Laevius (died c. 80 BC?) was a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, of whom practically nothing is known. The earliest reference to him is perhaps in Suetonius (''De grammaticis'', 3), though it is not certain that the "Laevius Milissus" there referred to is the same person. Definite references do not occur before the 2nd century ( Fronto, Ep. ad ~k~. Caes. i. 3; Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. i~. 24, Xii. 10, XjX. 9

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, ''De magic'', 30;

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, ''Ad Horat. carm.'' iii. 1, 2). Some sixty miscellaneous lines are preserved (see Bährens, ''Fragm. poet. rom.'' pp. 287–293), from which it is difficult to see how ancient critics could have regarded him as the master of

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and

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state that he composed an ''Erotopaegnia'', and in other sources he is credited with

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, Centaurs, Helena, Ino, Protesilaudamia, Sirenocirca, and Phoenix, which may, however, be only the parts of the ''Erotopaegnia''. They were not serious poems, but light and often licentious skits on the heroic myths.

References

* O. Ribbeck, ''Geschichte der römischen Dichtung'', i. * H. de la Ville de Mirmont, ''Étude biographique et littéraire sur le poète Laevius'' (Paris, 1900), with critical edition of the fragments, and remarks on vocabulary and syntax * A. Weichert, ''Poetarum latinorum reliquiae'' (Leipzig, 1830) * M. Schanz, ''Geschichte der römischen Literatur'' (2nd ed), pt. i. p. 163 * W. Teuffel, ''Hist. of Roman Literature'' (Eng. tr.), 150, 4 * summary in F. Plessis, ''La Poésie latine'' (1909), pp. 139–142. * Ancient Roman poets Old Latin-language writers 1st-century BC Roman poets 1st-century BC Romans {{AncientRome-poet-stub