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Nigidius Figulus, P.

(631 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Murredius

(57 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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).

Querolus sive Aulularia

(284 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Fabullus

(151 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Marcomannus

(141 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Gargonius

(76 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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.

Phocas (Focas)

(324 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Arusianus Messius

(108 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Neoteric poets

(295 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Modern term (from νεώτεροι/neṓteroi /‘the youngsters’ or poetae novi/ ‘new poets’ found in Cicero) for the poets’ community around the grammarian P. Valerius Cato (too sceptical: [6]), with Catullus [1], Licinius [I 31] Calvus, Helvius [I 3] Cinna, Furius [I 9] Bibaculus and Ticidas as its most prominent members ( c. mid-1st cent. BC). Their poetry focuses on mythological epyllia ( Epyllion) and collections of short poems dealing prevalently with personal and social relationships (friendship, love, political polemics). Traditio…

Saleius Bassus

(56 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Renowned Latin epic poet (Quint. Inst. 10,1,90) of the late 1st cent. AD (Tac. Dial. 9,2-5; 10,2; Juv. 7,80 f.), friend of Iulius [IV 21] Secundus ( ibid. 5,2 f.). Works do not survive; the attribution of the Laus Pisonis to him is not justified. Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) Bibliography Schanz/Hosius, vol. 2, 545.

Pollius Felix

(158 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] From Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli), magistrate and patron of Puteoli and Neapolis [2], landowner in Tibur (modern Tivoli), Puteoli (cf. ILS 5798) and Tarentum (Taras). His wife was called Polla; their daughter was the wife of Iulius Menecrates; he is congratulated on the birth of his third grandchild by Statius (Silv. 4,8; for a son of P. cf. Stat. Silv. 4,8,12). P., himself a poet, was en Campanie, le protecteur attitré ([1. 3235]) of the poet Statius, who described his villa at Surrentum (Silv. 2,2) and a statue of Hercules dedicated on its shores (S…

Kaisergeschichte

(239 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] A portrayal of the Roman Imperial period in short biographies, to be dated between AD 337 and 361, the date of the first user (Aurelius Victor), and extending to the death of Constantinus. The establishment of its date by A. Enmann [1], who explains the relationship (linguistic and structural properties, factual errors) of Victor, Eutropius, the Historia Augusta and the Epitome de Caesaribus (Aurelius Victor) has, in contrast to the Epitome of Livy, withstood the test of time. The literary standard appears to have been higher than that of t…

Opillus, D. (?) Aurelius

(188 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Scholar from the Republican period, Italic, freedman of an Epicurean and hence a teacher of philosophy at first, and later of rhetoric and grammar. In 92/91 BC he followed the exile Rutilius Rufus to Smyrna where he lived to a ripe old age; for his life as a whole, see Suet. Gram. 6 (cf. in this respect [5]), who calls him an antiquarian Buntschriftsteller. Of his works ( Musae/'Muses'; Pinax/'Tablet'), only grammatical fragments (explanations of words, etymologies) have attained a position in the glossographic tradition via the filter of Varro. O.…

Marullus

(237 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] Roman teacher of rhetoric from Cordoba, 1st cent. BC 1st-century BC Roman teacher of rhetoric from Cordoba, teacher of Seneca the Elder (Sen. Controv. 1, praef. 22-24) and his friend M. Porcius Latro (ibid., praef. 24; 2,2,7; 7,2,11). His method of instruction consisted of isolated practice in individual areas of inventio and elocutio (see ibid. praef. 23; partes orationis ). While Latro esteemed M.'s sententiae (ibid. 1,2,17), Seneca, citing a range of sententiae and colores, characterises him as a ‘dry fellow, who offers little that is attractive b…

Dirae

(220 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Bucolic poem of the early Imperial period, in which the poet puts a curse on his expropriated land. The link with Verg. Ecl. 1 and 9 resulted even before the Vergil biographies of Donatus (based on Suetonius) (§ 17) to its attribution to  Vergilius (but cf.[3]). Maintaining the topic, v. 104 begins a new poem without a topical break (cf. v. 41. 89. 95 with 107), known as Lydia, but without ancient evidence regarding that title, probably written by the same author (cf. [5]). It is an elegiac lament of a lover separated from his Lydia. Both piece…

Laus Pisonis

(168 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Panegyricus ( Panegyrics) by an unknown author probably around AD 39/40 [3], to C. Calpurnius [II 13] Piso (Caesoninus) who then in 65 became a figurehead in the conspiracy against the emperor Nero. Therefore an attribution to Calpurnius [III 3] Siculus (last [2. 71-76]) or Lucanus (most recently [1. 139ff.]) cannot be taken into consideration. In 261 carefully constructed hexameters the author engagingly expresses his intention to be received into the circle of the addressee. …

Ravenna Annals

(297 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] ( Chronica Italica in [1], better Chronicon Constantinopolitanum (cf. [7; 8. 41-43]). Originally simply an informative chronicle in Latin, based on the calendar structure of the Consularia Constantinopolitana [1. 197-245], written or expanded in Constantinople in the 4th century AD for a ruling class, eager for knowledge, on the periphery of the court  (for the images contained cf. [2; 3; 4]). An early phase extending as far as AD 387 is transmitted in the Fasti Vindobonenses posteriores (Cod. Vindobonensis no. 3416, 15th century) and Fasti Vindobonenses priores

Rhetorica ad Herennium

(224 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Latin textbook of rhetoric from the late Republican Period (dating to c. 50 BC compellingly argued in [5. 65 ff.]). It deals in 4 books with the canon of the officia oratoris ( officium [7]). Its source was a Latin textbook also used by Cicero for his De inventione ([4; 6];  [7. 271 ff.] newly adopted the old idea that Cicero used the Rhetorica ad Herennium). Attributed to Cicero from Late Antiquity on, the work is today - although with insufficient proof - often attributed to an author by the name of Cornificius named by Quint. Inst. 3,1,21 …

Asmonius

(185 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] ( Apthonius the communis opinio, but see Prisc. gramm. 3,420,1-7 and GL 6,80,30-81,3; [3. 62-68]). Aelius Festus Asmonius, Latin grammarian of the 4th cent. AD; author of a lost grammar dedicated to Constantius II (Prisc. gramm. 2,516,15-16) and of a comprehensive metrics in 4 books, which was already mutilated at the start as early as late antiquity and was combined with the beginning of the grammar of  Marius Victorinus (but cf. GL 6,173,32); furthermore A. may be the author of supp…

Priscianus

(740 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] The last important Latin grammarian, b. in Mauretanian Caesarea [1], pupil of Theoctistus, worked as professor of grammar at Constantinople into the first decades of the 6th cent. AD. On his circle, cf. [5]-[8]. His main work, the (1) Institutio de arte grammatica ('Textbook of Grammar'), consists (after an introductory epistle) of 18 books (1-7: De nomine; 8-10: De verbo; 11: De participio; 12-13 De pronomine; 14: De praepositione; 15: De adverbio et interiectione; 16: De coniunctione; 17-18: De constructione = 'syntax') and seems to have been written in se…

Dicta Catonis

(378 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Versified handbook of popular ethics from the 3rd cent. (cf. Carm. epigr. 1988, 51; [1. LXXIII]); widely known by the end of the 4th cent. at the latest. The text, of which the Dutch philologist M. Boas made a lifelong study [1. LXXXff.], exists in version Y (or V) with 306 vv. and in a more extensive version F, with 331 vv. but altered by interpolations and recasting, aside from the Barberini recension [1. XXXVIff.]. The title of Y runs Marci Catonis ad filium libri, where F (Codex Verona cap. 163) has Dicta M. Catonis ad filium suum [1. LXVff.; 2. 30ff.], since Erasmus …

Helenius Acron

(176 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Roman grammarian, especially commentator. His partial commentary on Terence ( Adelphoe and Eunuchus) is taken into account in grammatical tradition; traces of his more famous commentary on Horace ([3. 1,3] puts him above Porphyry and Modestus) are to be found in the various reviews of the scholia, in particular in  Porphyry. As Gellius appears not to know H., yet H. is used by Porphyry (on Hor. Sat. 1,8,25) and Iulius Romanus (Charisius, Gramm. p. 250,11ff. Barwick) dating to the later 2nd ce…

Ciris

(245 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Latin epic in 541 hexameters about  Scylla betraying her native city Megara to the Cretan king Minos and being transformed into a bird. The plot assumes knowledge of the mythical tradition and neglects narrative continuity and logic for the sake of individual scenes and profiling the heroine's emotions. This is characteristic of the epyllium in the elegiac tradition. Contrary to an ascription from late antiquity, Virgil (cf. Donat. Vita Verg. 17) has been ruled out as the author. …

Pacuvius

(912 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
Roman writer of tragedies in the Republican period, of Oscan-Messapian origin, nephew of Ennius (Plin. HN 35,19). [German version] A. Biography Born in 220 BC (cf. Cic. Brut. 229) in Brundisium (Jer. Chron. p. 142 H.), died shortly before 130 BC in Tarentum. Apart from this chronology, which comes from Accius' Didascalica and Varro’s De poetis [18. 48f., 53, 62] and has been preserved in works from Sueton’s De poetis [17. 36] to Jerome, there are traces of another tradition, which was perhaps shaped by Cornelius Nepos’ [2] Chronica. [2. 8, 5], which P.took up a generation later (…

Obsequens, Iulius

(381 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Author of a liber prodigiorum, which for the years 190-11 BC, i.e. at the end of Livy's [III 2] Roman history, arranges accounts of portents ( Prodigium ) of salient historical events by and alongside their dates. The title of the edition princeps of the work [4] shows that it was begun in 249 BC (for the significance of the starting date cf. [5. 76f.; 10. 158ff.], and that therefore the portents for 249-191 have been lost. O. evidently relates Rome's success to its observance of divine signs, whose expiation averts thre…

Aemilius Asper

(169 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] The grammarian A., most likely from the late 2nd cent. AD, sums up the tension between archaistic and classical tendencies of the school canon in the 2nd cent. with his explanations of  Terentius,  Vergilius and  Sallustius. In his exegesis, the interest in historical-linguistic detailed phenomena takes second place to textual criticism, stylistics and the comparison with Greek classics. In late antiquity, he together with  Probus and  Terentius Scaurus constitutes a triad of gram…

Pervigilium Veneris

(315 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Anonymous Latin poem in 93 trochaic tetrameters, purporting to be a processional song sung on the eve of a Venus festival in Hybla, Sicily. A refrain appearing at the beginning and end of the poem and at irregular intervals within it isolates a series of short sections, which add up to three major parts: 1. praise of spring and announcement of the festival (vv. 2-26); 2. vizualisation of the festival, place of the action (28-56); 3. praise of the power of Venus (59-79); the final part (81-92) culminates in a melancholy reflection by the poet. The poem, which raises a numbe…

Carmina triumphalia

(181 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] Song of the soldiers, whose parade concluded a triumphal procession. There is evidence to show that in the carmina triumphalia, the triumphant general received both praise (Liv. 4,20,2) and mockery. The reported antiphony may particularly refer to the latter (Liv. 4,53,11). Obscene ridicule and satire in this context were generally compared with the satirical poetry at weddings (Fescennine verses); they were seen as apotropaic, or rather seen as a further admonishment along with the hominem te esse memento of the bearer of the corona triumphalis. The evidence is …

Excerpta Barbari

(198 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] A medieval Latin MS. (Parisinus Latinus 4884) contains the translation ( c. AD 700) of the Alexandrian version of a Christian world chronicle, which, because of its Vulgar Latin language, has been known as the ‘E.B.’ since J. J. Scaliger; it is based on a Greek version from the 5th cent. AD. The extant text, which ends in 387, is divided into three sections: a world chronicle from Adam to Cleopatra (p. 184-280 Frick); a list of rulers from the Assyrians to the Roman emperors (until Anastasiu…

Collegium

(1,076 words)

Author(s): Herz, Peter (Regensburg) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] Society A collegium is a group of people coming together for religious, professional and social reasons. The legal basis for the collegia is set out in the Law of Twelve Tables (8,27 = Gaius Dig. 47,22,4): his (sodalibus) potestatem facit lex, pactionem quam velint sibi ferre, dum ne quid ex publica lege corrumpant; sed haec lex videtur ex lege Solonis translata esse. In terms of their internal organization, the collegium followed the model of the civic municipalities with magistrates, a council and plebs. The financial assets of the collegium included the income …

Remmius

(255 words)

Author(s): Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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…

Glossography

(1,631 words)

Author(s): Tosi, Renzo (Bologna) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
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…

Persius

(1,141 words)

Author(s): Rüpke, Jörg (Erfurt) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[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.…

Croesus

(1,028 words)

Author(s): Högemann, Peter (Tübingen) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
(Κροῖσος; Kroîsos, Latin Croesus). [German version] A. Historic person Lydian king ( c. 560-547 BC), last of the Mermnad dynasty ( Mermnadae). The most important source remains  Herodotus' Lydian Logos (Hdt. 1,6-94), even though he preserved little that is Ancient Anatolian. C.'s mother was Carian ( Caria), that of his brother Pantaleon Ionian (Hdt. 1,92). A queen is never mentioned. As prince Croesus was the mercenary captain and governor in  Adramyttium (FGrH 90 F 65), later perhaps co-regent at the side of his father  Alyattes and finally his succes…

Carminius

(326 words)

Author(s): Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] (M. Ulpius) C. Athenagoras Official, 2nd cent. AD Proconsul of Lycia-Pamphylia, cos. suff. possibly under Commodus [1. 151]. The family came from Attuda (for his relatives: EOS 2, 633). Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [1a] C. C. Gallus Suffect consul AD 120 Suffect consul AD 120 [1]. Probably to be identified with the proconsular legate of the same name. PIR2 A 1065. Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography 1 W. Eck, P. Weiß, Hadrianische Suffektconsuln: Neue Zeugnisse aus Militärdiplomen, in: Chiron 32, 2002 (in print). [German version] [2] L.C. Lusitan…

Laevius

(374 words)

Author(s): Prescendi, Francesca (Geneva) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] L. (Baebius or Manius), dictator Latinus L. (Baebius or Manius) Egerius [2] had the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis (Cato fr. 58 Peter) dedicated in his capacity as dictator Latinus. Prescendi, Francesca (Geneva) Bibliography C. Ampolo, Ricerche sulla lega latina, II. La dedica di Egerius Baebius, in: PdP 212, 1983, 321-326. [German version] [2] Probably the first lyric love poet of Rome, 2nd or early 1st cent. BC Probably the first lyric love poet of Rome, 2nd (cf. [8]) or early 1st cent. BC (for example, according to [2. 118]), and in the latt…

Lactantius

(1,240 words)

Author(s): Heck, Eberhard (Tübingen) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[1] Christian Theologist and apologist, c. 250-325 [German version] A. Life L. Caelius Firmianus qui et L., Christian Latin writer, born in Africa around 250, probably died in Gaul in 325. Diocletian summoned him to teach rhetoric at Nicomedia in Bithynia where he converted, and after the outbreak of the Great Persecution of Christians in 303 he became an apologist ( Apologists). Around 315, Constantine [1] brought him to Gaul, probably to Trier, to be the teacher of his son Crispus. Heck, Eberhard (Tübingen) [German version] B. Works De opificio dei (‘On the Workmanship of God’; 303…

Literary activity

(5,619 words)

Author(s): Paulsen, Thomas (Bochum) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
I. Greece [German version] A. Definition and general remarks Literary activity (LA) is defined as any form of interaction between authors or interpreters of their work (e.g. Rhapsodes, actors) and others participating in their processes of production or reception (e.g. patrons, audience, readers). Three types of occasions are characteristic of LA from the Homeric period (late 8th cent. BC) to the last phase of the Hellenistic period (1st cent. BC): symposia ( Banquet II. C., for an audience of invited g…

Letter

(2,221 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Neumann, Hans (Berlin)
[German version] A. Types of letter In addition to the few texts on letter theory and letter writers ( Epistolography), the ancient genre of ‘letters’ comprises the following: 1. official letters (edicts) comparable to laws, 2. everyday official correspondence, 3. ‘open’ letters akin to oratory a) with one or several senders and multiple addressees (e.g. letters to the Christian community) or b) letters sent to a specific addressee that had a potentially broad public, and finally 4. letters of a priva…

Ecloga

(320 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Makris, Georgios (Bochum)
(Ἐκλογή; eklogḗ, ‘excerpt’, ‘selection’). [German version] Ecloga [1] Varro (in Charisius, gramm. p. 154 B.) uses the foreign term in its literal meaning (‘selection’). It is unclear how the meaning has developed into the usage we encounter from the end of the 1st cent. AD on: Ecloga may refer to individual lyrical poems (Stat. Silv. 3, pr. 23 = 3,5; 4, pr. 21 = 4,8, later in a similar way Auson. 8 Peiper) and in the plural form Eclogae to the entire collection (Plin. Ep. 4,14,9). The term is used in particular for  Horatius (Suet. Vita: Epist. 2,1; Sid. Apoll. Epist. 9,1…

Hyginus, C. Iulius

(841 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel)
[German version] I. Life and Work a) A philologist and polymath of the Augustan era from Spain or Alexandria; a freedman of Augustus who served as the prefect of the Palatine library after 28 BC while simultaneously engaging in extensive teaching activities (for biography, cf. Suet. Gram. 20). Nevertheless, he had to be supported his whole life by Clodius [II 6] Licinus and died in poverty. Ov. Tr. 3,14 is addressed to him. His substantial œuvre includes works of philology (comm. to the Propempticon Pollionis of  Helvius [I 3] Cinna; discussion of selected passages of  Vergili…

Passienus

(148 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Eck, Werner (Cologne)
[German version] [1] Roman orator, Augustan period One of the leading orators of the Augustan period (Sen. Controv. 2,5,17), died in 9 BC (Jer. Chron. p. 167 H.), a friend of the Elder Seneca (Sen. Controv. 3, pref. 10). Nothing survives of his speeches, but Seneca quotes highlights from his declamations, whose aridity apparently detracted from their success (Sen. Controv. 3, pref. 10f.; 10, pref. 11). Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) Bibliography J. Fairweather, Seneca the Elder, 1981 (Index 400). [German version] [2] L. P. Rufus Son of the orator P. [1]. He entered the Senate as a homo nov…

Mevius

(347 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Eck, Werner (Cologne)
I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Poet and critic of Virgil, Augustean period Supposedly a poet (Porph. in Hor. Sat. 2,3,239) of the Augustean period, brother of Bavius, with whom he allegedly quarreled over a woman (Domitius Marsus fr. 1 M.). M was a critic of Virgil (Serv. Georg. 1,210), which made the poets of the circle around Maecenas count him among their opponents (Verg. Ecl. 3,90; Hor. Epod. 10; Domitius Marsus fr. 5 M.). Some notes may have been obtained from Suet. De poetis via the life of Domitius [III 2] Marsus. The possibility of guild banter can not be excluded. Schmidt, P…

Iordanes

(968 words)

Author(s): Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Bieberstein, Klaus (Fribourg)
[German version] [1] Writer of the Justinian period (6th cent. AD) Writer of the Justinian period (6th cent. AD), a German, probably of Gothic descent, grandson of Paria (secretary to the Prince of the Alani Candac), son of Alanoviamuth. Probably born in the late 5th cent. AD, I. also served as secretary to Cantac's nephew Gunthigis (Iord. Get. 265). Following his conversio (from Arianism to Orthodoxy?, from a secular to a clerical position?), in Constantinople in 551 (Iord. Rom. 4. 363; cf. Iord. Get. 104) he was asked by a friend named Vigilius (unlik…

Matius

(507 words)

Author(s): Frigo, Thomas (Bonn) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] Matius, C. Friend of Cicero and Caesar, who sought to mediate between them in 53 BC. Contemporary and friend of Cicero (Cic. Fam. 11,27f.) and Caesar, who played a kind of mediating role between the two. In 53 BC he was in Gaul (Cic. Fam. 7,15,2) with Caesar, for whom M. remained a useful assistant even after the outbreak of the Civil War, although he tended to operate behind the scenes. In the summer of 47, M. was the addressee of the message announcing Caesar's victory at Zela, which became proverbial (‘I came, I saw, I conquered’: veni, vidi, vici, Plut. Caesar 50,3: the …

Placidus

(330 words)

Author(s): Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] Equestrian military tribune in the Syrian army (1st cent. AD) Equestrian military tribune in the Syrian army, sent by the governor of Syria, Cestius [II 3] Gallus, against the rebellious Jews in AD 66. From 67, he served under Vespasian (Vespasianus) in the same capacity, fighting the Jewish military commander Flavius Iosephus [4] on several occasions, the last in 67, when the city of Iotapata was conquered (Jos. BI 3,144; 323-326). The last reference to him is from  68, when he subjugated Transjordanian Perea (Jos. BI 4,419-439). PIR2 P 437. Eck, Werner (Cologne) …

Florus

(838 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
Roman cognomen (‘blond’, ‘radiant’, with ablaut, related to flavus [1]), in the Republican period epithet of C. Aquilius [I 11] F. and L. Mestius F. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] P. Annius F. Lat. poet and writer, 1st/2nd cent. AD Under the cognomen Florus (in conjunction with the family name Annius or Ann(a)eus and the first name P. or L.) four works or groups of works are known: 1. the introduction to a dialogue Vergilius orator an poeta (P. Annius F.), 2. and 3. fragment of a correspondence (Charisius, Gramm. 66,10f.; 157,21f. B.) and an exchange o…

Melissus (Μέλισσος; Mélissos)

(825 words)

Author(s): Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Bodnár, István (Budapest) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
[German version] [1] Chariot race victor M. of Thebes, son of Telesiades, addressee of Pind. I., 3 and 4 ( Pindarus). Two victories are mentioned, one in the horse or chariot race at Nemea (ibid. 3,9-13), the other in the pankration (ibid. 4,44). The two metrically identical poems are not treated separately in all MSS. The race victory was probably later, I. 3 being appended to the longer poem I. 4 in regard to a single celebration [1. 202-203]. M.'s father belonged to the family of the Cleonymidae, h…

Laberius

(821 words)

Author(s): Frigo, Thomas (Bonn) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Eck, Werner (Cologne)
Plebeian nomen gentile of Etruscan origin, more frequent references only towards the end of the Republic. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] L. Military tribune 258 BC Military tribune during the First Punic War, in 258 BC he secured the retreat of consul A. Atilius [I 14] Calatinus (Claudius Quadrigarius fr. 42 HRR) near Camarina. All 400 legionaries of L. were killed, he himself survived badly wounded, but nevertheless was celebrated as ‘The Leonidas of Rome’ (Gell. NA 3,7,21). Other war heroes mentioned are: Q.…

Nonius

(2,494 words)

Author(s): Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
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'…
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