Search

[German version] A. Life Roman naturalist and grammarian of the Late Republic. Remarks by his friend and contemporary Cicero and references in a biography of Suetonius ([9]; testimonials in [1. 158-161; 5. 9-36]) illuminate the last 20 years of his life in particular. Born around 100 BC from a plebeian family, he is first encountered in 63 as a senator and supporter of Cicero's against the Catilinarians (Catilina; Cic. Sull. 41f.; Fam. 4,13,2); praetor in 58 (Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 1,2,16). In July 51 he me…

[German version] I. Greek (Μαρκέλλος; Markéllos). [German version] [I 1] From Pergamum, orator, 2nd cent. AD, [1] Rhetor from Pergamum known solely from a brief reference in the Suda; he is said to have written a book (or several books) entitled Ἀδριανὸς ἢ περὶ βασιλείας/ Adrianòs ḕ perì basileías (‘Hadrian, or On Monarchy’). He would thus have lived in the first half of the 2nd cent.; whether Dio's [I 3] speeches perì basileías, addressed to Trajan, served as a model is uncertain. Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) [German version] [I 2] From Side, physician and poet, 2nd cent. AD M. from …

N. (also Nonnius, Nunnius), Italic nomen gentile derived from the numeral praenomen Nonus (evidence: [3. 229; 424]). Several families are attested since the 1st cent. BC, among which the - probably Picene [1. 925] - Nonii Asprenates stand out. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] N. Asprenas, L. Consul suff. in 36 BC Follower of Caesar during the Civil War, propraetor in Gaul before late 49 BC. (ILS 884; [1. 138-142]), proconsul in Africa in 46 (Bell. Afr. 80,4) and cavalry commander in Spain in 45 (Bell. Hisp. 10,2). In 44 N. was people'…

Probably originally the vulgar Latin form of the Roman proper name Plautius, an independent nomen gentile at the latest from the 1st cent. BC onwards. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P. Gallus, L. Lat. rhetoric teacher, 1st cent. BC The first teacher of Latin rhetoric attested for Rome at the beginning of the 1st cent. BC who held his classes in Latin and on Roman matters and was very popular (cf. Cic. in Suet. Gram. 26). An edict of the censors of 92 BC, especially Cicero's teacher Licinius [I 10]…

[German version] [1] Commander of the guard for the detained Parthian king Vonones I, whom he killed in AD 19 Commander of the guard for the Parthian king Vonones I, who was detained in Pompeiopolis, Cilicia; in AD 19, he killed the king at the river Pyramus during an escape (Tac. Ann. 2,68; cf. Suet. Tib. 49,2). He is probably identical to the C. R. Rufus mentioned in CIL V 2837 (= ILS 2022). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [2] R. Palaemon, Q. Roman teacher of grammar, 1st cent. Famous Roman teacher of grammar (cf. Juv. 6,451 ff.; 7,215 ff.) of the 1st cent. AD from V…

[German version] Roman rhetor of the Augustan-Tiberian period. His contemporary, Seneca the Elder, characterizes him whenever the opportunity arises with negative epithets: obscenitas, ‘vulgarity’ (Sen. Contr. 1,2,21); stultitia, ‘stupidity’ (1,4,12); ‘fatuity’ (7,5,10); ‘buffoonery’ (7,2,14); ‘empty magniloquence’ (9,2,27); insania, ‘madness’ (Sen. Suas. 2,16). Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) Bibliography J. Fairweather, Seneca the Elder, 1981, passim (Index 399).

[German version] A. Greek (Σαβῖνος; Sabînos) [German version] [1] Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, 1st-2nd cent. AD Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, who was active in the 1st to 2nd cent. AD. He was the teacher of Metrodorus [8] and Stratonicus, who in turn was the teacher of Galen; the latter regarded S. as a more careful and concise interpreter of Hippocrates [6] than his predecessors had been (CMG 5,10,2,1, p. 17, 329-330; 5,10,2,2, p. 510). S.' weakness lay mainly in …

[German version] Latin comedy by an author of the early 5th cent. AD who came from Gaul, if the addressee Rutilius is identical with Rutilius Namatianus, which is also in keeping with the latent anti-Christian tendency of the play. Intended for recitation at a banquet, the Querolus , which is written in rhythmic prose, implies an understanding of Plautus and Terentius as prose authors. The Plautine comedy Aulularia, to which the prologue alludes, is the basis of the Querolus down to the same characters and names. The episode of the hidden treasure, however, is modelled qu…

Roman plebeian gentile name, derived from the individual cognomen Flavus (‘the blond one’) through the suffix of affiliation -ius, abbreviated form Fl. The bearers of the name that was already common in the Republican period were initially politically unimportant; F. [I 5] was the first one to attain to Roman nobility. In the Imperial period the name was spread further in the Roman empire as a result of the granting of citizenship by the Flavian Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian (AD 68-96). In Late Antiquity (4th-6th cents.) F. was initially gentilicium of the family of  Consta…

[German version] Friend of  Catullus, recipient of the poem of invitation of Catull. 13, mostly mentioned together with Veranius: from Hispania Citerior they send Catullus a serviette (Catull. 12,14ff., cf. Catull. 9); about the time of his journey to Bithynia (57/6 BC) they are part of the cohors of a governor Piso (probably L. Calpurnius [I 19] Piso Caesoninus) and are disappointed, just as Catullus, in their financial expectations (Catull. 28 and 47). So this probably concerns two different jou…

[German version] Author of a commentary - based, among others, on Hermagoras [1] (of Temnus) - on Cicero's rhetorical works, from which Marius [II 21] Victorinus quotes, in part polemically [1. 173, l. 25ff.; 299, l.13ff.]. It is also used in the rhetoric of Consultus Fortunatianus [1. p. 98,26f.] and Sulpicius Victor [1. p. 339,2ff.; 340,14-341,28], as well as (according to title and subscription) of Iulius [IV 24] Victor, works which in part still belong to the 4th cent. Since Victorinus seems t…

Name of a Roman plebeian family probably deriving from the Italic praenomen Pompo, tracing back, like the Aemilii, Calpurnii and Pinarii, to one of the sons of Numa Pompilius (Plut. Numa 21,2; cf. Nep. Att. 1,1). In the 3rd century BC the Mathones (cf. P. [I 7-9]) achieved consulship, but later the family was insignificant. The most prominent member was a friend of Cicero, T. P. [I 5] Atticus. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., Cn. People's tribune in 90 BC People's tribune in 90 BC, killed in the Civil War in 82; Cicero quite often heard him in his youth; his j…

I. Greek [German version] A. The ancient concept of ‘Glosses’ Glosses (γλῶσσαι; glôssai) are words that are rare and difficult to explain. The Greeks' interest in such words dates back to the earliest periods: even in works of archaic and classical poets, glosses were accompanied by more common synonyms (‘glossarial synonymity’); this kind of ‘self-exegesis’ is perhaps already evident in the first two verses of the Odyssey (Hom. Od. 1.1-2).  Antisthenes [1] and the Sophists saw the exact interpretation of words as the root of all teaching (παίδευσις, paídeusis). For that reason, gl…

Plebeian family name, documented in Rome since the 1st cent. BC (on the derivation of asinus [1], on Etruscan parallels [2]). The family, whose most famous name-bearer was Asinus Pollio, originally came from Teate Marrucinorum (modern Chieti), was a member of the patrician class since the Augustan period and was particularly prominent in the 1st cent. AD. I. Republic [German version] [I 1] A. Senator (mid-1st cent. BC) Senator, supporter of Antony at Mutina in 43 BC (Cic. Phil. 13, 28). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography 1 A. Hug, s.v. Spitznamen, RE 3 A, 1829 2 Schulze, 129. …

[German version] [2] Roman wall painter, late 4th cent. AD Roman wall painter of late antiquity from the end of the 4th cent. AD. He decorated the house of the aristocratic orator and philosopher Q. Aurelius Symmachus, which the latter mentioned with praise in various letters (Symmachus, Ep. 2,2; 8,21; 9,50b). The nature and appearance of this painting may have resembled that of contemporary catacombs or mosaics from late Imperial villas. Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) Bibliography L. Guerrini, s.v. L., EAA 4, 721 S. Roda, Commento Storico al Libro 9 dell'Epistolario di Q. Aurelio Si…

[German version] [1] P., C. Roman teacher of rhetoric and orator, 2nd cent. BC A Roman distinguished by his education (Lucil. 592-596 Marx; Cic. Fin. 1,7; Plin. HN pr. 7), who was believed by some contemporaries to have written the speech De sociis et nomine latino (against C. Sempronius Gracchus' policies concerning the allies) for C. Fannius [I 1] in 122 BC, a speech which far outshone Fannius' other speeches in terms of rhetoric (Cic. Brut. 99: 'from the Elders'). More likely one of the first teachers of rhetoric at Rome than a senator.…

Roman family name, frequently attested in inscriptions, also in the form Cavius [1. 76f.]; in the Republican period its bearers are still politically insignificant; also a Faliscan praenomen [2. 103]. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] G., P. Crucified as a spy of Spartacus 72 BC from Compsa (Lower Italy), was captured and crucified in Sicily in 72 BC by C.  Verres as an alleged spy of the slave leader  Spartacus (Cic. Verr. 2,5,158-170). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] G. Bassus Roman grammarian and antiquarian of the late Republic Roman grammarian and…

[German version] Rhetoric teacher of the Augustan period, student of Buteo [1. 156f.], then his successor, who is perhaps identical with the example of lacking hygiene cited in Hor. Sat. 1,2,27 (= 1,4,92). His voice was rough and aggressive (Sen. Controv. 1,7,18). The older Seneca always connects the quotes form G. that illustrate his Colores with harsh reproach ( stultitia contr. 10,5,25; cacozelia 9,1,15, insaniens Suas. 2,16). Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) Bibliography 1 H. Bornecque, Les Déclamations, 1902, 168.

[German version] Roman grammarian probably of the early 5th cent. AD. His Ars de nomine et verbo (Regula) represents the type of rule-based grammar that came increasingly into use in the later 4th cent., and that makes the learning of correct Latin easier by means of numerous paradigms of declensions and conjugations. The text grew out of language teaching experience; the author intends to replace the grammars of his predecessors that were in part too short and in part too detailed (the greater danger) with a b…

[German version] Teacher of rhetoric in late antiquity, author of an alphabetical phraseology of model idiomatic expressions published in 395 ( Exempla elocutionum). The excerpts from  Vergilius and  Sallustius,  Terentius and  Cicero form a quartet -- as a classicist stretto of the canon -- which from time to time in late antiquity was considered to be the quintessence of pagan culture ( quadriga Messii). There is evidence of only two Carolingian codices; a Bobiensis text discovered in 1493 and copied by G. Galbiati (today in Naples IV.A.11) was preserved. Schmidt, Peter L. (Const…