Porcius Licinus

Porcius Licinus (2nd century BC) was an ancient Roman poet.

Quotes

• Custodes ovium tenerae propaginis, agnum,
  Quaeritis ignem? ite huc; quaeritis? ignis homost.
  Si digito attigero, incendam silvam simul omnem,
  Omne pecus flammast, omnia qua video.
  • O shepherds of the lambs, the ewes’ young brood,
    Seek ye for fire? Come hither; man is fire.
    Touch I the wood with finger-tip, it burns;
    Your flock’s a flame, all I behold is fire.
  • Verses quoted by Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, XIX, ix, 13; J. C. Rolfe, Vol. 3, LCL 212 (1927), p. 385

• Dum lasciviam nobilium et laudes fucosas petit,
  Dum Africani vocem divinam inhiat avidis auribus,
  Dum ad Philum se cenitare et Laelium pulchrum putat,
  Dum in Albanum crebro rapitur ob florem aetatis suae:
  Post sublatis rebus ad summam inopiam redactus est.
  Itaque e conspectu omnium abit Graeciam in terram ultimam,
  Mortuust Stymphali, Arcadiae in oppido. Nil Publius
  Scipio profuit, nil illi Laelius, nil Furius,
  Tres per id tempus qui agitabant nobiles facillime.
  Eorum ille opera ne domum quidem habuit conducticiam,
  Saltem ut esset quo referret obitum domini servulus.
  • Though he courted the wantonness of great men and their counterfeit praise, though with greedy ears he drank in the divine voice of Africanus, though he thought it fine to frequent the tables of Philus and Laelius, though he was often taken to the Alban villa because of his youthful charms, he later found himself stripped of his all and reduced to utmost want. So he withdrew from the sight of men to a remote part of Greece and died at Stymphalus, a town of Arcady. Naught availed him Publius Scipio, naught Laelius, naught Furius, the three wealthiest nobles of that time. Their help did not give him even a rented house, to provide at least a place where his slave might announce his master's death.
  • Verses quoted by Suetonius, Vita Terenti, 1; J. C. Rolfe, Vol. 2, LCL 38 (1914), p. 454
  • The text is variously reconstructed. Other translations:
    While he courted the sexual sport of the nobles and their deceptive praises, while his greedy ears drank in the divine voice of Africanus, while he thought it a fine thing to dine at Philus' and Laelius' houses, while he thought they loved him <...>, he was frequently whisked away to the Alban villa because of his youthful beauty: afterwards, he was reduced to the gravest poverty because all his support was taken away. And so he departed to the furthest reaches of Greece out of everyone's sight. He died at Stymphalus, a town in Arcadia. Publius Scipio did not help him at all, nor did Laelius, nor Furius, the three statesmen who lived most indulgently at that time.
    —Josiah E. Davis, "Terrence Interrupted", The American Journal of Philology, vol. 135, no. 3 (2014), p. 391

• Poenico bello secundo Musa pinnato gradu
  Intulit se bellicosam in Romuli gentem feram.
  • In the second Punic war with winged flight
    The Muse to Romulus’ warrior nation came.
  • Verses quoted by Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, XVII, xxi, 45; J. C. Rolfe, Vol. 3, LCL 212 (1927), p. 286

Further reading

• H. W. Garrod, ed., The Oxford Book of Latin Verse (1912), nos. 49 and 50

• Emil Baehrens, Fragmenta Poetarum Romanorum (1886), p. 277