ABSTRACT
Egnatius (of Spain?) (ca 100 – 50 BCE?) Wrote a poem De Rerum Natura in at least three books, of which MAGROBIUS (Sat. 6.5.2, 12) preserves two very short passages: in fr. 1 Blänsdorf, Egnatius speaks about metal working, and in fr. 2, he describes the Moon (Phoebē) setting or disappearing at dawn. Egnatius lived between Accius and V R G I L (150-50 BCE), and probably was a contemporary of LUCRETIUS. Bergk and Baehrens identified him with the Egnatius Celtiber mentioned by Catullus (Carm. 37 and 39), a rather unlikely conjecture. It is also impossible to ascertain if Egnatius were an imitator of Lucretius or wrote independently.
