e sunt mihi condita versu
carmina pastoris Siculi modulabor avena.'

Compared with Tibullus and Propertius, he was 'durior' (Quint. x. 1,
93).

(_d_) _Codrus_, mentioned by Virgil, _Ecl._ 7, 22 and 26; 5, 11, was a
contemporary poet (Serv. _ad Ecl._ 7), and was praised by Valgius
(Schol. Veron. _ad loc._), but nothing is known of his writings. The
name is not Roman, and is probably a disguised form of Cordus. He is
sometimes identified with the Iarbitas of Hor. _Ep._ i. 19, 15.

(_e_) _Bavius_ and _Mevius_ were enemies of Virgil and Horace. Verg.
_Ecl._ 3, 90,

'Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mevi.'

Horace, _Epod._ 10, prays for the shipwreck of Mevius. He wrote about
the prodigal son of the actor Aesopus (Porphyr. ad Hor. _Sat._ ii. 3,
239). Bavius died B.C. 35, according to Jerome.

(_f_) _Anser_ wrote a poem in praise of Antony, and was rewarded with
a grant of land (Serv. _ad Ecl._ 9, 36; Cic. _Phil._ xiii. 11). He is
mentioned by Ovid, _Tr._ ii. 435,

'Cinna quoque his comes est, Cinnaque procacior Anser.'

Servius sees an allusion to him in _Ecl._ 9, 36,

'Argutos inter strepere anser olores.'

(_g_) _Domitius Marsus_. His epigram on Tibullus (see p. 186) shows
that he was alive in B.C. 19; he was, however, dead when Ovid was
exiled in A.D. 8.

Ovid, _Ex Pont._ iv. 16, 3,

'Famaque post cineres maior venit; et mihi nomen
tunc quoque, cum vivis adnumerarer, erat,
cum foret et Marsus, magnique Rabirius oris,
Iliacusque Macer sidereusque Pedo.'

He was a member of Augustus' literary circle. Mart. viii. 56, 21,

'Quid Varios Marsosque loquar, ditataque vatum
nomina, magnus erit quos numerare labor?'

His works were:

1. _Cicuta_, a collection of epigrams, often referred to by Martial.
Cf. ii. 71, 3,

'aut Marsi recitas aut scripta Catulli.'

2. _Amazonis_, an epic poem.[64] Mart. iv. 29, 7,

'Saepius in libro memoratur Persius uno
quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide.'

3. _Amores_ or _Elegiae_. Mart. vii. 29, 7,

'Et Maecenati, Maro cum cantaret Alexin,
nota tamen Marsi fusca Melaenis erat.'

4. _Fabellae_.

5. _De Urbanitate_ (in prose). Quint. vi. 3, 102, 'Domitius Marsus,
qui de urbanitate diligentissime scripsit.'

(_h_) _Pupius_, a tragedian, sneered at by Hor. _Ep._ i. 1, 67,
'lacrimosa poemata Pupi.'

(_i_) _C. Melissus_, a freedman of Maecenas, invented the _trabeata_,
a variety of the _togata_.

Sueton. _Gramm._ 21, 'Fecit