Lucius Accius

Background

Accius was a prolific writer with a very high reputation. Titles and fragments (about 700 lines) of some fifty plays survive. Most were tragic, though Pliny the Younger ranks him among the erotic poets.

His career as a poet can be traced over 36 years from 140 BC to 104 BC. Most works were imitations or free translations of Greek, especially Aeschylus. The earliest of these was most likely the Atreus, performed in 140 BC, now lost.

He also wrote on Roman subjects, including Brutus, probably written in honor of his patron D. Brutus. His favorite subjects were the Trojan War and the house of Pelops. Fragments, preserved mainly by Cicero, justify ancient admiration for his strength, vigor, and sublimity. He also wrote Libri Didascalicon, Libri Pragmaticon, Parerga, Praxidica (no fragments remain), and a hexameter Annales.

As a grammarian, he attempted innovations in Latin orthography and grammar, including writing long vowels double (e.g., aa for long ā). Politically conservative, he was noted for dignity and reserve, but believed literary gifts deserved more respect than noble birth. He was self-important, erecting large statues of himself in the temple of the Muses. A fragment of Atreus features the line 'oderint dum metuant'.