L. Accius
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.)
Works
Praetextae
His tragedies were chiefly imitated from the Greeks, especially from Aeschylus.
Tragedies
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. 2.21, 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. 56, &c.; Hor. Ep. 2.1. 56; Quint. Inst. 10.1.97; Gel. 13.2.)
Editions
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.
Annales
Besides the tragedies, he also wrote Annales in verse, containing the history of Rome, like those of Ennius.
Libri Didascalion.
The prose Libri Didascalion seems to have been a history of poetry.
Editions
The fragments of the Didascalia by Madvig, De L. Attii Didascaliis Comment. Hafniae, 1831.
Libri Pragmaticon
Libri Pragmaticon: no fragments are preserved.
Parerga
Parerga: no fragments are preserved.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.