Secundus, Pompo'nius
1. A distinguished poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.
He was one of the friends of Sejanus, and on the fall of that minister in A. D. 31 was thrown into prison, where he remained till the accession of Caligula in A. D. 37, by whom he was released, and who raised him to the consulship in A.D. 41. Dio Cassius says (59.6), that he had been consul seven years before the accession of Caligula; but his name does not occur in the Fasti.
In the reign of Claudius he was appointed the emperor's legatus in Germany, and in A. D. 50 defeated the Chatti, and obtained the honour of the triumphal ornaments. Secundus was an intimate friend of the elder Pliny, who showed his affection for him by writing his life in two books. Tacitus speaks of him (
Ann. 5.8) as a man " multa morum elegantia et ingenio illustri."
It was by his tragedies that Secundus obtained the most celebrity. They are spoken of in the highest terms by Tacitus, Quintilian, and the younger Pliny, and were read even in a much later age, as one of them is quoted by the grammarian Charisius (
Tac. Ann. 5.8,
6.18;
D. C. 59.6,
29;
Tac. Ann. 11.13,
12.27,
28 ;
Dial. de Orat. 13 ; Quint. Inst. 10.1.98;
Plin. Nat. 7.19,
13.12. s. 26, 14.4. s. 6;
Plin. Ep. 3.5,
7.17; Charisius, apud Bothe,
Poet. Scen. Lat. Fragm. vol. ii. p. 279).
The praenomen of Pomponius Secundus is doubtful.
In one passage Tacitus calls him
Publius (Ann. 11.13), and in another
Lucius (Ann. 12.27), while Dio Cassius (59.6) names him
Quintus. Tacitus, however, call his brother Quintus. [No. 2.]
