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{{Short description|Roman writer and poet (c. 239 – c. 169 BC)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| image            = Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek - Doppelherme Vergil-Ennius.jpg
| caption          = Double herm with the portrait of the Roman poets [[Virgil]] or Ennius
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Quintus Ennius
| birth_date       = {{circa}} 239 BCE
| birth_place      = [[Rudiae]], [[Roman Republic]]
| death_date       = {{circa}} 169 BCE
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = Poet
| period           = 
| genre            = [[Epic poetry]]
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| signature        = 
}}
'''Quintus Ennius''' ({{IPA|la|ˈkᶣiːnt̪ʊs̺ ˈɛnːiʊs̺}}<!-- "ɪ" before a vowel is wrong acc. to sydney allen and others, so at least do not change it to "ɪ.ʊ"-->; {{circa|239|169 BCE}}) was a writer and poet who lived during the [[Roman Republic]]. He is often considered the father of [[Roman poetry]]. He was born in the small town of [[Rudiae]],<ref>[[#Smith|Smith (1852)]], p. 359. "Rudiae is celebrated as the birthplace of Ennius."</ref> located near modern [[Lecce]] (ancient ''Calabria'', today [[Salento]]), a town founded by the [[Messapians]], and could speak [[Greek language|Greek]] as well as [[Latin]] and [[Oscan language|Oscan]] (his native language).<ref>{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature |year=1995 |page=381 |publisher=Merriam-Webster Inc. Publishers |location=Springfield, Massachusetts |isbn=0-87779-042-6 |quote="Ennius was at home in three languages: Oscan, his native tongue; Greek, in which he was educated; and Latin, the language of the army with which he served in the Second Punic War."}}</ref> Although only fragments of his works survive, his influence in [[Latin literature]] was significant, particularly in his use of Greek literary models.

==Biography==

Very little is reliably known about the life of Ennius. His contemporaries hardly mentioned him and much that is related about him could have been embroidered from references to himself in his now fragmentary writings.<ref>E. Badian, "Ennius and his Friends" in ''Ennius'', Fondation Hardt, Geneva 1972, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-Se1MLtw658C pp.149–99]</ref> Some lines of the ''Annales'', as well as ancient testimonies, for example, suggest that Ennius opened his epic with a recollection of a dream in which the ancient epic-writer [[Homer]] informed him that his spirit had been reborn into Ennius.<ref>[[#Aicher|Aicher (1989)]], pp. 227{{en dash}}32.</ref> It is true that the doctrine of the [[Metempsychosis#Platonic philosophy|transmigration of souls]] once flourished in the areas of Italy settled by Greeks, but the statement might have been no more than a literary flourish. Ennius seems to have been given to making large claims, as in the report by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]] that he claimed descent from Messapus, the legendary king of his native district.<ref>Commentary on the ''Aeneid'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D7%3Acommline%3D691 vii. 691]</ref> The partially Hellenised city of [[Rudiae]] (in modern [[Apulia]]), his place of birth, was certainly in the area settled by the [[Messapians]]. And this, he used to say, according to [[Aulus Gellius]], had endowed him with a triple linguistic and cultural heritage, fancifully described as "three hearts… Greek, [[Osci|Oscan]] and Latin".<ref>''Noctes Atticae'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0072:id=v3.p.263 17.17.1]</ref>

The public career of Ennius first really emerges in middle life, when he was serving in the army with the rank of [[centurion]] during the [[Second Punic War]].  While in [[Sardinia]] in the year 204 BCE, he is said to have attracted the attention of [[Cato the Elder]] and was taken by him to Rome. There he taught Greek and adapted Greek plays for a livelihood, and by his poetical compositions gained the friendship of some of the greatest men in Rome whose achievements he praised. Amongst these were [[Scipio Africanus]] and [[Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 189 BC)|Fulvius Nobilior]], whom he accompanied on his Aetolian campaign (189). Afterwards he made the capture of [[Ambracia]], at which he was present, the subject of a play and of an episode in the ''Annales''. It was through the influence of Nobilior's son [[Quintus Fulvius Nobilior|Quintus]] that Ennius subsequently obtained Roman citizenship. But he himself lived plainly and simply in the literary quarter on the [[Aventine Hill]] with the poet [[Caecilius Statius]], a fellow adapter of Greek plays.

At about the age of 70 Ennius died, immediately after producing his tragedy ''Thyestes''. In the last book of his epic poem, in which he seems to have given various details of his personal history, he mentioned that he was in his 67th year at the date of its composition. He compared himself, in contemplation of the close of the great work of his life, to a gallant horse which, after having often won the prize at the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]], obtained his rest when weary with age. A similar feeling of pride at the completion of a great career is expressed in the memorial lines which he composed to be placed under his bust after death: "Let no one weep for me, or celebrate my funeral with mourning; for I still live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men."<ref>Most of this section is drawn from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref>

==Literature==
[[File:Parnaso (Raffaello), Ennio Dante e Omero.jpg|thumb|Detail from [[Raphael]]'s ''[[The Parnassus|Parnassus]]'': Ennius, [[Dante]] and [[Homer]]]]
Ennius continued the nascent literary tradition by writing plays in Greek and Roman style ([[praetexta]]e and [[Fabula palliata|palliatae]]), as well as his most famous work, a historical epic in hexameters called the ''[[Annales (Ennius)|Annales]]''. Other minor works include the  ''Epicharmus'', ''Epigrammata'', the ''Euhemerus'', the ''Hedyphagetica'', ''Praecepta''/''Protrepticus'', ''Saturae'' (or ''Satires''), ''Scipio'', and ''Sota''.<ref name=oxford>[[#La Barbera|La Barbera (2014)]].</ref>

===The ''Annales''===
The ''[[Annales (Ennius)|Annales]]'' was an [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] in fifteen books, later expanded to eighteen, covering Roman history from the fall of [[Troy]] in 1184 BCE down to the censorship of [[Cato the Elder]] in 184 BCE.  It was the first Latin poem to adopt the [[dactylic hexameter]] metre used in Greek epic and didactic poetry,<ref>{{cite web|title=FJCL Latin Literature Study Guide|url=http://www.fjcl.org/uploads/4/3/4/0/4340783/latin_lit_study_guide.pdf|publisher=Florida Junior Classical League|access-date=2 March 2014}}</ref> leading it to become the standard metre for these genres in Latin poetry.  The ''Annals'' became a school text for Roman schoolchildren, eventually supplanted by [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''. About 600 lines survive.

===Minor works===
The ''Epicharmus'' was inspired by the philosophical hypotheses developed by the Sicilian poet and philosopher [[Epicharmus of Kos]], after which Ennius's work took its name.<ref name=ebcite>[[#EB|Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2016)]].</ref><ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 220{{en dash}}21.</ref> In the ''Epicharmus'', the poet describes a dream he had in which he died and was transported to some place of heavenly enlightenment. Here, he met Epicharmus, who explained the nature of the gods and taught Ennius the physics of the [[universe]].<ref>[[#Merry|Merry (1891)]], p. 65.</ref>

The ''Euhemerus'' presented a [[theology|theological]] doctrine based on the ideas of [[Euhemerus]] of Messene, who argued that the gods of [[Mount Olympus (Mountain)|Olympus]] were not supernatural powers that interfere in the lives of humans, but rather heroes of old who [[Apotheosis|after death were eventually regarded as deities]] due to their valor, bravery, or cultural impact (this belief is now known as [[euhemerism]]). Both [[Cicero]] and [[Lactantius]] write that the ''Euhemerus'' was a "translat[ion] and a recount[ing]" of Euhemerus's original work the ''Sacred History'', but it is unclear if this means Ennius simply translated the original from Greek into Latin, or added in his own elements. Most of what is preserved of this work comes to us from Lactantius, and these snippets suggest that the ''Euhemerus'' was a prose text.<ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 238{{en dash}}40.</ref>

The ''Hedyphagetica'' took much of its substance from the [[gastronomy|gastronomical]] [[Epic poetry|epic]] of [[Archestratus]] of Gela. The extant portions of Ennius's poem discuss where a reader might find the best type of fish. Most of the fragments, replete with unique terms for fish and numerous place names, are corrupt or damaged. The ''Hedyphagetica'' is written in [[hexameter]]s, but differs from the ''Annales'' in regards to "metrical practices"; this difference is largely due to each works' distinct subject matter.<ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 260{{en dash}}61.</ref>

The titles ''Praecepta'' and ''Protrepticus'' were likely used to refer to the same (possibly exhortatory) work. However, given this work's almost non-existent nature (only the word ''pannibus''{{em dash}}an "unusual" form of the word ''pannis'', meaning "rags"{{em dash}}is preserved in the work of the [[Latin]] [[Philologist|grammarian]] [[Charisius]]), this position is extremely difficult to verify.<ref name=oxford/><ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 268{{en dash}}69.</ref>

The ''Saturae'' is a collection of about thirty lines from satirical poems{{em dash}}making it the first extant instance of Roman satire.<ref name=oxford/> These lines are written in a variety of poetic metres.<ref name=oxford/><ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 270{{en dash}}71.</ref> The poems in this collection "were mostly concerned with practical wisdom, often driving home a lesson with the help of a fable."<ref name=ebcite/>

Ennius's ''Scipio'' was a work (possibly a [[panegyric]] poem) that apparently celebrated the life and deeds of [[Scipio Africanus]]. Hardly anything remains of this work, and what is preserved is embedded in the works of others. Unfortunately, "no quotation of [''Scipio''] supplies a context".<ref name=scipioegm/> Some have proposed that the work was written before the ''Annales'', and others have said that the work was written after Scipio's 201 BCE triumph that followed the [[Battle of Zama]] (202 BCE).<ref name=scipioegm>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 286{{en dash}}87.</ref>

The ''Sota'' was a poem, potentially of some length, named after the Greek poet [[Sotades]]. The work, which followed a metre established by Sotades known as the "Sotadeus", concerned itself with a number of disparate topics and ideas.<ref>[[#Goldberg|Ennius, Goldberg, & Manuwald (2018)]], pp. 296{{en dash}}97.</ref>

==Editions==
* Quinto Ennio. ''Le opere minori, Vol. I. Praecepta, Protrepticus, Saturae, Scipio, Sota''. Ed., tr., comm. Alessandro Russo. Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2007 (Testi e studi di cultura classica, 40).
* Warmington, E. H. (1935). Ennius (Q. Ennius). ''Remains of Old Latin.'' Edited by Eric Herbert Warmington. Vol. 2: Ennius and Caecilius. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
*[[Latin literature]]
*[[List of ancient Romans]]
*[[Prosody (Latin)]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite journal|last1=Aicher|first1=Peter|title=Ennius' Dream of Homer|journal=The American Journal of Philology|date=Summer 1989|volume=110|issue=2|pages=227–232|jstor=295173|ref=Aicher|doi=10.2307/295173}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Ennius|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]|date=10 February 2016|access-date=1 August 2018|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quintus-Ennius|author=((Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britannica''))|ref=EB}}
* {{cite book|author=Ennius|title= Fragmentary Republican Latin|volume=II: Ennius, Dramatic Fragments. Minor Works|editor1=Goldberg, Sander M.|editor2=Manuwald, Gesine |location=[[Cambridge, MA]]|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2018|ref=Goldberg}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last1=La Barbera |first1=Sandro |title=Ennius |url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0172.xml |encyclopedia=Oxford Bibliographies |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=1 August 2018 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0172 |date=26 August 2014|isbn=9780195389661 |ref=La Barbera|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book| publisher = [[Clarendon Press]]|location=[[Oxford, UK]]| editor-last = Merry| editor-first = William Walter| title = Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry: From the Earliest Times of the Republic to the Augustan Age| date = 1891|ref=Merry}}
* {{cite book| last = Smith  | first = William   | title = A Smaller Classical Dictionary  | place = London, England |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |access-date=1 August 2018 | year = 1852  | contribution = Rudiae  | url = https://archive.org/stream/smallerclassical00smit_0#page/359/mode/1up|ref=Smith}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite book|author=Bettini, M.|date=1979|title=Studi e note su Ennio|location=Pisa|publisher=Giardini}}
* {{cite book|last=Brooks|first=R. A.|title=Ennius and Roman Tragedy|year=1981|publisher=Arno Press|location=New York|isbn=0-405-14030-4}}
* {{cite journal|author=Elliott, J.|date=2009|title=Ennius' 'Cunctator' and the History of a Gerund in the Roman Historiographical Tradition|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=59|issue=2|pages=532{{en dash}}42|doi=10.1017/S0009838809990164|s2cid=162319781}} 
* Elliott, J. (2010). "Ennius as Universal Historian: The Case of the Annales." ''Historiae Mundi: Studies in Universal History.'' Ed. Peter Liddel and Andrew Fear. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 148–161.
* {{cite book|last=Evans|first= R.L.S.|editor-last=Briggs|editor-first=Ward|chapter=Ennius|title=Ancient Roman Writers|series=Dictionary of Literary Biography|volume=211|year=1999}}
* Fisher, J. (2014). The 'Annals' of Quintus Ennius and the Italic Tradition.   Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press. 
* Fitzgerald, W., and [[Emily Gowers]], eds. (2007). Ennius Perennis. The Annals and Beyond. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philolological Society, Supplementary Volume 31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=S. M.|title=Epic in Republican Rome|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=0-19-509372-0}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.2307/284274|jstor=284274|title=Poetry, Politics, and Ennius|journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=119|pages=247–261|year=1989|last1=Goldberg|first1=Sander M.}} 
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1093/crj/clr011|title=Absent Presence: Pater Ennius in Renaissance Europe|journal=Classical Receptions Journal|volume=4|pages=1–19|year=2012|last1=Goldschmidt|first1=N.}} 
* {{cite book|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199681297.001.0001|title=Shaggy Crowns|year=2013|last1=Goldschmidt|first1=Nora|isbn=9780199681297|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}}
*Jocelyn, H. D. Ennius (Q. Ennius). (1967). ''The Tragedies of Ennius: The Fragments''. Edited by Henry David Jocelyn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* {{cite book|doi=10.1515/9783110836417-036|chapter=The Poems of Quintus Ennius|title=Recht, Religion, Sprache und Literatur (Bis zum Ende des 2. Jahrhunderts v. CHR.)|year=1972|last1=Jocelyn|first1=Henry David|editor1-first=Hildegard|editor1-last=Temporini|editor2-first=Wolfgang|author-link=Harry Jocelyn|editor2-last=Haase|isbn=9783110836417}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0009838813000608|title=A Metrical Scandal in Ennius|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=64|pages=152–159|year=2014|last1=Morgan|first1=Llewelyn|s2cid=170339848}} 
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1353/are.2006.0029|title=The Introduction of Epic in Rome: Cultural Thefts and Social Contests|journal=Arethusa|volume=39|issue=3|pages=449–469|year=2006|last1=Sciarrino|first1=Enrica|s2cid=143731031}} 
*Skutsch, O. (1968). ''Studia Enniana''. London: Athlone.
* {{cite book|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00075748|title=The Annals of Quintus Ennius|pages=70|year=1985|isbn=9780198144489|editor-last1=Skutsch|editor-first1=Otto|last1=Ennius|first1=Quintus}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Ennius
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* {{wikisource author-inline|Quintus Ennius}}
* {{wikisourcelang-inline|la|Scriptor:Quintus Ennius|Ennius}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/enn.html Fragments of Ennius' ''Annals''] at [[The Latin Library]]; text from Wordsworth (1874), line numbering from Warmington (1935)
* [http://www.attalus.org/poetry/ennius1.html Ennius' ''Annales'': text and translation of all fragments] at ''attalus.org''; adapted from Warmington (1935)
* [http://elfinspell.com/GRPEnnius.html Ennius: translation of selected fragments] at ''elfinspell.com''; from ''Specimens of the Poets and Poetry of Greece and Rome by Various Translators'' (1847)
* ''Remains of old latin. Vol. 1: Aennius and Caecilius'', E. H. Warmington (a cura di), Cambridge-London, 1935, [https://archive.org/details/remainsofoldlati01warmuoft pagg. 1–465].
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=Ennius, Quintus |volume=9 |page=648{{en dash}}49}}

{{Ancient Rome topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Epic poets]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC poets]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Roman poets]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC writers in Latin]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC writers in Latin]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Lecce]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman tragic dramatists]]
[[Category:Old Latin-language writers]]
[[Category:230s BC births]]
[[Category:160s BC deaths]]
[[Category:Ennii]]
[[Category:Osci]]