Roman dramatist Gnaeus Naevius, probably a Roman citizen by birth, had served either in the Roman army or among the socii in the First Punic War, and thus must have reached manhood before 241.

An outspoken critic of those in power, his career as a dramatic author had begun with the exhibition of a drama in or about the year 235, and had continued for thirty years.

Towards the close, he had incurred the hostility of some of the nobility, especially, it is said, of the Metelli, by the attacks which he made upon them on the stage, and at their insistence he is convicted of slander for poking fun at public officials and imprisoned.

This is the first recorded) case of suppression of a theatrical performance After writing two plays during his imprisonment, in which he is said to have apologized for his former rudeness, he was liberated through the interference of the tribunes of the commons; but he had shortly afterwards to retire from Rome (in or about 204) to Utica.

It may have been during his exile, when withdrawn from his active career as a dramatist, that he composed or completed his poem on the First Punic War.

Probably his latest composition was his own epitaph.