Numerian was 33, presumably on his first very military campaign when his father emperor Carus was killed by a lightening strike whilst they were in Mesopotamia. His only known qualifications for this - besides family influence - was that as a 'poet'. Numerian's work was evidently so well known that not a single line has survived over the centuries. So perhaps the description of 'poet' meant he was a late night drinker, never up before midday, lounging around in his underpants type of artist.