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

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

and

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

, that is, the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD. Many suppose him to be the same person with Alfius Flavus—the precocious pupil of Lucius Cestius Pius and contemporary with

Seneca the Elder Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder ( ; – c. AD 39), 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 rhetoric, ...

, 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 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

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 Terentianus, surnamed Maurus (a native of Mauretania), was a Latin Philologist, grammarian and writer on prosody (poetry), prosody who flourished probably at the end of the 2nd century AD. His references to Septimius Serenus and Alphius Avitus, wh ...

that Alphius Avitus composed a work about "Illustrious Men", in iambic dimeters, 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 (; possibly – ) was a Roman statesman and politician during the early Roman republic who is most famous for his capture of Veii and defence of Rome from Gallic sack after the Battle of the Allia. Modern scholars are dub ...

; 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 () and distinguished from his uncle as (' or '), was a Dutch philologist. Life Born at Amsterdam, he was brought up by his uncle in Leiden, and aft ...

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

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

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

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 Latin writers known only from secondary sources 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans 1st-century BC writers 1st-century writers in Latin 1st-century Roman poets Alfii

See also

References