Whatever strength there may be in the other objections urged against accepting the date 148 B.C. as that of the birth of Lucilius, it is difficult to believe that Lucilius should have taken part in the Numantine War, and been admitted to apparently equal intimacy with scipio before he had attained the age of fifteen.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
His acknowledged intimacy with scipio and Laelius, and the general belief that they assisted him in the composition of his plays, agree better with the statement that he was about their own age than that he was ten years older.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
The feeling which Ennius in his turn entertained for scipio was one of enthusiastic admiration.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar