 In the final poem of the first book of "Epistles", he revealed himself to be forty-four years old in the consulship of Lollius and Lepidus i.e.21 BC, and "of small stature, fond of the sun, prematurely grey, quick-tempered but easily placated".According to Suetonius, the second book of "Epistles" was prompted by Augustus, who desired a verse epistle to be addressed to himself.