Note 2854 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES. (continued 2)

Caius Cilnius Mecænas, or rather Mæcenas, a descendant of the kings of Etruria, and of equestrian rank. He was the favourite minister of Augustus, and the friend and patron of Horace, Virgil, and most of the more deserving among the learned of his day. He is supposed to have written two tragedies, the Prometheus and Octavia; an epic poem, and a work on Natural History, to which Pliny frequently alludes, and which seems to have related, principally, to fishes and gems. He is also thought to have written some memoirs of the life of Augustus.