Alphius Avitus was a Latin poet believed to have flourished during the reigns of the Roman emperors

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

and

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

, that is, the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD. Many suppose him to be the same person with

Alfius Flavus Alfius may refer to various members of the Roman '' gens Alfia''. It may also refer to: * ''Alfius'' (beetle), a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Chrysomelinae * Nicolaas Alfius, a member of the Indonesia national rugby union team The ...

—the precocious pupil of

Lucius Cestius Pius Lucius Cestius, surnamed Pius, Latin rhetorician, flourished during the reign of Augustus. He was a native of Smyrna, a Greek by birth. According to Jerome, he was teaching Latin at Rome in the year 13 BC. He must have been living after AD 9, sin ...

and contemporary with

Seneca the Elder Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder (; c. 54 BC – c. 39 AD), also known as Seneca the Rhetorician, was a Roman writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Corduba, Hispania. He wrote a collection of reminiscences about the Roman schools of rheto ...

, who while only a boy was so renowned for his eloquence that crowds flocked to listen to his orations—and with a "Flavius Alfius", who is referred to by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

as an authority for a story about dolphins. This has led some scholars to conjecture that this person's full, correct name may have been "Flavus Alfius Avitus". All this is very uncertain. We know from the ancient grammarian Terentianus that Alphius Avitus composed a work about "Illustrious Men", in

iambic dimeter An iamb () or iambus is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody: a short syllable followed by a long syllable (as in () "beautiful (f. ...

s, extending to several books; and eight lines are cited by

Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...

from the second book, forming a part of the legend of the Faliscan schoolteacher who betrayed his students to

Marcus Furius Camillus Marcus Furius Camillus (; c. 446 – 365 BC) was a Roman soldier and statesman of the patrician class. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the title of ''Second Founder ...

; besides which, three lines more from the first book are contained in some manuscripts of the same grammarian. These fragments are given in the '' Latin Anthology'' of

Pieter Burman the Younger Pieter Burman (23 October 1713 – 24 June 1778), also known as Peter or Pieter Burmann ( la, Petrus Burmannus) and distinguished from his uncle as (' or '), was a Dutch philologist. Life Born at Amsterdam, he was brought up by his uncle ...

. There is also an "Alpheus Philologus," from whom

adduces five words, and an "Alfius" whose work on the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

is mentioned by

Festus Festus may refer to: People Ancient world *Porcius Festus, Roman governor of Judea from approximately 58 to 62 AD *Sextus Pompeius Festus (later 2nd century), Roman grammarian *Festus (died 305), martyr along with Proculus of Pozzuoli *Festus (h ...

.Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. iii. p. xxxi., vol. iv. pars ii. p. 826

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alphius Avitus Classical Latin-language writers Ancient Roman poets Latin writers known only from secondary sources 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans 1st-century BC writers 1st-century writers

See also

References