Fragments 2 and 3,
‘Meá puer, quid vérbi | éx tuo óre súpera
fugít?
neque ením te oblítus | Lértié, sum, nóster,’
represent Od. i. 64,
τέκνον ἐμὸν, ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων;
πῶς ἂν ἔπειτ’ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην;
NAEVIUS.
(1) LIFE.
Cn. Naevius’ dates can only be given approximately as B.C. 269-199. As he served in the First Punic War, he cannot in any case have been born later than B.C. 257. He was a Campanian by birth.
Gell. i. 24, 2, ‘Epigramma Naevi plenum superbiae Campanae, quod testimonium esse iustum potuisset, nisi ab ipso dictum esset,
“Inmortales mortales si foret fas flere,
flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam.
Itaque postquam est Orci traditus thesauro,
obliti sunt Romae loquier lingua Latina.”’
Naevius’ first play was produced B.C. 235; the fact that he served as a soldier shows that he was not an actor.