istory of the
First Punic War written in Saturnian verse, the rude indigenous metre of
early Roman poetry. He wrote also plays,--tragedies and comedies, both
_palliatae_ and _praetextae_. For an account of him see Cruttwell, History
of Roman Literature; also, Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, Ch. 3. If
_Ludo_ be read, it may be either from the Latin _ludus_ (Naevius entitled a
comedy _Ludius_) or from [Greek: Lydos], Lydian. -- POETAE: Naevius seems
to have been in the habit of adding _poeta_ to his name. It appears in the
well-known epitaph said to have been written by himself, also in the lines
written against him by the family poet of the Metelli: '_malum dabunt
Metelli Naevio poetae_'. The name _poeta_ was new in Naevius' time and was
just displacing the old Latin name _vates_; see Munro on Lucr. 1, 102. --
PROVENIEBANT etc.: the same metre as above, divided thus by Lahmeyer: --

_proveni | ebant | orat | ores || novi | stulti adu | lescen / iuli_.

The whole line has the look of being translated from the Greek: [Greek:
proubainon (eis to bema) rhetores kanoi tines, meirakia geloia]. Lr. takes
_provenire_ in the sense of 'to grow up', comparing Plin. Ep. 1, 13, 1
_magnum proventum_ ('crop') _poetarum annus hic attulit_; Sall. Cat. 8, 3
_provenere ibi scriptorum magna ingenia_. -- VIDELICET: 'you see'.

21. AT: = [Greek: alla gar]; used, as in 32, 35, 47, 65, and 68, to
introduce the supposed objection of an opponent. -- CREDO: 'of course'. Cf.
47 where _credo_ follows _at_ as here. -- EXERCEAS: the subject is the
indefinite 'you' equivalent to 'one', [Greek: tis]: 'unless one were to
practise it'. So 28 _nequeas_; 33 _requiras_. Cf. also Plin. Ep. 8, 14, 3
_difficile est tenere quae acceperis, nisi exerceas_. For the mood see A.
309, _a_; G. 598, 597, Rem. 3; H. 508, 5, 2). -- TARDIOR: 'unusually dull';
cf. Academ. 2, 97 _Epicurus quem isti tardum putant_. -- THEMISTOCLES:
famed for his memory. -- CIVIUM: 'fellow-countrymen'; _perceperat_: 'had
grasped' or 'mastered'. -- QUI ... SOLITUM: 'that he often addressed as
Lysimachus some one who for all that was Aristides'. The direct object of
_salutare_ is omitted. For _qui = tametsi is_ cf. Att. 1, 13, 3 _nosmet
ipsi, qui Lycurgei fuissemus, cotidie demitigamur_; also De Or. 1, 82. --
ESSET: A.342; G.631; H.529, II. and n. 1, 1). -- LYSIMACHUM: for _ut L._ or
_pro Lysimacho_. So Arch. 19 _Homerum Chii suum vindicant_ (= _ut suum_ or
_pro suo_). Lysimachus was the f