VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, circ. 19 B.C.-31 A.D.
1. Life.
VELLEIUS
PATERCULUS.
All we know of him is derived from his own pages. He descended from a distinguished family in Campania, and his father was a Praefectus equitum. He accompanied C. Caesar, the grandson of Augustus, on his mission to the East, and was present at the interview with the Parthian king. Two years afterwards, 4 A.D., he served under Tiberius in Germany as Praefectus equitum. For the next eight years Paterculus served under Tiberius in Pannonia and Dalmatia. Tiberius’ sterling qualities as a soldier gained him the friendship of many of his officers, and Velleius by his energy and ability secured that of Tiberius in return. The last circumstance of his life that he records is the election to the praetorship of his brother and himself as candidates of Caesar (Tiberius) in 14 A.D.
2. Works.
The Historia Romana in two Books. The beginning of Book I is lost; chapters 1-8 in our text are occupied with a rapid survey of universal history, especially of the East and of Greece. Chapter 8 breaks off at the rape of the Sabine women, and there is a great gap in the text before we reach in c. 9 the defeat of Perseus at Pydna in 168 B.C. Chapters 9-13 carry the narrative down to the destruction of Carthage and Corinth in 146 B.C. Book II continues the history and ends at the death of Livia 27 A.D.
‘The pretentiousness of his style is partly due to the declining taste of the period, partly to an idea of his own that he could write in the manner of Sallust. It alternates between a sort of laboured sprightliness and a careless, conversational manner full of endless parentheses. Yet Velleius has two real merits: the eye of a trained soldier for character, and an unaffected, if not a very intelligent, interest in literature.’—Mackail.
P. VERGILIUS MARO, 70-19 B.C.
1. Important Events in Vergil’s Life, and Chief Works.
VERGIL.