Roman bucolic poet, surnamed Siculus from his birthplace or from his imitation of the style of the Sicilian Theocritus, most probably flourished during the reign of Nero. Eleven eclogues have been handed down to us under his name, of which the last four, from metrical considerations and express MS. testimony, are now generally attributed to Nemesianus, who lived in the time of the emperor Carus and his sons (latter half of the 3rd century A.D.). Hardly anything is known of the life of Calpurnius; we gather from the poems themselves (in which he is obviously represented by Corydon) that he was in poor circumstances and was on the point of emigrating to Spain, when Meliboeus came to his aid. Through his influence Calpurnius apparently secured a post at Rome. The time at which Calpurnius lived has been much discussed, but all the indications seem to point to the time of Nero. The emperor is described as a handsome youth, like Mars and Apollo, whose accession marks the beginning of a new golden age, prognosticated by the appearance of a comet, doubtless the same that appeared some time before the death of Claudius; he exhibits splendid games in the amphitheatre (probably the wooden amphitheatre erected by Nero in 57); and in the words
maternis causam qui vicit Iulis 1 (i. 45), |
Mention may here be made of the fragments of two short hexameter poems in an Einsiedeln MS., obviously belonging to the time of Nero, which if not written by Calpurnius, were imitated from him.
Although there is nothing original in Calpurnius, he is a skilful literary craftsman. Of his models the chief is Virgil, of whom (under the name of Tityrus) he speaks with great enthusiasm; he is also indebted to Ovid and Theocritus. Calpurnius is a fair scholar, and an apt courtier, and not devoid of real poetical feeling. The bastard style of pastoral cultivated by him, in which the description of nature is made the writers pretext, while ingenious flattery is his real purpose, nevertheless excludes genuine pleasure, and consequently genuine poetical achievement. He may be fairly compared to the minor poets of the reign of Anne (Garnett).
Calpurnius was first printed in 1471, together with Silius Italicus and has been frequently republished, generally with Gratius Faliscus and Nemesianus. The separate authorship of the eclogues of Calpurnius and Nemesianus was established by M. Haupts De Carminibus bucolicis Calpurnii et Nemesiani (1854). Editions by H. Schenkl (1885), with full introduction and index verborum, and by C. H. Keene (1887), with introduction, commentary and appendix. English verse translation by E. J. L. Scott (1891); see H. E. Butler, Post-Augustan Poetry (Oxford, 1909), pp. 150 foll., and F. Skutsch in Pauly-Wissowas Realencyclopädie, iii. 1 (1897). See also A Singing Match.