Martin takes the view that the poem was by the "Olympius Nemesianus" invented in the Historia Augusta, and that it was finished, but lost in transmission.
[15] He also refers to Haupt's textual analysis (based on the fact that the final leaf of a manuscript is filled completely).
[14] Toohey estimates that Nemesianus' poem was at least 400 lines long, on the basis of the length of its proem.
[17] Toohey notes that the Cynegetica displays the typical features of the tradition of ancient Greek and Latin didactic poetry: an addressee, detailed technical instructions, narrative or mythological panels, the use of hexameter verse and a likely original length of over 400 lines.
[21] There are several extant works of Ancient Greek and Latin literature on the subject of hunting that predate Nemesianus' Cynegetica - some in written in prose, others in verse: Xenophon's Cynegetica (in Greek), Arrian of Nicodemus' supplement to Xenophon's work focusing on Greyhound coursing (also in Greek), Oppian's Cynegetica in four books (in Greek) and Grattius' Latin poem, of which 541 verses survive[22] Scholars have considered the extent to which Cynegetica was aware of and influenced by such literature,[23][24] especially given Nemesianus' claim to originality of theme "insistere prato/complacitum, rudibus qua luceat orbita sulcis"[25] ("it is our dear resolve to set foot upon a mead where the track lies clear mid furrows hitherto untried"[26]).
Martin considers that Nemesianus' work bears very little resemblance to Xenophon's and Arrian's, but a much larger debt to Oppian's.
[28] In contrast, Anderson considers that Nemesianus does have something to say that does not come merely from books - citing strange or unpleasant details (such forcing a mother dog to rescue puppies by encircling them with fire - ll.