Frontinus was a friend of Martial, who addresses to him Epig. x. 58.
We get a glimpse of his character from Pliny’s words, Ep. ix. 19, 6, ‘Vetuit exstrui monumentum: sed quibus verbis? “Impensa monumenti supervacua est: memoria nostri durabit si vita meruimus.”’
(2) WORKS.
During the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96) Frontinus composed two works. One of these, of which only fragments survive, dealt with the art of land-surveying and the laws relating to land. The other, written after A.D. 84, when Domitian received the title of Germanicus (Strat. ii. II, 7, ‘eo bello quo victis hostibus cognomen Germanici meruit’), is a manual of strategy, in three Books, entitled Strategemata. It is a sequel to a previous work (now lost) on the theory of the art of war, and illustrates its rules by historical examples derived chiefly from Sallust, Caesar, and Livy. The purpose of the book did not require the citation of authorities, and the mention of Livy in ii. 5, 31 and 34, is probably spurious. Frontinus gives either a paraphrase retaining some of the expressions of the original (cf. Strat. i. 5, 16, with Liv. xxxv. 11, 2-13), or a bald summary (cf. Strat. ii. 5, 1, with Liv. i. 14, 6-11). See G. Gundermann, Jahrb. f. class. Philol., suppl. xvi., p. 315 sqq. (1888). Some later hand has added a fourth Book, which not only presents marked differences in style and tone from the original three, but deals with an entirely different subject—the maintenance of discipline, and other duties of a commander.
Under Nerva and Trajan (A.D. 97-98) Frontinus wrote his treatise on the Roman water-supply, De Aquis Urbis Romae. Having been appointed curator aquarum, he considered it his first duty to acquaint himself with the details of his department, and published the result of his inquiries in the hope that they might be useful to his successors (cf. the preface). The book was begun under Nerva (praef. ‘cum ... sit nunc mihi ab Nerva Augusto ... aquarum iniunctum officium’), but Nerva had been succeeded by Trajan before it was completed (118, ‘divus Nerva’; 93, ‘Traianum Augustum’).
JUVENAL.
The sources for Juvenal’s life are (1) his works; (2) an inscription found at Aquinum; (3) thirteen extant vitae; (4) information of the scholiasts; (5) references in Martial and other writers.
The inscription at Aquinum has been much debated; but it is safe to follow the opinion of Mommsen, whose experience in identifying people mentioned in inscriptions with historical characters depends upon a width of knowledge that no other person possesses. The vitae are all early mediaeval works, probably founded on a brief account of the poet’s life composed by some unknown ancient writer, and existing at the early Renaissance. The extant vitae contain a very few facts which appear to be derived from this source, together with a number of inferences gathered, often incorrectly, from Juvenal’s works. The most important statement is that regarding Juvenal’s birth, which is contained in the vita in the Codex Barberinus, 8, 18, discovered by J. Dürr. The date is given in such precise and accurate terms, and is in itself so probable as solving so many of the questions connected with the poet’s works, that to invent it requires an amount of knowledge with which we cannot credit the writer of this otherwise very poor account. The statements of the vitae must be carefully weighed, and accepted only when rendered probable by other considerations.[93]
Juvenal’s name is given in some of the MSS. as Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis. He was born A.D. 55.
Codex Barberinus, ‘Iunius Iuvenalis Aquinas Iunio Iuvenale patre, matre vero Septumuleia ex Aquinati municipio Claudio Nerone et L. Antistio consulibus natus est. Sororem habuit Septumuleiam, quae Fuscino nupsit.’