Tragicocomoedia (τραγικοκωμῳδία), a play blending tragic and comic elements (Plaut.Amph. 50–63).
Article
Jonathan G. F. Powell
Fifty-eight speeches of Cicero survive in whole or part; numerous others were unpublished or lost (88 are recorded by Crawford).
Cicero's normal practice, if he decided to publish a speech, was to ‘write up’ (conficere) a version after the event. In one case we know that he delivered a speech from a script (Post reditum in senatu); otherwise it seems that only a few important passages, chiefly the exordium and peroration, were written out in extenso beforehand. The published versions of court speeches in many instances certainly represent a shortened version of the actual proceedings, as shown by Humbert; the examination of witnesses is largely omitted, and some sections of argumentation are represented only by headings. The extent to which Cicero changed the content or emphasis of his speeches when preparing them for publication is disputed. It has been thought that the speeches were regularly altered to suit the political circumstances of the time of publication, rather than the time of delivery. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that Cicero's overt reason for publication was to provide examples of successful oratory for posterity to imitate and admire, and this would naturally place limits on the degree of alteration that could reasonably be made, as would the presence among his readership of a substantial number of those who had been present at the delivery of the speech.
Article
Jonathan G. F. Powell
(a)De inventione, written in Cicero's youth, is a treatise on some techniques of rhetorical argument, which has a close resemblance to parts of the anonymous *Rhetorica ad Herennium (once falsely attributed to Cicero).(b)De oratore (55 bce), Brutus, and Orator (46) represent Cicero's major contribution to the theory of (Latin) *rhetoric, and he himself grouped them with his philosophical works. They present an idealized picture of the orator as a liberally educated master of his art, a picture in which the technical aspects of Greek rhetorical theory still have their place, but are supplemented by knowledge of literature, philosophy, and general culture, and by the qualities of character required of the ideal Roman aristocrat. This was endorsed by later Roman authors such as *Quintilian, and it was one of the formative influences on Renaissance ideals of character and education. The De oratore was closely linked with the more ambitious De republica which followed it, and the ideal orator depicted in the former is little different from the ideal statesman in the latter.
Article
Jonathan G. F. Powell
Cicero early acquired a reputation as a bad poet on the basis of two lines from his autobiographical compositions, ‘o fortunatam natam me consule Romam’ (‘O happy Rome, born in my consulship’) and ‘cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi’ (‘yield arms to the toga, the bay to achievement’) (the variant linguae ‘to the tongue’, was probably satirical). The obvious faults of these lines are a naïve self-esteem and a somewhat old-fashioned taste for *assonance; in general, Cicero was a competent enough versifier, and despite his admiration for the older poets, his verse technique is more modern than that of his contemporary *Lucretius. He appears at times to have had serious poetic ambitions and to have regarded verse-writing as more than an amateur's accomplishment. It is perhaps less surprising in an ancient than it would be in a modern context that he chose to make verse a vehicle for personal propaganda, in the Consulatus suus (of which a substantial passage is quoted by Cicero himself in Div.
Article
Jonathan G. F. Powell
Cicero's surviving correspondence is an invaluable collection of evidence for his biography, for the history of the time, and for Roman social life. The sixteen books Ad familiares were published after Cicero's death by his freedman M. *Tullius Tiro. Cicero's letters to T. *Pomponius Atticus were preserved (without the replies) by the latter and seen by *Cornelius Nepos (Nep. Att. 16. 2–4, referring to a collection in 11 books). They were in circulation in the reign of Nero and later, but the silence of *Asconius suggests that they were not available to him. Our present collection Ad Atticum consists of sixteen books, probably an augmented version of the collection known to Nepos. We also have the smaller collections Ad Quintum fratrem (including the *Commentariolum petitionis) and Ad Brutum. Further collections of Cicero's letters apparently existed in antiquity. The Ad familiares collection contains, in addition to Cicero's own, letters from a variety of correspondents to him.
Article
Edward Courtney
Tullius Laurea, one of Cicero's *freedmen, wrote an epigram on a hot spring at a villa of Cicero (Plin. HN 31. 7–8) and some Greek epigrams.
Article
Stephen J. Harrison
Turnus (1), Italian hero, in *Virgil son of Daunus and the *nymph Venilia and brother of the nymph Juturna; the Greek tradition calls him ‘Tyrrhenus’, suggesting an *Etruscan link (Dion. Hal. 1. 64. 2). His role as *Aeneas' rival in Italy is well established before Virgil (Cato frs. 9, 11 Peter; Dion. Hal. 1. 64. 2; Livy, 1. 2. 1–5). In the Aeneid he is king of *Ardea and the Rutulians and favoured suitor, not fiancé, of *Latinus' daughter Lavinia; rejected in favour of Aeneas and maddened by Juno's intervention, he rouses the Latins (see
Article
Mario Citroni
Turnus (2), satirist of the time of *Domitian, popular in his own time (Mart. 7. 97. 8) and frequently mentioned later (Rut. Namat. 1. 603–4; Sid. Apoll. Carm. 9. 266; Lydus, Mag. 1. 41). The brother of the tragedian Scaevus *Memor (Mart. 11. 10), according to a scholion (see
Article
Peter G. M. Brown
Turpilius (died old, 103 bce, according to Jerome), author of fabulae palliatae. Thirteen titles and some 200 lines survive; the titles are all Greek (several from *Menander (1)), and there are no Roman allusions in the fragments, but in several other respects he is closer to *Plautus than *Terence.
Article
Edward Courtney
Tūtĭcānus, a boyhood friend of *Ovid, who cannot fit his name into verse without the playful scansions of Pont. 4. 12. 10–11; cf. 4. 14. He seems to have translated the Phaeacia episode (see
Article
R. A. Kaster
Tuticius Proculus, Latin grammarian from *Sicca Veneria and teacher of Marcus *Aurelius, who honoured him with a proconsulate (SHA M. Ant. 2. 3, 5; on the nomen, not ‘Eutychius’, Birley, Bonner Historia-Augusta-Colloquium 1966/67 39 f.).
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Edward Courtney
Lucius Vagellius, *suffect consul between 44 and 46
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Mario Citroni
Valerius Aedituus, author of two erotic epigrams quoted by *Gellius 19. 9 alongside others by *Lutatius Catulus(1) and *Porcius Licinus, with whom he must have been contemporary (end of the 2nd cent. bce?). The three poets are also linked in Apul. Apol.9, and they may have been collected in an anthology which was Gellius' source for the quotations. Valerius imitates *Sappho 31 LP (the poem later translated by *Catullus(2) in poem 51) and Hellenistic poetry, but the abundant use of alliteration and the metrical technique show the persistent influence of archaic Latin style.
Article
Edward Courtney
Publius Valerius Cato, *grammaticus and poet, born in (Cisalpine?) Gaul probably c.90 bce (see gaul (cisalpine)). Almost all of our knowledge of him comes from Suetonius (Gram.11) and nothing has survived from his writings. They included, besides works of scholarship (in which a special interest in *Lucilius(1) appeared), an Indignatio, in which he complained of the loss of his patrimony under Sulla, and two poems, Lydia (not the Lydia in the Virgilian appendix, cf. appendix vergiliana), probably amatory, and Diana (Dictynna?), a narrative poem, probably drawn on by the author of the *Ciris, on the Hellenistic story of *Britomartis. He was an outstanding interpreter and nurturer of poets; compliments are paid to him by *Helvius Cinna, *Ticida, and *Furius Bibaculus, he may be mentioned in the *Cornelius Gallus fragment (line 9), and he is probably the Cato to whom *Catullus(1) (56), another Valerius from Cisalpine Gaul with a related cognomen (see names, personal, roman), imparts a naughty episode.
Article
Gaius Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus, the Roman poet Valerius Flaccus, author of the Argonautica, an epic poem on the voyage of *Jason(1) and the *Argonauts to *Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. There is no external evidence for his biography apart from *Quintilian's remark (c.ce 95) that ‘we have recently suffered a great loss in Valerius Flaccus’ (10. 1. 90); since Quintilian can use ‘recent’ of *Caesius Bassus' death in ce 79 (10. 1. 96), the conventional dating of Valerius' death to the early 90s is without foundation. The evidence of the poem itself is controversial. The conventional claim that Valerius was a *quindecimvir sacris faciundis is based on lines in the proem which by no means dictate such a conclusion (1. 5–7). The one certainty is the reference in a simile to the eruption of *Vesuvius, which occurred on 24 August 79 (4.
Article
R. A. Kaster
Grammarian from *Berytus (mod. Beirut) who flourished under the Flavians, devoting himself especially to the study of republican authors (Suet.Gram.24): sources indicate his interest in (e.g.) *Plautus, *Terence, *Sallust, and *Virgil. He collected many texts, which he punctuated, ‘corrected’, and marked with critical signs (notae); these were probably resources for his own scholarship, not ‘editions’ with full commentaries for public consumption. He published a very few minor works and communicated his learning in conversations with small circles of followers; but he left substantial notes on ‘old’ Latin usage (Suet.Gram.), and these probably circulated after his death. He is cited respectfully by Aulus *Gellius, who claims to have known both his writings and several of his disciples; and by later commentators on Terence and Virgil (the origin of these citations is controversial). His fame caused some certainly spurious works to be attributed to him: these include several technical treatises (Catholica, H.
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R. A. Kaster
Scholar and poet, and probably the tribunus plebis (82 bce? see tribuni plebis) put to death for speaking the secret name of Rome (MRR 2. 68, cf. 3. 214). His younger contemporary *Cicero refers to him (Brut.169, De or. 3. 43), and *Varro quotes both his verses on *Jupiter (C.
Article
Edward Courtney
Valgius (RE 7) Rufus, *suffect consul 12
Article
M. Winterbottom
Vallius Syriacus, declaimer. He was taught by the easygoing *Theodorus(3) (Sen.Controv. 2. 1. 36). Tiberius put him to death in
Article
R. A. Kaster
Quintus Vargunteius, gave recitations of *Ennius' Annals to large crowds. Like *Octavius Lampadio, he allegedly was influenced by *Crates(3) of Mallus, in the second half of the 2nd cent.
