(Marcus) Aristius Fuscus was a friend of the Roman poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

, and is mentioned in Satire I.9, Ode 1.22 and elsewhere. Horace addresses Epistle 1.10 to Fuscus and links Fuscus and himself as 'twins' separated by their love for the city and the country, respectively. In Horace's Satire 1.9, Fuscus meets Horace struggling with a boor but fails to save Horace.

Porphyrio ''Porphyrio'' is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the Rallidae, rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus ''Porphyrula'' or united with the galli ...

calls Fuscus an outstanding ''

grammaticus Grammaticus is the Latin word for grammarian; see Grammarian (Greco-Roman world). It is also used to refer to a Roman patrician school. As an agnomen, it may refer to: * Ammonius Grammaticus (4th century), Greek grammarian * Diomedes Grammaticus ( ...

'' (philologist or grammarian) and a writer of comedies, but

Helenius Acron Helenius Acron (or Acro) was a Roman commentator and grammarian, probably of the 3rd century AD, but whose precise date is not known. Helenius Acron is known to have written on Terence ('' Adelphi'' and ''Eunuchus'' at least) and Horace. These c ...

refers to him as a

tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

.'' Klebs E''
Prosopographia imperii romani
(PIR). — ''Berolini'': apvd Georgivm Reimervm, 1896. — Bd. I — Sp. 133. — № 860 An "Aristius Fuscus" also appears in

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

's comedy ''

Poetaster Poetaster , like rhymester or versifier, is a derogatory term applied to bad or inferior poets. Specifically, ''poetaster'' has implications of unwarranted pretensions to artistic value. The word was coined in Latin by Erasmus in 1521. It was fir ...

'' (1601).

Notes

1st-century BC Romans Horace {{AncientRome-bio-stub