(1) LIFE.
Q. Ennius was born B.C. 239 at Rudiae in Calabria (about nineteen miles south of Brundisium).
Gell. xvii. 21, 43, ‘Consoles secuntur Q. Valerius et C. Mamilius, quibus natum esse Q. Ennium poetam M. Varro in primo de poetis libro scripsit eumque, cum septimum et sexagesimum annum haberet, duodecimum annalem scripsisse, idque ipsum Ennium in eodem libro dicere.’ (Cf. Cic. Tusc. i. 3.) Enn. Ann. l. 440,
‘Nos sumus Romani qui fuimus ante Rudini.’
Servius, in Aen. vii. 691, ‘(At Messapus equom domitor): Ab hoc Ennius dicit se originem ducere.’ (Enn. Ann. xviii. fr. 6.)
Ennius knew Greek, Latin, and Oscan. Latin he may have known as a boy, since the colony of Brundisium was founded B.C. 244; the use of Greek had been widely spread in South Italy through the influence of the Greek colonies.[15]
Gell. xvii. 17, 1, ‘Q. Ennius tria corda habere sese dicebat, quod loqui Graece et Osce et Latine sciret.’
Ennius came to Sardinia during the Second Punic War, probably with other Calabrian auxiliaries, but in what year is doubtful. Silius Italicus xii. 387 sqq., says he was centurion B.C. 215, and distinguished himself greatly; but his account is quite untrustworthy. In Sardinia he made the acquaintance of M. Porcius Cato, then quaestor, who induced him to come to Rome B.C. 204.
Nep. Cato, i. 4, ‘Praetor (B.C. 198) provinciam obtinuit Sardiniam, ex qua, quaestor superiore tempore ex Africa decedens, Q. Ennium poetam deduxerat.’
The poet’s Graecizing influence seems to have led afterwards to hostility between him and his patron, but in spite of this, Ennius appears to have cherished warm feelings towards Cato, and praised his exploits in the Annals.