Valerius Flaccus (Gaius Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus), Argonautica
(3,383 words)
A. Life and work
Little is known of the man who rejoiced in the full name of Gaius Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus. That little is known from an observation by the teacher of rhetoric Quintilian, who in his Institutio oratoria laments V.’ recent death and the great loss it constituted (Quint. Inst. 10,1,90: Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus). The date of Quintilian’s work places the death of V. in the years leading up to AD 95. The proemium (Val. Fl. 1,5–7) to the Argonautica (Arg.…
