Scholiast) wrote a manual of rhetoric in
seven books.

There were also six books on the history of philosophy. Augustine _de
haeres. prol._, 'Opiniones omnium philosophorum qui sectas varias
condiderunt usque ad tempora sua vi. non parvis voluminibus quidam
Celsus absolvit; nec redarguit aliquem, sed tantum quid sentirent
aperuit. Cum ferme centum philosophos nominasset,' etc.

Celsus also wrote separate treatises (1) on philosophy, Quint. x. 1,
24, 'Scripsit non parum multa Cornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non
sine cultu ac nitore'; (2) on strategy (Lydus _de mag._ i. 47).

PHAEDRUS.

The title of Phaedrus' work, 'Phaedri Augusti liberti fabularum
Aesopiarum libri,' probably means that he was a freedman of Augustus.
Tiberius is called 'Caesar Tiberius' in ii. 6, 7; contrast the
reference to Augustus, iii. 10, 39, 'a divo Augusto.' Phaedrus was
born in Thrace, possibly in the district of Pieria; but the date is
unknown; iii. prol. 17,

'Ego, quem Pierio mater enixa est iugo,
in quo tonanti sancta Mnemosyne Iovi
fecunda novies artium peperit chorum';

_ibid._ 54,

'Ego, litteratae qui sum propior Graeciae,
cur somno inerti deseram patriae decus?
Threissa cum gens numeret auctores suos,
Linoque Apollo sit parens, Musa Orpheo.'

Some wrongly take these allusions to mean that he belongs to the realm
of poesy. That he came to Rome early is shown by the knowledge of
Latin literature he acquired in his boyhood. Cf. iii. epil. 33, where
he quotes Ennius,

'Ego, quondam legi quam puer sententiam,
"Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est,"
dum sanitas constabit, pulchre meminero.'

After publishing two books of fables, Phaedrus was persecuted by
Seianus, in some way unknown; iii. prol. 38,

'Ego porro illius [Aesopi] semita feci viam,
et cogitavi plura quam reliquerat,
in calamitatem deligens quaedam meam.
Quod si accusator alius Seiano foret,
si testis alius, index alius denique,
dignum faterer esse me tantis malis.'

This persecution may have arisen from references in his fables, such
as i. 1 (Lupus et agnus), l. 14,

'Haec propter illos scripta est homines fabula,
qui fictis causis innocentes opprimunt';

i. 6 (Ranae ad solem), which Nisard[73] thinks refers to the ambitious
marriage which Seianus projected with Livia, daughter of Germanicus,
'The sun dries up the ponds; what will happen if the sun marries and
has children?' l. 9,

'Quidnam futurum est, si crear