praetore ludos Apollini
faciente, cum Thyesten fabulam docuisset, Q. Marcio Cn. Servilio coss.
(B.C. 169) mortem obiit Ennius.'

Jerome yr. Abr. 1849 = B.C. 168, 'Ennius poeta septuagenario maior
articulari morbo periit, sepultusque est in Scipionis monumento via
Appia intra primum ab urbe miliarium. Quidam ossa eius Rudiam ex
Ianiculo translata affirmant.'

For his gout cf. Enn. _Sat._ 1. 8,

'Numquam poetor nisi si podager';

Hor. _Ep._ i. 19, 7,

'Ennius ipse pater numquam nisi potus ad arma
prosiluit dicenda.'

'Ennius "equi fortis et victoris senectuti comparat suam"' (Cic. _Cato
Maior_, 14).

The lines are _Ann._ xviii. fr. 7,

'Sic ut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo
vicit Olimpia, nunc senio confectus quiescit.'

His epitaph (_Epigr._ i) is quoted by Cic. _Tusc._ i. 34 and 117,

'Aspicite, o cives, senis Enni imaginis formam!
hic vestrum panxit maxima facta patrum;
Nemo me dacrumis decoret nec funera fletu
faxit. Cur? Volito vivus per ora virum.'

According to Aelius Stilo, Ennius has depicted his own character in
_Ann._ vii. fr. 10, wherein he portrays Servilius Geminus, the trusty
companion of a man of position (Gell. xii. 4). For Ennius'
self-appreciation cf. also his epitaph (if by himself) quoted above,
and _Ann._ i. fr. 4,

'Latos per populos terrasque poemata nostra
clara cluebunt.'

In philosophy Ennius was an eclectic. Cf. _Trag._ 1. 417,

'Philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis: nam omnino haut placet.
Degustandum ex ea, non in eam ingurgitandum censeo.'

His rationalism is seen in _Telamo_, fr. 1,

'Ego deum genus esse semper dixi et dicam caelitum,
sed eos non curare opinor, quid agat humanum genus:
nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis, quod nunc abest';

_ibid._, fr. 2,

'Sed superstitiosi vates inpudentesque arioli,
aut inertes aut insani aut quibus egestas imperat,
qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam,
quibus divitias pollicentur, ab eis drachumam ipsi petunt.'

Traces of Epicureanism are seen in _Ann._ i. fr. 13,

'Terraque corpus
quae dedit ipsa capit neque dispendi facit hilum.'

Ennius also believed in the Pythagorean theory of metempsychosis, and
considered that his soul had animated the body of a peacock. _Ann._ i.
fr. 14,

'Memini me fiere pavom.'

Persius 6, 10,

'Cor iubet hoc Enni postquam destertuit esse
Maeonides Quintus pavone e Pythagoreo.'

Cf. also Lucr. i. 120-