Lucius Varius Rufus (; 14 BC) was a Roman poet of the early Augustan age. He was a friend of Virgil, after whose death he and

Plotius Tucca Plotius Tucca (''fl.'' 35 BC) was a Roman poet and a friend of Virgil. He was in the circle of friends with Virgil and Maecenas, as indicated by Horace (''Satires''). According to Donatus's ''Life of Virgil,'' after Virgil's death, Plotius was one ...

prepared the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the ...

'' for publication, and of Horace, for whom he and Virgil obtained an introduction to

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 rei ...

. Horace spoke of him as a master of epic and the only poet capable of celebrating the achievements of Vipsanius Agrippa (''Odes'', i.6); Virgil (under the name of Lycidas, ''Ecl.'' ix.35) regretted that he had hitherto produced nothing comparable to the work of Varius or Helvius Cinna. Macrobius (''Saturnalia'', vi. I, 39; 2, 19) states that Varius composed an epic poem ''De Morte'', some lines of which are quoted as having been imitated or appropriated by Virgil; Horace (''Sat.'' i.10, 43) probably alluded to another epic, and, according to the scholiast on ''Epistles'', i.16, 2 729, these three lines were taken bodily from a panegyric of Varius on

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 Pri ...

. Varius's most famous literary production was the tragedy ''Thyestes'', which

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilian ...

(''Inst. Orat.'' x.1, 98) declared fit to rank with any of the Greek tragedies. A ''didascalia'' on the play, preserved in a Paris manuscript, states that it was produced at the games celebrated in 29 BC by Octavian in honour of the victory at Actium, and that Varius received a present of a million sesterces from the Roman ruler. Fragments of Varius's works are located in E. Bahrens, ''Frag. Poetarum Romanorum'' (1886); monographs by A. Weichert (1836) and R. Unger (1870, 1878, 1898);

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 gr ...

, ''Geschichte der römischen Litteratur'' (1899), ii.1;

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, whi ...

, ''Hist. of Roman Literature'' (Eng. trans., 1900), 223.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rufus, Lucius Varius 70s BC births 14 BC deaths Roman-era poets Golden Age Latin writers Latin writers known only from secondary sources 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman poets Varii