Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/L. Accius
L. A'CCIUS or A'TTIUS, an early Roman tragic poet and the son of a freedman, was born according to Jerome b. c. 170, and was fifty years younger than Pacuvius. He lived to a great age; Cicero, when a young man, frequently conversed with him. (Brut. 28.) His tragedies were chiefly imitated from the Greeks, especially from Aeschylus, but he also wrote some on Roman subjects (Praetextata ; one of which, entitled Brutus, was probably in honour of his patron D. Brutus. (Cic. de Leg. ii. 2 1 , pro Arch. 11.) We possess only fragments of his tragedies, of which the most important have been preserved by Cicero, but sufficient remains to justify the terms of admiration in which he is spoken of by the ancient writers. He is particularly praised for the strength and vigour of his language and the sublimity of his thoughts. (Cic. pro Planc. 24, pro Sest. SG., &c.; Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 56; Quintil. x. 1. §97; Gell. xiii. 2.) Besides these tragedies, he also wrote Annales in verse, containing the history of Rome, like those of Ennius; and three prose works, "Libri Didascalion," which seems to have been a history of poetry, "Libri Pragraaticon" and " Parerga": of the two latter no fragments are preserved. The fragments of his tragedies have been collected by Stephanus in "Frag. vet. Poet. Lat." Paris, 1564; Maittaire, "Opera et Frag. vet. Poet. Lat." Lond. 1713; and Bothe, "Poet. Scenici Latin.," vol. v. Lips. 1834: and the fragments of the Didascalia by Madvig, "De L. Attii Didascaliis Comment." Hafniae, 1831.