AETNA

This poem, in 645 hexameter lines, is attributed to Virgil in the MSS. , but is probably by Lucilius Iunior, to whom Seneca addre es his Epistulae Morales , De Provident i a , and Qua est i ones Natura les . Lucilius was younger than Seneca (Sen. Ep. 26, 7, ‘iuvenior es’), and was born at Naples or Pompeii. Sen. Ep. 49, 1, ‘Ecce Camp an i a et maxime Neapolis ad Pompeiorum tuorum conspectum in cred i bile est quam recens desiderium tui fecerint.’ Lucilius had held procuratorial offices in Alpes Graiae et Poeninae, Epirus, Creta et Cyrene, and Sicily. Ibid. 44, 2, ‘Eques Roman us es et ad hunc ordinem tua te perduxit industria.’ Ibid. 31, 9, ‘Quo modo, inquis, is to pervenitur? Non per Poeninum Graiumve montem, nec per desert a Candaviae, nec Syrtes tibi nec Scylla aut Charybdis adeundae sunt, quae tamen omnia trans ist i procuratiunculae pretio.’ [80] Sen. N.Q. iv. praef. 1, ‘Delectat te, Lucili, Sicilia et officium procuration is otiosae.’ For his life cf. also the words put into his mouth by Sen. N.Q. iv. praef. 15-17, which show his loyalty to his friends, ‘Non mihi in amicitia Gaetulici (died A.D. 39) vel Gaius fidem eripuit, non in aliorum persona in feliciter amatorum Me all a et Narci us... propositum meum avertere potuerunt.... videbam apud Gaium tormenta, videbam ignes.’ [81] Seneca speaks of him as a pupil in philosophy in Ep. 34, 2, ‘Adsero te mihi: meum opus es.’ A literary work of his is spoken of by Seneca, also a poem in which he mentions Alpheus and Arethusa: Ep. 46, 1, ‘Librum tuum, quem mihi promiser as, accepi. Levis mihi vis us est, cum e et nec mei nec tui corp or is, sed qui primo adspectu aut T. Livi aut Epicuri po et videri.... Non tantum delectatus, sed gavisus sum.’ N.Q. iii. 26, 6, ‘Hoc et a te traditum est ut in poemate, Lucili cari ime, et a Vergilio, qui adloquitur Are thus am.’ A poem on Aetna is referred to in Ep. 79, 5-7, ‘Donec pudor obstet, ne Aetnam describas in tuo carmine et hunc sollemnem omnibus poet is locum adtingas; quem quo minus Ovidius tract aret, nihil obstitit, quod iam Vergilius imp lever at... Aut ego te non nov i aut Aetna tibi salivam movet: iam cup is grande a liquid et par prior i bus scribere.’ Some authorities think that Lucilius had meant to incorporate this description in a larger poem, but changed his mind, and wrote a poem on Aetna alone. As regards the date of the poem: (1) It was written at a time when imitation of Ovid was common. Cf. Sen. N.Q. iv. 2, 2, ‘Quare non cum poet a meo iocor et ill i Ovidium suum impingo?’ (2) There is no mention of Vesuvius in the list of volcanoes in 1. 425 sqq. The poem must therefore have been written before A.D. 79. The following are the arguments for Lucilius having been the author: (1) The poem was written by one who knew Aetna and the vicinity. Now Lucilius was long procurator of Sicily. (2) Military metaphors, as ll. 464-74, would fit in with his having been a soldier. (3) The author speaks as if he knew the neighbourhood of Naples well. (4) However, the argument that the writer shows Epicurean views, and that Lucilius was an Epicurean, has little weight. ( a ) There are Stoical doctrines in the poem. Cf. ll. 33-5, 68-70, on the divinity of the stars; ll. 173-4, which maintain that the world would come back to its former state; ll. 536-9, where Her a clit us’ doctrine of fire is recommended. ( b ) The Epistulae Morales only show that Lucilius had a leaning to Epicureanism, not that he was an Epicurean. Cf. Ep. 23, 9, ‘Vocem tibi Epicuri tui reddere,’ and other playful references. (5) The views on natural science given in the poem are sometimes the same as those in Sen. N.Q. This would fix the date of the poem between 65 and 79 A.D. Cf. Aetna , 123, ‘Flumina quin etiam lat is current i a rivis occasus habuere suos: aut ill a vorago derepta in praeceps fatal i con did it ore aut occult a fluunt tectis adoperta cavern is atque inopinatos referunt procul edit a cursus’; and Sen. N.Q. iii. 26, 3, ‘Quaedam flumina pal am in aliquem specum decidunt et sic ex oculis auferuntur, quaedam consumuntur paulatim et intercidunt. Eadem ex intervallo revertuntur recipiuntque et nomen et cursum.’ Cf. also Aetna , 96, ‘Defit namque omnis hiatu, sect a est omnis humus pen it usque cavata latebris exiles suspens a vias agit’; and Sen. N.Q. v. 14, 1, ‘Non tot a soli do contextu terra in imum usque fundatur, sed multis part i bus cava et caecis suspens a latebris.’ So the story of the Catanian brothers (ll. 624-45) is told by Sen. De Benef. iii. 37, 2-3. Imitations of Lucretius abound. Cf. ll. 219 sqq. , ‘Nunc quoniam in promptu est operis natura solique, unde ipsi vent i, quae res incendia pascit,’ etc. For the author’s attacks on superstition, cf. ll. 91-3, ‘Debita car minibus libertas ist a; sed omnis in vero mihi cur a: can am quo fervid a motu aestuet Aetna novosque rapax sib i conger at ignes.’ A version of the Phaenomena of Aratus is extant, the author of which is called in the MSS. ‘Claudius Caesar,’ or ‘Germanic us.’ He is generally identified with Germanic us, the adopted son of Tiberius (so Jerome and Lac tanti us), though in modern times the poem has been ascribed to Domitian, who had the title of ‘Germanic us’ from A.D. 84. There are also fragments of Prognostic a , which are independent of Aratus.