their illustration. At a very early period the diflferent pieces seem to have been divided into thirty books, which bore the general name of Safirae, each book, in all pro- bability, containing several distinct essays. Up- wards of eight hundred fragments from these have been preserved, but the greater number consist of isolated couplets, or single lines, or even parts of lines, the longest of the relics, which is a defence of virtue, and is quoted by Lactantius {Instit. Div. vi. 5), extending to thirteen verses only. From such disjointed scraps, it is almost impossible to form any judgment with regard to the skill dis- played in handling the various topics which in turn afforded him a theme ; but it is perfectly clear that his reputation for caustic pleasantry was by no means unmerited, and that in coarseness and broad personalities he in no respect fell short of the licence of the old comedy, which would seem to have been, to a certain extent, his model. It is manifest also, that although a considerable portion of these remarkable productions were satirical in the commonly received acceptation of the term, that is, were levelled against the vices and follies of his age, they embraced a much wider field than that over which Horace permitted himself to range, for not only did they comprise dissertations on re- ligion, morals, and criticism, an account of a journey from Rome to Capua, and from thence to the Sici- lian Strait, which evidently served as a model for the celebrated journey to Brundisium ; but a large part of one book, the ninth, was occupied with dis- quisitions on orthography, and other grammatical technicalities. The theme of his sixteenth book was his mistress Collyra, to whom it was inscribed. Of the thirty books, the first twenty and the thirtieth appear to have been composed entirely in heroic hexameters ; the remaining nine in iambic and trochaic measures. There are, it is true, several apparent exceptions, but these may be ascribed to some error in the number of the book as quoted by the grammarian, or as copied by the transcriber. The fragments of Lucilius were first collected by Bobert and Henry Stephens, and printed in the Fragmenta Poetarum Veterum Latinorum^ 8vo. Paris, 1564. They were published separately, with considerable additions, by Franciscus Dousa, Lug. Bat. 4to. 1597, whose edition yas reprinted by the brothers Volpi, 8vo. Patav. 1735 ; and, along with Censorinus, by the two sons of Haver- camp, Lug. Bat. 8vo. 1743. They will be found attached to the Bipont Persius, 8vo. 1785 ; to the Persius of Achaintre, 8vo. Paris, 1811, and are included in the Corpus Poetarum Laiinorum of M. Maittaire, fol. Lond. 1713, vol. ii. p. 1496. (A number of the controverted points with regard to the life and writings of Lucilius have been investi- gated with great industry by Varges in his Speci- nien Quaestionum Lucilianarum, published in the Rheinisches Museum for 1835, p. 13. Consult also Bayle's Dictionary, art. Lucile ; Fr. Wiillner, de Laevio Poeta, 8vo. Monast. 1830 ; and Van Heusde, Studia Critica in C. Lucilium, 8vo. Traj. ad Rhen. 1842.) [W. R.] LUCI'LIUS JUNIOR, a poem in 640 hex- ameters, entitled Aetna, has been transmitted to LUCILLA. us, exhibiting throughout great command of lan- guage, and containing not a few brilliant passages. The object proposed is not so much to present a highly coloured picture of the terrors of an eruption as to explain upon philosophical principles, after the fashion of Lucretius, the causes of the various physical phenomena presented by the volcano, and to demonstrate the folly of the popular belief which regarded the earthquakes and the flames as pro- duced by the struggles and the fiery breathing of imprisoned giants, or by the anvils and furnaces of the swart Cyclopes. With regard to the author all is doubt. The piece was at one time generally supposed to belong to Virgil, in consequence, it would seem, of an expression in the biography of that poet, which bears the name of Donatus (scrip- sit etiam, de qua amhigitur, Aetnam) ; some of the earlier scholars believed it to be the work of Pe- tronius, probably from having found it attached to the MSS. of the Satyricon ; by Julius Scallger it was ascribed to Quintilius Varus ; by Joseph Scaliger (and his opinion has found many sup- porters), to Cornelius Severus [Severus], who is known to have written upon this topic, while others have imagined that they could detect the hand of Manilius or of Claudian. Wernsdorlf, followed by Jacob, the most recent editor, fixes upon Lucilius Junior, procurator of Sicily, the friend to whom Seneca addresses his Epistles, his Natural Questions, and his tract on Providence, and whom he strongly urges to select this very subject of Etna as a theme for his muse. Although it is perfectly vain, in the absence of all direct evidence, to pronounce dogmatically upon the question of authorship, we may, from a careful examination of the style, language, and allusions, decide with certainty that it is not a production of the Augustan age, and therefore cannot be assigned to Severus; but whether it belongs to the Neronian epoch, or to a much later date, as Barthius main- tains, it is impossible to determine. (Donatus, Vit. Virg. 7; Vincent. Bellovac. Specul. Histor. vii. 62, xx. 20 ; Jacob Magn. Sopholog. iv. 1 ; Jul. Scalig. Ht/percrit. 7 ; Jos. Scalig. Not. in Jet?iam; Barth. Advers. xlix. 6, ad Stat. TJieb. x. 91 1 ; Senec. Epist. Ixxix.; comp. Ep. xix. Quaest. Natural, iv. praef.) [W. R.] LUCILLA, A'NNIA, daughter of M. Aurelius and the younger Faustina, was bom about A. d. 147. Upon the death of Antoninus Pius, in a. d. 161, she was betrothed to the emperor, L. Verus, who was at that time setting out upon an expedi- tion against the Parthians, and joined her husband at Ephesus three years later. After his death, which happened in a. D. 169, hastened, according to Capitolinus (M. Aurel. c. 26), by poison from her hands, she was given in marriage to Claudius Porapeianus, a native of Antioch, who, although of equestrian rank only, was much esteemed on ac- count of his great abilities and high character. Lucilla accompanied M. Aurelius to the East at the period of the rebellion of Avidius Cassius ; and after her father's death, was treated with much distinction by her brother, Commodus ; but being jealous of the superior honours paid to his empress, Crispina, and eager to get rid of a husband, whom she despised, as far inferior to herself, she engaged in a plot against the life of the prince, which, having been detected, she was banished to the island ot Capreae, and there put to death, about the year A. D. 183. The story of her having been accessory