Lucilius, Gaius

Lucilius, Gaius (c. 180-102 bc), Roman writer, creator of the distinctively Roman poetic satire. He was born in Suessa Aurunca (now Sessa Aurunca, Italy) and served in Spain under his friend, the Roman general Scipio the Younger , in the Numantine War (134-133 bc); and was a member of the literary circle that gathered around the general. His 30 books of satiric verse, or Sermones, of which about 1300 fragments survive, were frank and informal criticisms of contemporary events and people. The fragments are marked by such features of the later Roman satire as trenchant invective and the use of the anecdote, dialogue, and fable forms.