surnamed SICULUS, a Roman pastoral poet.
The author is generally believed to have lived towards the end of the third century, and the
person to whom the work is addressed is supposed to be the Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus whose
poem on hunting is still extant. It will be found, however, upon a careful investigation of
authorities, that we not only know nothing whatsoever with regard to the personal history of
Calpurnius, but that every circumstance connected with his name, his age, his works, and his
friends, is involved in obscurity and doubt. In several MSS. he is designated as Titus, in others as Caius, in a great number the
praenomen is altogether wanting, while the only evidence for the determination of the epoch
when he flourished rests upon the gratuitous assumption that he is identical with the Junius or Julius Calpurnius commemorated by Vopiscus in
the life of Carus. In like manner we are left in uncertainty whether we ought to consider the
term Siculus as a cognomen, or as an appellation pointing out his native
country, or as an epithet bestowed upon him because he cultivated the same style of
composition with the Syracusan Theocritus. Some have sought to prove, from internal evidence,
that, like the Mantuan bard, he was raised from a humble station by the favour of some exalted
patron, but this hypothesis receives no support from the passages referred to, and those who
have attempted in a similar manner to ascertain the precise epoch when he flourished have
arrived at conflicting conclusions. Even if the dedication to Nemesianus is genuine, and this
is far from certain, it does not necessarily follow, that this must be the same Nemesianus who
was contemporary with Numerianus.
Among the works of the Latin poets we find eleven pastorals which usually bear the title
The literary merits of Calpurnius may be briefly discussed. In all that relates to the mechanism of his art he deserves much praise. His versification is smooth, flowing, and sonorous, and his diction for the most part pure and elegant, although from being too elaborately finished it is sometimes tinged with affectation. In all the higher departments he can advance no claim to our admiration. He imitates closely the Eclogues of Virgil, and like Virgil is deficient in the simplicity, freshness, and reality which lend such a charm to the Idylls of Theocritus--a deficiency which he awkwardly endeavours to supply by occasionally foisting harsh and uncouth expressions into the mouths of his speakers. He evidently was a careful student of Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Juvenal, and Statius, for we can often detect their thoughts and even their expressions, unless, indeed, we are disposed to adopt the absurd notions advocated by Ascensius, that he belonged to the Augustan age, and might thus have been copied by the others instead of borrowing from them.
In the oldest MSS. and editions the whole eleven eclogues are attributed to Calpurnius. Ugoletus, upon the authority of a single MS., separated the last four from the rest, assigning them to Nemesianus; but independent of the feeble authority upon which this change was introduced, the tone and spirit of the whole eleven is so exactly uniform, that we might at once conclude with confidence that they were productions of the same pen, and this has been satisfactorily established by Wernsdorf.