Lucius Varius Rufus
Lucius Varius Rufus (c. 7414 BC) was a Roman poet of the early Augustan age. He was a friend of Virgil, after whose death he and Plotius Tucca prepared the Aeneid for publication, and of Horace, for whom he and Virgil obtained an introduction to Maecenas.
Also recorded as Varius Rufus
Lucius Varius Rufus
Charles Jalabert · Public domain
- Name
- Lucius Varius Rufus
- Born
- c. 74 BC
- Died
- 14 BC (aged about 60)
- Occupation
- Poet
- Nationality
- Ancient Rome
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wikidata · Q8820 · wikipedia · Lucius Varius Rufus
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Biography
Biography
Horace spoke of him as a master of epic and the only poet capable of celebrating the achievements of Vipsanius Agrippa (Odes, i.6); Virgil (under the name of Lycidas, Ecl. Ix.35) regretted that he had hitherto produced nothing comparable to the work of Varius or Helvius Cinna. Macrobius (Saturnalia, vi. I, 39; 2, 19) states that Varius composed an epic poem De Morte, some lines of which are quoted as having been imitated or appropriated by Virgil; Horace (Sat. I.10, 43) probably alluded to another epic, and, according to the scholiast on Epistles, i.16, 2 729, these three lines were taken bodily from a panegyric of Varius on Augustus. Varius's most famous literary production was the tragedy Thyestes, which Quintilian (Inst. Orat. X.1, 98) declared fit to rank with any of the Greek tragedies. A didascalia on the play, preserved in a Paris manuscript, states that it was produced at the games celebrated in 29 BC by Octavian in honour of the victory at Actium, and that Varius received a present of a million sesterces from the Roman ruler. Fragments of Varius's works are located in E. Poetarum Romanorum (1886); monographs by A. Weichert (1836) and R. Unger (1870, 1878, 1898); Martin Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur (1899), ii.1; Teuffel, Hist. Of Roman Literature (Eng. Trans, 1900), 223.
Documentary record
Lucius Varius Rufus is recorded as a writer. The birth of Lucius Varius Rufus is recorded in Turbigo.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lucius Varius Rufus • Born — c. 74 BC • Died — 14 BC (aged about 60) • Occupation — Poet • Language — Latin • Period — Augustan poetry • Notable Works — Thyestes, De Morte
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1976
Der Thyestes des Lucius Varius Rufus (1976) is digitised and catalogued by Open Library.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- L. Varius Rufus, Fragments of Roman Poetry c.60 BC–AD 20, 2007
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2007
- L. Varius Rufus, The Fragmentary Latin Poets, 1993
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1993
- Varius Rufus, Augustan poet, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2016
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2016
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q8820: Lucius Varius Rufus
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Lucius Varius Rufus”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Lucius Varius Rufus, revision 1369967092 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
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scholarly publication
L. Varius Rufus, Fragments of Roman Poetry c.60 BC–AD 20, 2007Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
L. Varius Rufus, The Fragmentary Latin Poets, 1993Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Varius Rufus, Augustan poet, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2016Crossref registry
Institutional witnessauthority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
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Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Lucius Varius Rufus is recorded with the occupation playwright. Recorded as writer, playwright and poet.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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