Lucius Varius Rufus

Lucius Varius Rufus was a Roman poet of the early Augustan age who lived from about 74 BC to 14 BC. He was a friend of Virgil, and after Virgil's death he and Plotius Tucca prepared the Aeneid for publication. He was also a friend of Horace, for whom he and Virgil obtained an introduction to Maecenas. Horace spoke of him as a master of epic and the only poet capable of celebrating the achievements of Vipsanius Agrippa. Macrobius states that Varius composed an epic poem De Morte, some lines of which Virgil imitated. His most famous work was the tragedy Thyestes, which Quintilian declared fit to rank with any Greek tragedy; a note preserved in a Paris manuscript says it was produced at the games Octavian held in 29 BC after the victory at Actium, and that Varius received a million sesterces. Only fragments of his works survive.