EN'NIUS, one of the earliest Roman poets, the father of the Roman Epos, was b. at Rudite, in Calabria, about 240 years before the Christian era, and was probably of Greek extraction. He is said to have served in the wars, and to have risen to the rank of a centurion. In Sardinia, he became acquainted with Cato the elder, and returned with him to Rome, when about the age of 38. Here he gained for himself the friendship of the most eminent men, among others that of Scipio Africanus the elder, and attained (what was then exceedingly rare in the case of an alien) to the rank of a Roman citizen. He supported himself in a decent but humble manner by instructing some young Romans of distinguished families in the Greek language and literature, his accurate knowledge of which explains the influence he had on the development of the Latin tongue. He died when he had attained the age of 70, or about 190 B.c. His remains were interred in the tomb of the Scipios, and his bust was placed among those of that great family. E. has tried his powers in almost every species of poetry, and although his language and versification are rough and unpolished, these defects are fully com pensated by the energy of his expressions, and the fire of his poetry. His poems were
highly esteemed by Cicero, Horace, and Virgil: the last, indeed, frequently introduces whole lines from the poety of E. into his own compositions. His memory seems to have been lovingly cherished by his countrymen; Noster Ennius, " Our Ennius," they used to call him. Of his tragedies, comedies, satires, and particularly of his Annales, an epos in 18 books, only fragments are still extant. What adds to our regret is, that it is believed his whole works were extant as late as the 13th c. (A. G. Cramer, Haus chronicle). The fragments have been collected and edited by various scholars, among others by Hessel (Amst. 1707). The fragments of the Annales have been edited by Spangenberg (Leip. 1825). Compare Hoch, De Ennianorum Annalium Ihumentis (Bonn, 1839). The few fragments of his dramas that have come down to us were collected by Ribbeck in his Scenica Romanorunt Poesis Fragmenta (2 vols. 1871-73).