Gnæus Nævius, a freeborn citizen of a Latin city in Campania, was the first native Latin poet of importance. [Sidenote: Gnæus Nævius.] He was a soldier in the first Punic war, at the end of which, while still a young man, he came to Rome, where he devoted himself to poetry. He was a man of independent spirit, not hesitating to attack in his comedies and other verses the most powerful Romans, especially the great family of the Metelli. For many years he maintained his position, but at last the Metelli brought about his imprisonment and banishment, and he died in exile in 199 B. C., at about seventy years of age. His dramatic works were numerous, both tragedies and comedies, for the most part translations and adaptations from the Greek, but alongside of these he produced also plays based upon Roman legends. These were called _fabulæ prætextæ_ or _prætextatæ_, “plays of the purple stripe,” because the characters wore Roman costumes. In one of these plays, the _Romulus_ (or in two, if the _Lupus_ or “Wolf” is not the _Romulus_ under another title), he dramatized the story of Romulus and Remus, and in another, the _Clastidium_, the defeat (in 222 B. C.) of the Insubrians by M. Claudius Marcellus and Cn. Cornelius Scipio. In his later years he turned to epic poetry and wrote in Saturnian verse the history of the first Punic war, introduced by an account of the legendary history of Rome from the departure of Æneas for Italy after the fall of Troy. This poem was read and admired for many years, and parts of it were imitated by Virgil in the _Æneid_. Nævius also wrote other poems, called _Satires_, on various subjects, partly, but not entirely, in Saturnian metre. Of all these works only inconsiderable fragments remain. They show, however, that Nævius was a poet of real power, and that with him the Latin language was beginning to develop some fitness for literary use. His epitaph, preserved by Aulus Gellius, will serve not only to show the stiff and monotonous rhythm of the Saturnian verse, but also, since it was probably written by Nævius himself, to exhibit his proud consciousness of superiority: _Immórtalés mortáles sí forét fas flére Flerént divaé Caménae Naéviúm poétam. Itáque póstquam est Órci tráditús thesaúro Oblíti súnt Romái loquiér linguá Latína._ If it were right that mortals be wept for by immortals, The goddess Muses would weep for Nævius the poet. And so since to the treasure of Orcus he’s departed, The Romans have forgotten to speak the Latin language. Nævius had a right to be proud. He had made literature a real force at Rome, able to contend with the great men of the city; he had invented the drama with Roman characters, and had written the first national epic poem. In doing all this he had at the same time added to the richness and grace of the still rude Latin language. But great as were the merits of Nævius, he was surpassed in every way by his successor.