1st century), was the procurator of Sicily during the reign of Nero, a friend and correspondent of Seneca, and the possible author of Aetna, a poem that survives in a corrupt state.
[2] He was a Roman Knight, a status he had achieved through "persistent work,"[3] and he owned a country villa in Ardea, south of Rome.
Its composition has been placed as far back as 44 BC, on the ground that certain works of art, known to have been removed to Rome about that date, are referred to as being at a distance from the city.
In favor of the authorship of Lucilius are the facts that he was a friend of Seneca and acquainted with his writings; that he had for some time held the office of imperial procurator of Sicily, and was thus familiar with the locality; and that he was the author of a poem on Sicilian subjects.
It is objected that in the 79th letter of Seneca,[7] which is the chief authority on the question, he apparently asks that Lucilius should introduce the hackneyed theme of Aetna merely as an episode in his contemplated poem, not make it the subject of separate treatment.