Calpurnius
, or Calphurnius, a Latin poet, a native of Sicily, lived about the end of the third century, | under the emperors Carus, Carinus, and Numeriamis. Seven of his eclogues are extant, which were once in such high reputation as to he read in schools; hut they have not preserved their reputation, and are generally considered, notwithstanding some occasional passages of genius, as indicating the declining taste of the age. Poggio is said to have found them in England, and sent them to his friend Niccolo Niccoli. They are published in the “Poetae rei Venaticae,” Leyden, 1728, 4to, and in the “Poetae Latini Minores;” but there are editions along with Silius Italicus and other writers, as early as 1471, 1472, 1481, &c. The latest edition is that of Beck, Leipsic, 1803, 8vo, with notes and a glossary. Adelung translated them into German, and published them in 1805, in a magnificent manner. 1
Moreri.—Dict. Hist.—Roscoe’s Lorenzo.—Saxii Onomast.