Background
Gaius Maecenas was born in 68 BC in Italy.
Gaius Maecenas was born in 68 BC in Italy.
Gaius Maecenas represented Octavian on important missions to Antony in 40 and 38 b. c.
He remained at Rome in charge of the city when Octavian campaigned against Sextus Pompey in 36 b. c. and probably when he fought against Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 b. c. Maecenas was also famed for literary patronage and criticism of poetry.
Horace's Epodes, Satires, Odes, and Epistles are dedicated to Maecenas, as well as Vergil's Georgics, which were undertaken at his request.
Maecenas himself wrote both prose and poetry, of which only fragments survive.
Upon his death Maecenas bequeathed his property to Augustus.