change written Latin to more faithfully reproduce its actual pronunciation. Few of these caught on, although his preference against giving Greek names Latin endings had quite a few supporters, particularly Varro, who dedicated his De antiquitate litterarum to Accius. A spelling convention of writing long vowels double (such as aa for long ā) is also associated with him and is found in texts concurrent with his lifetime. Politics and temperament Accius was politically conservative, and generally noted for his dignity and reserve. He did, however, believe that one with literary gifts, such as himself, ought to be accorded more respect than someone who, through no effort of their own, was merely born into the nobility. He was, by some accounts, a self-important man, and some writers expressed a wry amusement at the larger-than-life statues of himself that he had erected in the temple of the Muses. A fragment of Accius' play Atreus features the line oderint dum metuant ("let them hate, so long as they fear"). Citations General sources G. Manuwald, Accius und seine Zeit (Würzburg 2002). B. Baldarelli, Accius und die vortrojanische Pelopidensage (Paderborn 2004). The cited also includes these authorities: Boissier, Le Poète Accius, 1856 L. Müller, De Accii fabulis Disputatio (1890) Ribbeck, Geschichte der römischen Dichtung (1892) Editions of the tragic fragments by Ribbeck (1897), of the others by Bährens (1886) Plessis, Poésie latine (1909) External links 170 BC 80s BC deaths 2nd-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Romans 2nd-century BC writers 1st-century BC writers Ancient Roman tragic dramatists People from Pisaurum 170s BC births Attii 170 BC births Accii