Letter from A. E. Housman to W. H. Semple Semple, William Hugh (1900-1981), classicist (With an envelope.) ————— **Transcript** Trinity College | Cambridge 11 May 1933 Dear Semple, Thank you for your letter. I had no idea that you were there. Yours sincerely Serius Augurinus {1}. [*Direction on envelope:*] W. H. Semple Esq | The University | Reading ————— The envelope, which bears a 1½d. stamp, was postmarked at Cambridge at 5.15 p.m. on 11 May. {1} The allusion appears, at first sight, to be to one of several men of this name, all with the praenomen Gaius, who served as consul or as one of the *duumviri quinquennales* in the first century AD; but perhaps, in a modest reference to his own poetical achievements, Housman is referring to Sentius Augurinus, a minor poet commended by Pliny the Younger, who is conjectured to have been named Serius in an inscription. See *The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge* (1844), iv. 123. 11 May 1933 1 folded sheet, 1 envelope https://archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/letter-from-a-e-housman-to-w-h-semple-26 29