Gaius Valgius Rufus, was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
senator, and a contemporary of
Horace and
Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the re ...
. He succeeded
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art.
Family
Corvinus was the son of the consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger,Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', ...
as
suffect consul upon the latter's death in 12 BC. Rufus is best known as a writer of elegies and epigrams, and his contemporaries believed him capable of great things in epic writing. The author of the
panegyric on Messalla Corvinus compared Rufus as the equal of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
.
Rufus did not confine himself to poetry. He discussed grammatical questions by correspondence, translated the rhetorical manual of his teacher
Apollodorus of Pergamon Apollodorus ( grc, Ἀπολλόδωρος) of Pergamon was a rhetorician of ancient Greece who was the author of a school of rhetoric called after him ''Apollodoreios Hairesis'' (Ἀπολλοδωρειος αἵρεσις), which was subsequently ...
, and began a treatise on medicinal plants, dedicated to
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 Pr ...
. Horace addressed to him the ninth ode of the second book of his poems.
References
Further reading
*
Jonathan August Weichert, ''Poetarum Latinorum...Vitae et Carminum Reliquiae'' (1830)
*
Robert Unger, ''De Valgii Rufi poematis'' (1848)
*
Otto Ribbeck
Johann Carl Otto Ribbeck (23 July 1827, in Erfurt – 18 July 1898, in Leipzig) was a German classical scholar. His works are mostly confined to criticisms of Latin poetry and to classical character sketches.
Biography
He was born at Erfurt in S ...
, ''Geschichte der romischen Dichtung'' (1889), ii.
*
Martin Schanz
Martin Schanz (12 June 1842 – 15 December 1914) was a German classicist and Plato scholar. He was a Dozent and Professor at the University of Würzburg from 1867 to 1912, and is especially known for his history of Roman literature and his grou ...
, ''Geschichte der romischen Litteratur'' (1899), ii.
*
Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel
Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel (; September 27, 1820March 8, 1878), German classical scholar, was born at Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1849 he was appointed extraordinary, in 1857 ordinary professor in the university of Tübingen, whic ...
, ''History of Roman Literature'' (Eng. trans., 1900), 241
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valgius Rufus
Rufus
Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin '' rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include:
Given name
Politicians
* Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician
* Rufus ...
Golden Age Latin writers
1st-century BC Romans
1st-century BC Roman poets
Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome