He was born in Sulmo, one of the three divisions of the Paelignian country, B.C. 43—the year in which Hirtius and Pansa fell at Mutina. Tr. iv. 10, 3,
‘Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis,
milia qui novies distat ab urbe decem.
Editus hic ego sum; nec non ut tempora noris,
cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari.’
His birthday was 20th March—the second day of the festival of the Quinquatria (cf. Fast. iii. 809-814), l. 13,
‘Haec est armiferae festis de quinque Minervae,
quae fieri pugna prima cruenta solet.’
He belonged to an equestrian family, and he frequently contrasts himself with those who had reached that dignity by military service or by possessing the requisite fortune; ibid. l. 7,
‘Si quid id est, usque a proavis vetus ordinis heres,
non sum fortunae munere factus eques.’
Cf. Am. i. 3, 7; iii. 8, 9; iii. 15, 5; Pont. iv. 8, 17.
Along with his elder brother, he received a careful education at Rome, and studied also at Athens. He practised rhetoric under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. Tr. iv. 10, 15,
‘Protinus excolimur teneri, curaque parentis
imus ad insignes urbis ab arte viros.’
Tr. i. 2, 77,