CAECILIUS STATIUS or STATIUS CAECILIUS, Roman comic poet, friend of Ennius, died in 168 (or 166) B.C. He was born in the territory of the Insubrian Gauls, and was probably taken as a prisoner to Rome (c. 200), during the great Gallic war. Originally a slave, he assumed the name of Caecilius from his patron. He supported himself by adapting Greek plays for the Roman stage from the new comedy writers, especially Menander. Suetonius' life of Terence states that Caecilius was ordered to hear Terence's Andria (exhibited 166 B.c.) read and to criticize it. Volcacius Sedigitus, the dramatic critic, places him first amongst the comic poets ; Varro praises his plots ; Horace (Epistles, ii. I. 59) contrasts his dignity with the art of Terence. Quintilian (Inst. Orat., x. I. 99) speaks somewhat disparagingly of him, and Cicero (De Optimo Genere Oratorum, I.), considers him inferior to Terence in style and Latinity (Ad. Att. vii. 3). The fact that his plays could be named without any indication of the author (Cicero, De Finibus, ii. 7) is proof of their popularity.
The fragments of his plays are chiefly preserved in Aulus Gellius, who cites several passages from the Plocium (necklace) together with the original Greek of Menander. The translation, which is diffuse and by no means close, fails to reproduce the spirit of the original.