From the biography of Vergil (poet, 15 October 70 BCE - 21 September 19 BCE)
(27)
When Augustus was returning after his victory at Actium and lingered at Atella to treat his throat, Vergil read the Georgics to him for four days in succession, Maecenas taking his turn at the reading whenever the poet was interrupted by the failure of his voice.
(28)
Vergil's own delivery, however, was sweet and wonderfully effective.
(29)
In fact, Seneca has said that the poet Julius Montanus used to declare that he could also have stolen some of Vergil's work, if he could also have stolen his voice, expression, and dramatic power; for the same verses sounded well when Vergil read them, which on another's lips were flat and toneless.
(31)
Augustus indeed (for it chanced that he was away on his Cantabrian campaign) demanded in entreating and even jocosely threatening letters that Vergil send him "something from the Aeneid"; to use his own words, "either the first draft of the poem or any section of it that he pleased."
(32)
But it was not until long afterwards, when the material was at last in shape, that Vergil read to him three books in all, the second, fourth, and sixth. The last of these produced a remarkable effect on Octavia, who was present at the reading; for it is said that when he reached the verses about her son, "Thou shalt be Marcellus," (Aeneid VI 884-885) she fainted and was with difficulty revived.
(33)
He gave readings also to various others, but never before a large company, selecting for the most part passages about which he was in doubt, in order to get the benefit of criticism.
(34)
They say that Eros, his amanuensis and freedman, used to report, when he was an old man, that Vergil once completed two half-verses off-hand in the course of a reading. For having before him merely the words "Misenum Aeoliden," he added "quo non praestantior alter," (Aeneid VI 164) and again to "aere ciere vivos" he joined "Martemque accendere cantu," (Aeneid VI 165) thrown off with like inspiration, and he immediately ordered Eros to add both half-lines to his manuscript.
From the biography of Augustus (emperor, 31 BCE - 14 CE)
(89.3)
Augustus gave every encouragement to the men of talent of his own age, listening with courtesy and patience to their readings, not only of poetry and history, but of speeches and dialogues as well. But he took offence at being made the subject of any composition except in serious earnest and by the most eminent writers, often charging the praetors not to let his name be cheapened in prize declamations.
From the biography of Claudius (emperor, 41-54 CE)
(41.1) He began to write a history in his youth with the encouragement of Titus Livius and the direct help of Sulpicius Flavius. But when he gave his first reading to a large audience, he had difficulty in finishing, since he more than once threw cold water on his own performance. For at the beginning of the reading the breaking down of several benches by a fat man raised a laugh, and even after the disturbance was quieted, Claudius could not keep from recalling the incident and renewing his guffaws.
(41.2)
Even while he was emperor he wrote a good deal and gave constant recitals through a professional reader. He began his history with the death of the dictator Caesar, but passed to a later period and took a fresh start at the end of the civil war, realising that he was not allowed to give a frank or true account of the earlier times, since he was often taken to task both by his mother and his grandmother.
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