NEMESIANUS, MARCUS AURELIUS OLYMPIUS

flourished c. AD 280 Roman poet born in Carthage who wrote pastoral and didactic poetry. Of his works there survive four eclogues and an incomplete poem on hunting (Cynegetica). Two small fragments on bird catching (De aucupio) are also generally attributed to him. The four eclogues are in the Virgilian tradition and are also influenced by Calpurnius. They are purely imitative and of conventional form and imagery, yet they are attractive because of their smooth diction and melodious movement. The Cynegetica gives instruction about dogs, horses, and hunting equipment; it is a gracefully written piece in the literary genre of Virgil's Georgics and of the Cynegetica of Grattius.