- Lucilius Junior
Lucilius Junior, a friend and correspondent of the younger Seneca, probably the author of "Aetna", a poem on the origin of volcanic activity, variously attributed to
Virgil ,Cornelius Severus (epic poet of the Augustan age) and Manilius.Its composition has been placed as far back as
44 BC , on the ground that certain works of art, known to have been removed toRome about that date, are referred to as being at a distance from the city. But as the author appears to have known and made use of the "Quaestiones Naturales" of Seneca (written AD 65), and no mention is made of the great eruption ofVesuvius (AD 79), the time of its composition seems to lie between these two dates. In favour of the authorship of Lucilius are the facts that he was a friend of Seneca and acquainted with his writings; that he had for some time held the office of imperial procurator ofSicily , and was thus familiar with the locality; that he was the author of a poem on Sicilian subjects. It is objected that in the 79th letter of Seneca, which is the chief authority on the question, he apparently asks that Lucilius should introduce the hackneyed theme of "Aetna" merely as an episode in his contemplated poem, not make it the subject of separate treatment. The sources of the "Aetna" arePosidonius of Apamea , and perhaps the pseudo-Aristotelian "De Mundo", while there are many reminiscences ofLucretius . It has come down in a very corrupt state, and its difficulties are increased by the unpoetical nature of the subject, the straining after conciseness, and the obtrusive use ofmetaphor .Editions
* J Scaliger (1595)
* F Jacob (1826)
* HAJ Munro (1867)
*Moritz Haupt in his edition of Virgil (1873)
*E. Bährens in "Poetae latini minores", ii.
*Siegfried Sudhaus (1898)
*Robinson Ellis (1901), containing a bibliography of the subjectReferences
*
Moriz Haupt , "Opuscula", i. 40, ii. 27, 162, iii. 437 (notes, chiefly critical)
* R. Ellis in "Journal of Philology", xvi. 292
*Paul Reinhold Wagler , "De Aetna poemate quaestiones criticae" (1884)
*Bronisław Kruczkiewicz , "Poema de Aetna Monte" (1883, in which the ancient view of the authorship of Virgil is upheld)
*Ludwig Alzinger , "Studia in Aetnam collata" (1896)
*Richard Hildebrandt , "Beitrage zur Erklärung des Gedichtes Aetna" (1900)
*Jules Vessereau , "Aetna, poème", (text, translation and commentary, 1905)
*Teuffel -Schwabe , "Hist. of Roman Literature" (Eng. trans. §§ 307, 308)1911
*Liba Chaia Taub , "Aetna and the moon" (2008)
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