Lucilius Junior (fl. 1st century), was the

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

during the reign of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

, a friend and correspondent of

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, and the possible author of ''Aetna'', a poem that survives in a corrupt state.

Life

The information about Lucilius comes from

's writings, especially his '' Moral Letters'', which are addressed to Lucilius. Seneca also dedicated his ''

Naturales Quaestiones ''Naturales quaestiones'' (''Natural Questions'') is a Latin work of natural philosophy written by Seneca around 65 AD. It is not a systematic encyclopedia like the ''Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder, though with Pliny's work it represent ...

'' and his essay ''

De Providentia ''De Providentia'' (''On Providence'') is a short essay in the form of a dialogue in six brief sections, written by the Latin philosopher Seneca (died AD 65) in the last years of his life. He chose the dialogue form (as in the well-known Plato' ...

'' to Lucilius. Lucilius seems to have been a native of

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

, and Seneca refers repeatedly to "your beloved

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

." At the time Seneca wrote his ''Letters'' (c. 65 AD), Lucilius was the

(and possibly

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

) of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. He was a Roman Knight, a status he had achieved through "persistent work," and he owned a country villa in Ardea, south of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Seneca devotes one of his shorter letters to praising a book Lucilius had written, and elsewhere quotes a few lines of Lucilius' poetry.

''Aetna''

''Aetna'' is a 644-line poem on the origin of

volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...

, which has been variously attributed to

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

Cornelius Severus Cornelius Severus was an Augustan Age Roman epic poet who is mentioned in Quintilian and Ovid. Quintilian attests to an epic about the Sicilian Wars, ''Bellum Siculum,'' and Ovid refers to a long poem on Rome's ancient kings, which may be ''Res ...

, and

Manilius The gens Manilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are frequently confused with the Manlii, Mallii, and Mamilii. Several of the Manilii were distinguished in the service of the Republic, with Manius Manilius obtaini ...

. Its composition has been placed as far back as 44 BC, on the ground that certain works of art, known to have been removed to

about that date, are referred to as being at a distance from the city. But as the author appears to have known and made use of the ''

Quaestiones Naturales ''Naturales quaestiones'' (''Natural Questions'') is a Latin work of natural philosophy written by Seneca around 65 AD. It is not a systematic encyclopedia like the ''Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder, though with Pliny's work it represents ...

'' of Seneca (written c. 65 AD), and no mention is made of the great eruption of

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9 ...

(AD 79), the time of its composition seems to lie between these two dates. In favor of the authorship of Lucilius are the facts that he was a friend of Seneca and acquainted with his writings; that he had for some time held the office of imperial procurator of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and was thus familiar with the locality; and that he was the author of a poem on Sicilian subjects. It is objected that in the 79th letter of Seneca,Seneca, ''Epistles'', which is the chief authority on the question, he apparently asks that Lucilius should introduce the hackneyed theme of ''Aetna'' merely as an episode in his contemplated poem, not make it the subject of separate treatment. The sources of the ''Aetna'' are Posidonius of Apamea, and perhaps the pseudo-Aristotelian ''

De Mundo ''On the Universe'' ( el, Περὶ Κόσμου; la, De Mundo) is a theological and scientific treatise included in the Corpus Aristotelicum but usually regarded as spurious. It was likely published between and the . The work discusses cosmol ...

'', while there are many reminiscences of

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into E ...

. It has come down in a very corrupt state, and its difficulties are increased by the unpoetical nature of the subject, the straining after conciseness, and the obtrusive use of

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

Notes

Editions

* J Scaliger (1595) * F Jacob (1826) * H A J Munro (1867) *

Moritz Haupt Moriz or Moritz Haupt (27 July 1808 – 5 February 1874), was a German philologist. Biography He was born at Zittau, Lusatia, Saxony. His early education was mainly conducted by his father, Ernst Friedrich Haupt, burgomaster of Zittau, a man of ...

in his edition of Virgil (1873) * E. Bährens in ''Poetae latini minores'', ii. * Siegfried Sudhaus (1898) *

Robinson Ellis Robinson Ellis, FBA (5 September 1834 – 9 October 1913) was an English classical scholar. Ellis was born at Barming, near Maidstone, and was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, Rugby School, and Balliol College, Oxford. He took a Firs ...

(1901), containing a bibliography of the subject

References

External links

*
Robinson Ellis, (1901), ''Aetna; a critical recension of the text''
Latin text with English translation and commentary, at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucilius Junior

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman poets Roman governors of Sicily Ancient Roman scientists Roman-era poets Silver Age Latin writers