, the great friend and counsellor of Augustus Caesar, was himself
, the great friend and
counsellor of Augustus Caesar, was himself a polite scholar,
but is chiefly memorable for having been the patron and
protector of men of letters. He was descended from a
most ancient and illustrious origin, even from the kings of
Hetruria, as Horace often tells us; but his immediate forefathers were only of the equestrian order. He is supposed
to have been born at Rome, because his family lived there;
but in what year antiquity does not tell us. His education is supposed to have been of the most liberal kind, and
agreeable to the dignity and splendour of his birth, as he
excelled in every thing that related to arms, politics, and
letters. How he spent his younger years is also unknown,
there being no mention made of him, by any writer, before
the death of Julius Caesar, which happened in the year of
Rome 709. Then Octavius Caesar, who was afterwards
called Augustus, went to Rome to take possession of his
uncle’s inheritance; and, at the same time, Mæcenas
became first publicly known; though he appears to have been
Augustus’s friend, and, as it should seem, guardian, from
his childhood. From that time he accompanied him
through all his fortunes, and was his counsellor and adviser upon all occasions; so that Pedo Albinovanus, or
rather the unknown author whose elegy has been ascribed
to him, justly calls him “Caesaris dextram,
” Caesar’s right
hand.