ACCIUS.
(1) LIFE.
The forms Accius and Attius are both found on inscriptions, e.g. from Pisaurum; but in the MSS. of Nonius Marcellus, who often quotes Accius, and who is careful about his forms, ‘Accius’ is always found, and generally in MSS. of other authors.
L. Accius was born B.C. 170 at Pisaurum (of. Pliny, N.H. vii. 128, ‘Attio Pisaurense’).
Jerome yr. Abr. 1878 = B.C. 139, ‘L. Accius tragoediarum scriptor clarus habetur, natus Mancino et Serrano coss. (B.C. 170) parentibus libertinis et seni iam Pacuvio Tarenti sua scripta recitavit. A quo et fundus Accianus iuxta Pisaurum dicitur, quia illuc inter colonos fuerat ex urbe deductus.’
This last statement must refer to Accius’ father, as the colony of Pisaurum was founded B.C. 184. Jerome’s chronology is corroborated by
Cic. Brut. 229, ‘Accius isdem aedilibus (B.C. 140) ait se et Pacuvium docuisse fabulam, cum ille lxxx., ipse xxx. annos natus esset.’
Accius’ friendship and influence with leading men is shown by Cic. pro Arch. 27, ‘D. Brutus, summus vir et imperator (cons. B.C. 138) Acci amicissimi sui carminibus templorum ac monumentorum aditus exornavit suorum.’
Auct. ad Herenn. i. 24, ‘Mimus quidam nominatim Accium poetam compellavit in scaena. Cum eo Accius iniuriarum egit’; ii. 19, ‘P. Mucius eum qui L. Accium poetam nominaverat condemnavit.’
The above shows his self-consciousness; cf. also Pliny N.H. xxxiv. 19, ‘Notatum ab auctoribus et L. Accium poetam in Camenarum aede maxima forma statuam sibi posuisse, cum brevis admodum fuisset.’
For Accius’ friendship with Pacuvius, see [p. 35]. Accius must have lived to about B.C. 86, as Cicero (born B.C. 106) talked with him on literary subjects.
Cic. Brut. 107, ‘D. Brutus M. filius, ut ex familiari eius L. Accio poeta sum audire solitus.’
His Tereus was produced in B.C. 104, as is seen from
Cic. Phil. i. 36 (B.C. 44), ‘Nisi forte Accio tum plaudi et sexagesimo post anno palmam dari, non Bruto, putabatis.’
(2) WORKS.
1. Tragedies.—Titles of about forty-five plays, and about seven hundred lines of fragments are extant. The fragments show imitation of Aeschylus as well as of Sophocles and Euripides.
2. Praetextae.—Aeneadae or Decius, and Brutus. Decius treated of the self-sacrifice of P. Decius Mus at Sentinum, B.C. 295. Cf. l. 15, ‘Patrio exemplo et me dicabo atque animam devoro (= devovero) hostibus.’ Brutus treated of the overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus and the establishment of the consulship.
3. Didascalica, in at least nine books, a history of Greek and Latin poetry, with special attention to the drama. The few fragments are mostly in Sotadean metre. Cf. Gell. vi. 9, 16, ‘L. Accius in Sotadicorum libro I.’
4. Pragmaticon libri (in trochaic tetrameters) on literary subjects.
5. Praxidica, on agriculture. Two lines on ploughing are quoted from ‘liber parergon,’ i., but it is not certain whether this is an independent work.
6. Annales, in hexameters.
7. A work in Saturnians.
Accius gave attention to points of language. Cf. Quint. i. 7, 14, ‘Semivocales geminare diu non fuit usitatissimi moris, atque e contrario usque ad Accium et ultra porrectas syllabas geminis, ut dixi, vocalibus scripserunt.’
Accius, like Ennius and Pacuvius, attacks superstition. Cf. ll. 169-70,
‘Nil credo auguribus, qui auris verbis divitant
alienas, suas ut auro locupletent domos.’
That Virgil imitated Accius is mentioned by Macrob. vi. 1, 58, who compares, e.g., l. 156,
‘Virtuti sis par, dispar fortunis patris,’
and Aen. xii. 435-6,
‘Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,
fortunam ex aliis.’
Views on Accius.—A few of these may be referred to. Cic. pro Sest. 120, ‘Summi poetae ingenium.’ Ovid. Am. i. 15, 19,
‘Animosi Accius oris.’
Cf. also Quint. x. 1, 97; Tac. Dial. 20; and Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 55 (see ‘Pacuvius,’ [p. 37]).
Of the prose writers contemporary with Accius, the most important were the annalists L. Cassius Hemina and L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi; the orators Ti. and C. Graccus, and their opponent C. Fannius, and M. Aemilius Scaurus, the princeps senatus, who also wrote an autobiography (Cic. Brut. 112). L. Coelius Antipater wrote a history of the Second Punic War in seven Books, making use of Silenus, whose account was favourable to the Carthaginians (Cic. de Div. i. 49). His strength lay in style (Cic. de Or. ii. 53); though painstaking, he was apt to exaggerate (Liv. xxvii. 27, 12; xxix, 25, 3).