These ideas were developed by Lucilius Junior in a poem consisting of 644 hexameters entitled _Aetna_. The authorship of this poem has long been a disputed point; it has been attributed to Virgil, Claudian, Quintilius Varus, Manilius, and, by Joseph Scaliger[5] and others, to Cornelius Severus. Wensdorff was the first to adduce reasons for attributing the poem to Lucilius Junior, and his views are generally adopted. Lucilius Junior was Procurator of Sicily under Nero, and, while resident in the Island, he ascended Etna; and it is said that he proposed writing a detailed history of the mountain. He adopted the scientific opinions of Epicurus, as established in Rome by Lucretius, and was more immediately a disciple of Seneca. The latter dedicated to him his _Quæstiones Naturales_, in which he alludes more than once to Etna. M. Chenu speaks of the poem of Lucilius Junior as "sans doute très-póetique, mais assez souvent dur, heurté, concis, et parcela même, d'une obscurité parfois désespérante."[6] At the commencement of the poem, Lucilius ridicules the ideas of the poets as regards the connection of Etna with Vulcan and the Cyclops. He has no belief in the practice, which apparently prevailed in his time, of ascending to the edge of the crater and there offering incense to the tutelary gods of the mountain. He adopts to a great extent the tone and style of Lucretius, in his explanation of the phenomena of the mountain. Water filters through the crevices and cracks in the rocks, until it comes into contact with the internal fires, when it is converted into vapour and expelled with violence. The internal fires are nourished by the winds which penetrate into the mountain. He traces some curious connection between the plants which grow upon the mountain, and the supply of sulphur and bitumen to the interior, which is, at best, but partly intelligible. [5] See Lucilius Junioris AETNA. Recensuit notasque Jos. Scaligeri, Frid. Lindenbruchii et suas addidit Fridericus Jacob. Lipsiæ, 1826. [6] L'Etna de Lucilius Junior. Traduction nouvelle par Jules Chenu. Paris, 1843. "Nunc superant, quacunque regant incendia silvæ Quæ flammis alimenta vacent, quid nutriat Aetnam. Incendi patiens illis vernacula caulis Materia, appositumque igni genus utile terræ est, Uritur assidue calidus nunc sulfuris humor, Nunc spissus crebro præbetur flumine succus, Pingue bitumen adest, et quidquid cominus acres Irritat flammas; illius corporis Ætna est. Atque hanc materiam penitus discurrere fontes Infectæ erumpunt et aquæ radice sub ipsa."