Fest. p. 333, 'Cum Livius Andronicus bello Punico secundo scripsisset carmen quod a virginibus est cantatum, quia prosperius res publica populi Romani geri coepta est, publice attributa est ei in Aventino aedis Minervae, in qua liceret scribis histrionibusque consistere ac dona ponere, in honorem Livi, quia is et scribebat fabulas et agebat.' Livius had a twofold reason for writing, (_a_) To assist him in his profession as a schoolmaster he published a translation of the _Odyssey_; (_b_) as an actor, he wrote the plays he acted, and afterwards published them. Sueton. _Gramm._ 1, 'Livium et Ennium ... quos utraque lingua domi forisque docuisse adnotatum est.' Livy vii. 2, 8, 'Livius ... qui ab saturis ausus est primus argumento fabulam serere, idem scilicet, id quod omnes tum erant, suorum carminum actor.' (2) WORKS. 1. _Tragedies._--From the scanty fragments extant and from the titles (_Achilles_, _Aegisthus_, and six others are known) we see that these were close imitations of Greek plays. Thus l. 38 (Ribbeck), 'Quem ego nefrendem alui lacteam immulgens opem,' is, according to Conington, a rendering of Aesch. _Choeph._ 883-4, μαστὸν πρὸς ᾧ σὺ πολλὰ δὴ βρίζων ἅμα οὔλοισιν ἐξήμελξας εὐτραφὲς γάλα. 2. _Comedies._--Slight fragments of three of these are extant. 3. A translation of the _Odyssey_ in Saturnians.[1] This, though rough and incorrect, long remained a school-book. So Hor. _Ep._ ii. I, 69 _sqq._, 'Non equidem insector delendave carmina Livi esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi parvo Orbilium dictare: sed emendata videri pulchraque et exactis minimum distantia miror.' For examples of translation, of. Gell, xviii. 9, 5, 'Offendi ... librum ... Livi Andronici, qui inscriptus est Odyssea, in quo erat versus primus ..., "Virúm mihí Caména | ínsecé versútum," factus ex illo Homeri versu, Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον.' Fragments 2 and 3, 'Meá puer, quid vérbi | éx tuo óre súpera fugít? neque ením te oblítus | Lértié, sum, nóster,' represent _Od._ i. 64, τέκνον ἐμὸν, ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων; πῶς ἂν ἔπειτ’ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην; NAEVIUS. (1) LIFE. Cn. Naevius' dates can only be given approximately as B.C. 269-199. As he served in the First Punic War, he cannot in any case have been born later than B.C. 257. He was a Campanian by birth. Gell. i. 24, 2, 'Epigramma Naevi plenum superbiae Campanae, quod testimonium esse iustum potuisset, nisi ab ipso dictum esset, "Inmortales mortales si foret fas flere, flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam. Itaque postquam est Orci traditus thesauro, obliti sunt Romae loquier lingua Latina."' Naevius' first play was produced B.C. 235; the fact that he served as a soldier shows that he was not an actor.