Aufidius Bassus was a renowned Roman historian [1] and orator who lived in the reign of Augustus and Tiberius. [2]
Bassus was a man much admired in Rome [3] for his eloquence. [4] He drew up an account of the Roman wars in Germany. [2] Uncertainty in his health perhaps prevented him from holding a public office. [4] He suddenly died of illness leaving his works unfinished. [3]
His work, which probably began with the Roman civil wars or the death of Julius Caesar up to the end of the Sejanus, or perhaps Tiberius, [1] [3] was continued in thirty-one books by Pliny the Elder. [2] [5] Pliny the Elder carried it down at least as far as the end of Nero's reign. Bassus' other historical work was a Bellum Germanicum, which was published before his Histories. [6]
Seneca the Elder speaks highly of Bassus as a historian; however, the fragments preserved in that writer's Suasoriae (vi. 23) relating to the death of Cicero are characterized by an affected style. [6]
Aufidius Bassus was a renowned Roman historian [1] and orator who lived in the reign of Augustus and Tiberius. [2]
Bassus was a man much admired in Rome [3] for his eloquence. [4] He drew up an account of the Roman wars in Germany. [2] Uncertainty in his health perhaps prevented him from holding a public office. [4] He suddenly died of illness leaving his works unfinished. [3]
His work, which probably began with the Roman civil wars or the death of Julius Caesar up to the end of the Sejanus, or perhaps Tiberius, [1] [3] was continued in thirty-one books by Pliny the Elder. [2] [5] Pliny the Elder carried it down at least as far as the end of Nero's reign. Bassus' other historical work was a Bellum Germanicum, which was published before his Histories. [6]
Seneca the Elder speaks highly of Bassus as a historian; however, the fragments preserved in that writer's Suasoriae (vi. 23) relating to the death of Cicero are characterized by an affected style. [6]