Titus Calpurnius Siculus was a Roman bucolic poet. Eleven eclogues have been handed down to us under his name, of which the last four, from metrical considerations and express manuscript testimony, are now generally attributed to

Nemesianus Marcus Aurelius Nemesianus was a Roman poet thought to have been a native of Carthage and flourished about AD 283. He was a popular poet at the court of the Roman emperor Carus (Historia Augusta, ''Carus'', 11). Bogus name "Olympius" A bogu ...

, who lived in the time of the emperor

Carus Marcus Aurelius Carus ( – July or August 283) was Roman emperor from 282 to 283. During his short reign, Carus fought the Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube frontier with success. He died while campaigning against the Sassanid ...

and his sons (latter half of the 3rd century). The separate authorship of the eclogues of Calpurnius and Nemesianus was established by Haupt.

Controversy over date

There is no doubt that Calpurnius's eclogues post-date

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

, as Calpurnius is heavily indebted, and frequently alludes to

. However, the period in which Calpurnius was active has been debated and there is no overriding consensus.

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

placed him in the reign of

(282283 AD). In the late nineteenth century, Haupt asserted that Calpurnius wrote during the reign of

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

(5468 AD). Evidence put forward for this Neronian dating includes the fact that, in Calpurnius's eclogues I, IV, and VII, the emperor is described as a handsome youth, like

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, whose accession marks the beginning of a new golden age, prognosticated by the appearance of a comet, which is argued to be the same that appeared some time before the death of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

; he exhibits splendid games in the amphitheatre (probably the wooden amphitheatre erected by Nero in 57); and in the words (i.45) there is a reference to the speech delivered in Greek by Nero on behalf of the Ilienses (

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

, ''Nero'', 7;

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, ''

Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

'', xii.58), from whom the Julii derived their family. In 1978 it was argued that Calpurnius was active in the reign of Severus (193211 AD). Arguments for such later dating of Calpurnius's work are based on internal stylistic, metrical and lexical grounds – including what are considered by some to be allusions in Calpurnius's poetry to Flavian-era literature. There has been subsequent disagreement among scholars as to the date of Calpurnius's poetry, with some arguing for a Neronian Date, others for a later date.Armstrong, D. (1986) "Stylistics and the Date of Calpurnius Siculus", Philologus 130: 113-36; Courtney, E. (1987) "Imitation, Chronologie Litteraire et Calpurnius Siculus", REL 65: 148-57

Life

Nothing is known of the life of Calpurnius with any certainty. Some scholars have argued that Calpurnius is represented, in his poetry, by the character of Corydon and have attempted to draw conclusions about Calpurnius's life from the life of Corydon portrayed in the eclogues. From this it is deduced that Calpurnius was in poor circumstances and was on the point of emigrating to Spain, when a patron (represented in the poems by a certain Meliboeus) came to his aid. Through his influence Calpurnius apparently secured a post at Rome. The poet's patron, has been variously identified with

Columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

, Seneca the philosopher, and Gaius Calpurnius Piso. Although the sphere of Meliboeus's literary activity (as indicated in Eclogue iv.53) suits none of these, what is known of Calpurnius Piso fits in well with what is said of Meliboeus by the poet, who speaks of his generosity, his intimacy with the emperor, and his interest in tragic poetry. His claim is further supported by the poem '' De Laude Pisonis'' (ed. C.F. Weber, 1859) which has come down to us without the name of the author, but which there is considerable reason for attributing to Calpurnius, the other main contender being

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

Eclogues

The eclogues are a collection of Latin poetry attributed to Calpurnius Siculus. Of his models the chief is

, of whom (under the name of Tityrus) he speaks with great enthusiasm; he is also indebted to

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

and

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

Laus Pisonis and Einsiedeln Eclogues

The Laus Pisonis exhibits a striking similarity with Calpurnius's eclogues in metre, language, and subject-matter. The author of the ''Laus'' is young, of respectable family and desirous of gaining the favour of Piso as his

Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( 13 April 68 BC – 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. ...

. Further, the similarity between the two names can hardly be accidental; it is suggested that the poet may have been adopted by the courtier, or that he was the son of a freedman of Piso. The attitude of the author of the ''Laus'' towards the subject of the ''panegyricus'' seems to show less intimacy than the relations between Corydon and Meliboeus in the eclogues, and there is internal evidence that the ''Laus'' was written during the reign of Claudius (Teuffel-Schwabe, ''Hist. of Rom. Lit.'' 306,6). Mention may here be made of the fragments of two short hexameter poems known as the

Einsiedeln Eclogues The ''Einsiedeln Eclogues'' are two Latin pastoral poems, written in hexameters. They were discovered in a tenth century manuscript from Einsiedeln Abbey (codex Einsidlensis 266(E) pp 206–7) and first published in 1869, by H. Hagen. The poems ...

, which share similarities with the poetry of Calpurnius.

Controversy over date

Life

Eclogues

Laus Pisonis and Einsiedeln Eclogues

Notes

References

Further reading