Latin Literature

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Article

Carmen de bello Aegyptiaco (or Actiaco)  

Edward Courtney

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
The title given to a poem of which 52 more or less complete hexameters in eight columns and a number of fragments survive on PHerc. 817, published in 1809 by Ciampitti and attributed by him and many since for weak reasons to C. *Rabirius (2); it might be part of the Res Romanae of *Cornelius Severus.

Article

Carmen de figuris  

Otto Skutsch and M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Anonymous Latin poem (c.400 ce), dedicated to *Arusianus Messius, and describing figures of speech in 186 hexameters. Three lines are devoted to each figure, defining it and giving one or two examples. The material is taken from *Rutilius Lupus and *Alexander (12). The prosody is late, but aphaeresis of final s and ancient forms (e.

Article

Carmen Priami  

Peter G. M. Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Carmen Priami (‘The Song of Priam’), a poem in *Saturnian verse, of which *Varro, Ling. 7. 28 quotes one line; an archaizing composition, apparently written after and in reaction to *Ennius' Annals.

Article

Carmen Saliare  

Leofranc Holford-Strevens

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Carmen Saliare or Carmina Saliaria, the ancient hymn(s) of the *Salii in *Saturnian verse, unintelligible (Hor. Epist. 2. 1. 85–6; Quint. Inst. 1. 6. 40) despite commentaries by L. *Aelius and others; the few fragments, already corrupt in antiquity, mostly illustrate obsolete diction (e.g. intervocalic s [z] = classical r). As transmitted, they include (fr. 1) the syncopated imperative cante ‘sing’ ( = canite) and the title diuom deo ‘god of gods’ for Janus, (fr. 2) the unchanged Indo-European form tremonti (they) tremble’ ( = tremunt, cf. Doric Greek -οντι) and the name Leucesios (or Lucetius: Macrob. Sat. 1. 15. 14) (god) of light’ for Jupiter; but text and interpretation remain speculative and controversial (one theory derives them from a misunderstood commentary).

Article

Cassiodorus, Roman magistrate, author of political and religious works, c. 485–c. 580 CE  

M. Shane Bjornlie

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Christianity
  2. Late Antiquity
  3. Latin Literature
  4. Roman History and Historiography

Cassiodorus was a prominent participant in the political, intellectual, and religious life of 6th-century ce Italy, and a learned scholar of the classical and Christian traditions. As a member of the administration of the Gothic government under Theoderic and his successors, he advanced through what may be considered the late-Roman cursus honorum. He was also witness to the dramatic political and religious debates of the day, including volatile interactions between the royal court at Ravenna, the Senate at Rome, and the emperor in Constantinople. Justinian’s Gothic War in Italy effectively ended his political career, after which he first became an exile in Constantinople, and then the founder of a school for Christian learning (Vivarium) on his ancestral estates in southern Italy. The literary works that he produced span the spectrum of his personal experiences and attest to the intellectual and cultural range of people living during the 6th century: panegyrics, a chronicle, ethnography, letters, treatises on reading, grammars, Christian exegesis, and ecclesiastical history.

Article

Cassius Severus  

M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Some thought he marked a turning-point in Roman oratory (Tac. Dial. 19). A vivid picture is painted by the elder Seneca (Controv. 3 pref.). He was exiled on a charge of *maiestas under Augustus and his books were burned (Tac. Ann. 1. 72, 4. 21). He eventually died in Seriphos, apparently around ce 35.

Article

Catullus (1), Gaius Valerius, Roman poet  

Julia Haig Gaisser

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
He was born to a distinguished and wealthy family of *Verona around 84 bce and died after 54, probably in Rome. His dates are incorrectly reported in the Chronicle of Jerome as 87 to 58, but Jerome's observation that he died in his thirtieth year is perhaps correct: his poems mention no event datable after 54. He came to Rome at an unknown date and embarked on the public career expected of a young man of his class, serving on the staff of the propraetor C. *Memmius (2), who was governor of Bithynia in 57–56. The service was uncongenial, as he notes in poems 10 and 28; and it seems to have been his last foray into public life. Instead, he devoted himself to poetry, becoming a major figure in a group of poets (dubbed ‘neoterics’ or ‘new poets’ in modern scholarship) who took their models and aesthetic principles from Hellenistic Alexandria (see hellenistic poetry at rome).

Article

Catullus (2), writer of mime  

Elaine Fantham

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Writer of *mime in or before the mid-1st cent. ce (Juv. 8. 185 ff., 13. 111; Mart. 5. 30. 3) whose lost works include Phasma (‘The Ghost’), called clamosum (‘noisy’) by Juvenal, and Laureolus, the tale of a notorious bandit, whose crucifixion was staged live (Mart. Spect. 7. 4; Suet. Calig.

Article

cento, Latin  

Stephen Harrison

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Christianity
  2. Latin Literature
  3. Reception
The extant Latin tradition of cento (the replication and combination of verse lines from a previous text to make a new work) largely uses the hexameter poems of Virgil, familiar to all educated Romans. The earliest extant cento proper is the 461-line tragedy Medea, usually ascribed to Hosidius Geta (200 ce), in which all the characters speak in Virgilian hexameters, and the choral lyrics consist entirely of final half-hexameters. There are eleven other pagan Virgilian centos from late antiquity, none longer than 200 lines; many are short epic narratives on mythological subjects (e.g., Mavortius’ Judgement of Paris [Iudicium Paridis]), but some are amusing parodies on trivial topics (e.g., the anonymous De alea and De panificio on dice playing and baking). The best known are the two epithalamian examples, the wittily obscene Nuptial cento (Cento nuptialis) of Ausonius, written c. 374, and the slightly less risqué Marriage-song of Fridus (Epithalamium Fridi) of Luxorius (early 6th century); Ausonius describes his technique in an important prefatory letter, classifying his cento as frivolum et nullius pretii opusculum—‘a slight work, frivolous and worthless’.

Article

Cestius Pius, Lucius, Augustan rhetor  

M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Lucius Augustanrhetor Cestius Pius, from *Smyrna. He is frequently cited by the elder *Seneca, who comments on his outspoken wit. He was once flogged by Cicero's son (M. *Tullius Cicero (2)) for slandering the orator, to some of whose speeches he wrote replies.

Article

character  

Christopher Gill

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Character, in English, is a broad, non-technical term, which suggests an interest in recognizing patterns in human behaviour, and in analysing the psychological structures underlying these patterns. It is easy to point to ancient theories and practices which exhibit this interest; it is more difficult to define the salient differences between ancient and modern thinking on this topic.Most of the relevant strands of ancient thought can be found in works ascribed to *Aristotle: Rhetoric 2. 12–17 contains evaluative sketches of the characteristic emotional responses of different social groups (young, old, etc.), a genre developed in *Theophrastus’ collection of ‘style-markers’ (Characters) of defective ethical types; [Physiognomics] presents a typology of human characters based on popular thinking about the significance of facial and bodily shapes (see physiognomy); [Problem.] 30. 1 (on melancholy), provides evidence of the medical thinking that, by late antiquity, evolves into the theory of the four humoral temperaments (see humours).

Article

Charisius, Flavius Sosipater  

R. A. Kaster

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Flavius Charisius (late 4th cent. ce), compiled an Ars grammatica in five books (ed. K. Barwick, 1925), juxtaposing passages of basic school grammar with excerpts from more learned sources (e.g. *Remmius Palaemon, *Iulius Romanus): these borrowings both provide copious evidence for the earlier grammatical tradition and contain numerous fragments of early Latin authors. Bk. 1 (defective at the beginning) and bk. 2 survey the constituent elements of grammar (de voce, de litteris, etc. ) and the parts of speech; bk. 3 deals with conjugation, bk. 4 (lacunose) with style and metre. Bk. 5, which dealt with the differences between Latin and Greek forms and constructions, is largely lost. See grammar, grammarians, latin.

Article

Cincius Alimentus, Lucius, Roman senator and historian  

Alexander Hugh McDonald and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Lucius Cincius Alimentus, Roman senator and historian, was praetor in Sicily in 210/9 bce, and was captured by Hannibal (Livy 21. 38. 3). His history of Rome, written in Greek, set the foundation of the city in 729–728 bce and reached his own times. With the work of Q.

Article

Ciris  

R. O. A. M. Lyne and Niklas Holzberg

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

A poem from the *Appendix Vergiliana. It is generally thought to be un-Virgilian; it contains many echoes of *Virgil and *Ovid. Its story is that of *Scylla (2), daughter of *Nisus (1), king of *Megara, who was metamorphosed into the ciris bird; the identity of this bird is not explained, but the name alludes (see l. 488) to Scylla's severing of Nisus’ magic lock (Greek keirein), an action which betrayed Megara to the attacking *Minos with whom Scylla had fallen in love. In style and narrative technique the poem is heavily neoteric, and besides many visible imitations of *Catullus 64, it probably extensively imitates C. *Helvius Cinna's Smyrna and other neoteric poems.

Article

Claudian, poet, b. c. 370 CE  

J. H. D. Scourfield

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
A native of Egypt, he came to Italy c.394 and, turning from Greek to Latin, made an immediate impact in Rome with a verse *panegyric praising his young patrons, Olybrius and Probinus, as they entered their consulship (January 395). Thereafter he became court poet under the western emperor *Honorius and his minister, *Stilicho, for whom he produced a series of panegyrics and other political poems. His efforts won him the title vir clarissimus and a statue in the *forum Traiani, the epigram on the base (CIL 6. 1710) linking him explicitly with *Homer and *Virgil. His death (c.404) is generally inferred from his silence in the face of Stilicho’s subsequent achievements.Claudian wrote consular panegyrics for Honorius in 396, 398, and 404, *Mallius Theodorus in 399, and Stilicho in 400. Honorius’ marriage to Stilicho’s daughter Maria in 398 was celebrated with four *Fescennina and an *epithalamium.

Article

Claudius Atticus Herodes (2), Tiberius, 'Herodes Atticus'  

Ewen Bowie and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Tiberius (Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes) Claudius Atticus Herodes (2), ‘Herodes Atticus’ (c. 101–77 ce), celebrated Athenian sophist and benefactor of Greek cities, ordinary consul 143 ce; friend of M. *Aurelius, whom he taught (along with L. *Verus). A controversial public figure, he quarrelled with Fronto and the *Quintilii brothers, governors of Greece, and was accused of ‘tyranny’ by Athenian enemies (174 ce) before M. Aurelius, whose efforts to reconcile the two parties emerge from a long Athenian inscription published in 1970; his gifts of buildings, above all at Athens (see athens, topography), were not always appreciated by fellow Greeks (see olympia). His declaiming style was straightforward, elegant, and restrained, recalling Critias and influencing a wide circle of pupils. His works included lectures and diaries; only a Latin translation of a *fabula survives (Gell.

Article

Claudius Balbillus, Tiberius, Roman tribunus militum and author, 43 CE  

Howard Hayes Scullard and Barbara Levick

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Probably a son of Tiberius *Claudius Thrasyllus and shared his astrological lore. (See astrology.) He was ADC (praefectus fabrum, see fabri) to *Claudius and tribune of Legio XX in the invasion of Britain in 43 ce, winning decorations; he served as secretary dealing with Greek embassies and applications, and held posts in Egypt, including headship of the *Museum at *Alexandria (1). Favoured by *Iulia Agrippina, he was prefect of Egypt from 55 until her death in 59. He survived until the reign of *Vespasian, who allowed him honours from Ephesus; his daughter married Epiphanes of *Commagene and he was grandfather of *Iulius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus (suffect consul 109). Seneca Q.Nat. 4. 2. 13 describes Balbillus as exceptionally gifted in every branch of literature; fragments of his Astrologumena are preserved (CCAG 8. 3. 103, 8. 4. 233). (The identity of astrologer and prefect was denied by A.

Article

Cledonius  

R. A. Kaster

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Cledonius (5th cent. ce), grammarian of senatorial rank at Constantinople, where he wrote a treatise (Keil, Gramm. Lat. 5. 9–79) on the Ars minor and Ars maior of Aelius *Donatus (1). The work survives only in a lacunose and interpolated copy from the 6th or 7th cent. (E.

Article

Cloatius Verus, Augustan lexicographer and antiquarian  

R. A. Kaster

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Augustan lexicographer and antiquarian who wrote on the meanings of Greek words and on Latin words derived from Greek. He is probably the ‘Cloatius’ whom *Verrius Flaccus cites (with L. *Aelius) on Latin sacral terms.

Article

Clodius Quirinalis, Publius  

M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Publius Clodius Quirinalis, from Arelate (mod. Arles) in Gaul, said by *Jerome to have taught rhetoric at Rome c. ce 44.