268 pldtt's natueai histoet. [Book IIL 



pa\ M. Varro^, the Emperor Augustus' now deified, Yarro 

 Atacinus'*, Antias^, Hyginus^, L. Vetus', Pomponius Mela*, 



of which Pliny makes considerable use. Of this also only a few fitigments 

 are left. His life has been written by Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch, and 

 Aurehus Victor. 



* M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the distinguished partisan of Augustus, to 

 whose niece Marcella he was married, but he afterwards divorced her 

 for Julia, the daughter of Augustus by Scribonia, and the widow of 

 Marcellus. He distinguished himself in Gaul, at Actium, and in Illyria. 

 He constructed many pubUc works at Rome, and among them the Pan- 

 theon ; he also built the splendid aqueduct at Nismes. He died suddenly 

 in his 51 st year.. His body was buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus, 

 who pronoimced his funeral oration. He wrote memoirs of his own life. 

 Pliny often refers to the " Commentarii " of Agrippa, by which are meant, 

 it is supposed, certain official lists drawn up by huu in the measurement 

 of the Roman world vmder Augustus. His map of the world is also 

 mentioned by Pliny in c. 3 of the present Book. ^ See end of B. ii 



' From Servius, Suetonius and Plutarch we learn that Augustus wrote 

 Memoirs of his Life, in thirteen books ; from Suetonius, that he com- 

 posed a Summary of the Empire (which was probably that referred to in 

 the above note on Agrippa) ; and from Quintilian, Aulus QuUius, and Pliny, 

 B. iviii. c. 38, that he published Letters written to his grandson Caius. 



* P. Terentius Varro, sumamed Atacinus, from the Atax, a river of 

 Gallia Narbonensis, in which province he was bom, B.C. 82. Of his 

 "Argonautica," his " Cosmographia" (probably the same with his "Iter"), 

 his " Navales Libri," and his Heroic and Amatory Poems, only a few 

 fragments now exist. Of his life nothing whateyer is known. 



* Valerias Antias. See end of B. ii. 



* C. Juhus Hyginus, a native of Spain, and freedman of Augustus, by 

 whom he was placed at the Palatine Library. He lived upon terms of 

 intimacy with Ovid. He wrote works on the sites of the cities of Italy, 

 the Nature of the Gods, an account of the Penates, an account of Virgil 

 (probably the same as the work called " Commentaries on Virgil"), on the 

 Famihes of Trojan descent, on Agricultiu-e, the " Propempticon Cinnffi," 

 the Lives of Illustrious Men (quoted by John of SaUsbury in his " Poly- 

 craticon "), a book of Examples, and a work on the Art of War, also men- 

 tioned by John of SaUsbiuy. A book of Fables, and an Astronomical 

 Poem, in four books, are ascribed to him, but they are probably pro- 

 ductions of a later age. 



7 L. Antistius Vetvis, Consxil with Nero, A.D. 55. While command- 

 ing in Germany he formed the project of connecting the Moselle and the 

 Saone by a canal, thus estabHshing a communication between the Medi- 

 terranean and the Northern Ocean. Nero having resolved on his death, 

 he anticipated his sentence by opening his veins in a warm bath. His 

 mother-in-law Sextia, and his daughter Pollentia, in a similar manner 

 perished with him. 



* He was bom, it is supposed, at Tingentera, or Cingentera, on the bay 

 of Algesiras, and probably flourished in the reign of Claudius. He was 



