Laevius

Laevius (died c. 80 BC) was a Latin poet, of whom practically nothing is known. He is sometimes identified with the Laevius Melissus mentioned by Suetonius. Quotes Te Andromacha per ludum manulasciuola ac tenellulacapiti meo, trepidans libensinsolita plexit munera. With her hands Andromacha, for sport,those tender, playful little hands,eager and excited, for my headwove you, extraordinary gift. From Erotopaegnia (tr. Kenneth Quinn) Corpore (inquit) pectoreque undique obeso acMente exsensa tardigenucloSenio obpressum. Of chest and body wasted everywhere;Of mind devoid of sense and slow of pace;With age o’ercome. From Alcestis, quoted by Aulus Gellius, XIX, vii, 3 (tr. J. C. Rolfe) Venus <o> amoris altrix,genetrix cupiditatis,mihi quae diem serenumhilarula praepandere cresti,opesculae tuae ac ministrae. O Venus, who keeps love alive,mother of longing and desire,it is you who favors me,your little maid servant,and spends out a clam dayin front of me. From Pterygion Phoenicis, quoted by Charisius, 288K (tr. C. F. Heffernan) About The grammarians too were so highly esteemed, and their compensation was so ample, that Lutatius Daphnis, whom Laevius Melissus, punning on his name, often called the “darling of Pan,” is known to have been bought for seven hundred thousand sesterces and soon afterwards set free. Suetonius, De Grammaticis, III (tr. J. C. Rolfe) Bibliography Emil Bährens, Fragmenta Poetarum Romanorum (Leipzig, 1886), p. 287 W. W. Merry, Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1898), pp. 182–5 J. C. Rolfe, Suetonius, Vol. 2, LCL 38 (1914), p. 400 J. C. Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. 1, LCL 195 (1927), p. 204 J. C. Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. 3, LCL 195 (1928), pp. 366, 380 H. W. Garrod, The Oxford Book of Latin Verse (1912), no. 51 Kenneth Quinn, The Catullan Revolution (1959), p. 15 C. F. Heffernan, The Phoenix at the Fountain (1988), p. 35 External links Category:Poets from Rome Category:Latin authors