Bavius (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Bavius and Maevius were two critics in the age of Augustus Caesar who belittled and attacked the talents of superior writers, according to John Lempriere. In particular, they attacked the work of Virgil and Horace, both of whom mocked Maevius. Virgil struck back at Maevius in his Eclogue III, while Horace did the same in his tenth Epode. Alexander Pope mentions Bavius in his 1732 Dunciad Variorum and explains, in a note, that he got the reference from Virgil. Pope draws a parallel between these two critics and his own dunces by quoting John Dennis who thought it likely that Bavius "and Maevius had (even in Augustus's days) a very formidable Party at Rome, who thought them much superior to Virgil and Horace: For (saith he) I cannot believe they would have fix'd that eternal brand upon them, if they had not been coxcombs in more than ordinary credit" (Dunciad Variorum).