Aemilius Macer of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...

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 writte ...

. He authored two poems, one on birds (''Ornithogonia''), a translation of a work by

Boios Boios (Βοῖος), Latinized Boeus, was a Greek grammarian and mythographer, remembered chiefly as the author of a lost work on the transformations of mythic figures into birds, his ''Ornithogonia'', which was translated into Latin by Aemilius M ...

, and the other on the antidotes against the poison of serpents (''Theriaca''), which he imitated from the Greek poet

Nicander of Colophon Nicander of Colophon ( grc-gre, Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Níkandros ho Kolophṓnios; fl. 2nd century BC), Greek poet, physician and grammarian, was born at Claros (Ahmetbeyli in modern Turkey), near Colophon, where his famil ...

. According to

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

, he died in 16 BC. It is possible that he wrote also a botanical work. The extant

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

poem known as ''Floridus'' or ''De viribus (aut virtutibus) herbarum'', traditionally ascribed to Macer, is actually a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

production by Odo Magdunensis, a French physician.This work in turn cites the following sources: *For Aemilius Macer: **Ovid, ''Tristia'', iv. 10, 43 **

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 Quintilia ...

, ''Instit.'' x. 1, 56, 87 **R. Unger, ''De Macro Nicandri imitatore'' (Friedland, 1845) **C. P. Schulze in ''Rheinisches Museum'' (1898) *For Macer Iliacus: **Ovid, ''Ex Ponto'', ii. 10, 13, iv. 16, 6 **Ovid, ''Amores'', ii. 18 Aemilius Macer must be distinguished from the Macer called Iliacus in the

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

ian catalogue of poets, the author of an epic poem on the events preceding the opening of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

.'' The fact of his being addressed by Ovid in one of the epistles ''Ex Ponto'' shows that he was alive long after Aemilius Macer. He had been identified with the son or grandson of

Theophanes of Mytilene Theophanes of Mytilene ( grc-gre, Θεοφάνης ὁ Μυτιληναῖος) was an intellectual and historian from the town of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos who lived in the middle of the 1st century BC. He was a friend of Pompey and wrot ...

, the intimate friend of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macer, Aemilius 16 BC deaths Year of birth unknown Roman-era poets Golden Age Latin writers 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman poets Aemilii