“ The circumstances of his death have given rise to some discussion. Suetonius, Valerius Maximus, Appian and Dio Cassius all state that, at Caesar’s funeral, a certain Helvius Cinna was killed by mistake for Cornelius Cinna, the conspirator. The last three writers mentioned above add that he was a tribune of the people, while Plutarch, referring to the affair, gives the further information that the Cinna who was killed by the mob was a poet. This points to the identity of Helvius Cinna the tribune with Helvius Cinna the poet. ”

“ But such an interpretation of the Virgilian passage is by no means absolutely necessary; the terms used do not preclude a reference to a contemporary no longer alive. It has been suggested that it was really Cornelius, not Helvius Cinna, who was slain at Caesar’s funeral, but this is not borne out by the authorities. ”

“ A. Kiessling, “De C. Helvio Cinna Poëta” in Commentationes Philologicae in honorem T. Mommsen (1878) ; O. Ribbeck, Geschichte der römischen Dichtung, i. (1887) ; Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit. (Eng. tr. 213, 2-5) ”