Lucius Accius

Reading notes

• Ad Familiares 7.33 §1 as Philoctetes says in Accius

  Lucius Accius (c. 170 to c. 86 BC) was Rome's leading tragic poet; Cicero quotes two lines from his lost Philoctetes, in which the marooned hero laments that his weapons are wasted on game birds (a "feathered body") rather than enemies. Cicero applies the image to his own eloquence wasted in idleness.

• Ad Familiares 9.16 §4 I am making no use of your Oenomaus --- though you placed the lines of Accius well

  Paetus had quoted lines from the Oenomaus, a tragedy by L. Accius (the great Roman tragedian, c. 170-86 BC), to needle Cicero. Cicero declines to take up the bait of the quotation, while complimenting Paetus on its apt placement; Accius recurs below in the 'wave against a rock' simile.

• On the Ends of Good and Evil §4.68 those, as Accius says, \textit{deceit-speaking} cunning devices

  Cicero borrows the coinage 'fallaciloquae' (deceit-speaking) from a tragedy of the Roman poet Accius to brand the Stoics' verbal contrivances. The neologism mocks how the Stoics escape difficulty by twisting words.

• On the Ends of Good and Evil §5.32 as it stands in Accius

  Lucius Accius was a major Roman tragic poet; the lines quoted come from his Philocteta. Cicero translates the verses to show the wounded hero prolonging his life by hunting birds.

• On the Nature of the Gods §2.89 like that shepherd in Accius

  Lucius Accius (170-c.86 BC), the leading Roman tragedian. Balbus quotes the speech from his Medea in which a shepherd, seeing the Argo for the first time, takes the ship for a monstrous living thing.

• Tusculan Disputations §2.13 that line of Accius is false

  Lucius Accius (c. 170-c. 86 BC), the foremost Roman tragic poet of the late Republic, much quoted by Cicero. The verse cited claims good seed shines by its own nature even in poor soil, which Cicero rejects.

• Tusculan Disputations §3.20 but Accius wrote splendidly

  Lucius Accius (170-c.86 BC), the greatest Roman tragedian, frequently quoted in the Tusculans. Cicero praises his bold use of the verb invidere with a direct object.