Nævius

Nævius, GNÆUS, with the exception of Livius Andronicus, the earliest of the creators of Latin literature, was born, probably in Campania, about 265 B.C. In his youth he served in the first Punic war, made his first appearance at Rome as a dramatic writer in 235, and continued his activity for thirty years. Of his life we know little, save that he was very decidedly attached to the plebeian party, and in his plays satirised and lampooned the Roman nobles with all the virulence and indiscretion of a hot-blooded impetuous Campanian—that Gascon of ancient Italy. He incurred the especial hostility of the Metelli, and was imprisoned at their instance, as we learn from a passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus. He was ultimately obliged to retire to Utica in Africa, where he died after 204. Besides his dramatic writings, comprising both tragedies and comedies, he wrote an epic poem, De Bello Punico, in the old Saturnian metre. His work bore the stamp of the national genius, and its vigour and invention gave pleasure to Cicero and to Horace. Only a few very unimportant fragments are extant, which may be found in editions more or less complete by Vahlen (1854) and Ribbeck, Secunæ Poesis Romanorum Fragmenta (2d ed. 1871-73). See also Sellar's Poets of the Roman Republic, and Ribbeck, Die Römische Tragödie (1875).