by Cicero
CYLON: an Athenian aristocrat who tried to seize power (632?). When he and his followers were besieged on the Acropolis, he escaped, but his friends were killed, although they had taken refuge at an altar. The guilt for this crime was laid on Megacles and his family, the Alcmaeonidae. L. 2. 28.
CYPSELUS: tyrant of Corinth in the seventh century. His rule is represented as mild or severe, depending on the sources. Herodotus speaks of him banishing his opponents (5. 92). He promoted trade by founding colonies. R. 2. 34.
GYRUS THE GREAT: overthrew Astyages, king of Media, in 549. He then extended his empire to embrace Asia Minor, Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine. In spite of his vast power, he had a reputation for wisdom and magnanimity. Best known to the Romans from Xenophon’s biographical novel, the Cyropedia. R. 1. 43, 44; L. 2. 56.
DECIMUS VERGINIUS: (Lucius Verginius, according to Livy in his account of the episode in 3. 44–6). His uncompromising defence of his daughter’s honour led to the second secession of the plebs. R. 2. 63.
DEMARATUS: a Corinthian aristocrat who migrated to Tarquinii, north of Rome, to escape the tyranny of Cypselus. According to tradition he was the father of Tarquinius Priscus. For discussion see Cornell, 124. R. 2. 34.
DEMETRIUS OF PHALERUM: b. c.350, a Peripatetic philosopher who ruled Athens for ten years. Among other measures, he appointed officials to supervise the observance of the laws. He was later librarian in Alexandria. R. 2. 2; L. 2. 64, 66; 3. 14.
DIAGONDAS: an obscure Theban lawgiver. L. 2. 37.
DICAEARCHUS: fl. 326–296. A pupil of Aristotle, he wrote voluminously on history, constitutions, literature, philosophy, and geography. L. 3. 14. DIOGENES OF BABYLON: e. 240–15 2. Pupil of Chrysippus and teacher of Panaetius, he visited Rome in 155, where he did much to develop interest in Stoicism. L. 3. 13.
DIONYSIUS: c.430–367. Tyrant of Syracuse. With Spartan help he held western Sicily against the Carthaginians and extended his influence to southern Italy. His immense power, however precarious (one recalls the sword of Damocles), brought prosperity to Syracuse. R. 1. 28; 3. 43.
DOLOPES: a people of Thessaly in the centre of northern Greece. R. 2. 8.
DORIS: a district in central Greece to the east of Aetolia. R. 2. 8.
DRACO: a legislator who, c.620, gave Athens its first written code. Such was his severity, however, that his laws were said to have been written in blood. R. 2. 2.
DUILIUS, GAIUS: consul 260. As commander of Rome’s fleet, he defeated the Carthaginians off Mylae in north-east Sicily in the first Punic war. R. i. 1.
EGERIA: a water nymph, worshipped with the Camenae (or Muses) at a spring within a grove outside the Porta Capena. She was said to have given advice to King Numa. L. T. 4.
EMPEDOCLES: C.493-C.433. A Sicilian noble who won fame for his writings (in verse) on natural philosophy and religion. R. 3. 14.
ENNIUS, QUINTUS: 239–169. Most famous for his versions of Greek tragedy and for his Annals —a year-by-year account of the foundation and growth of Roman power. He was the acknowledged father of Latin poetry. R. i. 3, 25, 30, 49, 64; 3. 6; 5. 1; 6. 10; L. 2. 57, 68.
EPICUREANS: see Epicurus.
EPICURUS: 341–270. He took over and developed Democritus’ idea that the world consisted of atoms and void; that, although gods existed, they did not concern themselves with the world; that man’s chief end was pleasure (or, rather, freedom from pain); and that the soul was mortal. R. 6. 3; L. 1. 21.
EPIMENIDES: a semi-legendary Cretan of the late sixth century, who is supposed to have purified Athens from the Cylonian pollution. He is credited with much epic verse and a prose work on Sacrifice and the Cretan Constitution. The stories of his life are nearly all miraculous. L. 2. 28.
EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS: (in south-west Asia Minor) C.390-C.340. A mathematician, geographer, and astronomer of the first importance. One of his works was the basis of Aratus’ popular poem on stars and weather-signs. R. T. 22.
EUMOLPIDAE: an Attic clan which provided priests for the Eleusinian mysteries. L. 2. 35.
FABIUS MAXIMUS, QUINTUS: after the crushing defeats of 218, 217, and 2T 6, Fabius (nicknamed Cunctator, ‘The Delayer’) refused to risk a further engagement with Hannibal. Instead, he wore him down by guerilla tactics. Eventually, cut off from assistance, Hannibal had to leave Italy to defend Carthage. R. 1. 1.
FABIUS PICTOR, QUINTUS: a senator who served in the second Punic war (218–201). He wrote a history of Rome in Greek. L. 1. 6.
FABRICIUS LUSCINUS, GAIUS: consul 282 and 278, censor 275. Another example of early Roman austerity and integrity. His campaigns in southern Italy played a major part in the defeat of Pyrrhus. R. 3. 40; L. 2. 58.
FANNIUS, GAIUS: consul 122, son-in-law of Laelius. It is uncertain whether he or another Gaius Fannius wrote a history of his own times. R. i. 18; L. i. 6.
FIGULUS, GAIUS MARCUS: consul 64, a supporter of Cicero’s. His monument was notably extravagant. L. 2. 62.
FURIUS PHILUS, LUCIUS: consul 136. As a young man he, like Scipio, was a supporter of Terence.
FLAMINIUS, GAIUS: as tribune in 232, he carried, against senatorial opposition, a bill distributing land confiscated from the Senones in north-east Italy to the Roman poor. He was the first of his family to reach the consulship (223); he died in the defeat at Lake Trasimene (217). L. 3. 20. GABINIUS, AULUS: grandson of a slave. As tribune in 139 he introduced the secret ballot at elections. L. 3. 35.
GAIUS JULIUS: a member of the second, unpopular, Board of Ten in 449. R. 2. 61.
GAIUS JULIUS IULLUS: consul 430, carried a law commuting fines in livestock to cash (Livy 4. 30). Livy gives his name as Lucius. R. 2. 60.
GAULS: they sacked Rome in 390, taking away whatever they could carry, but (it seems) leaving most of the monuments and buildings alone (Cornell 317–18). R. 1. 11; 3. 15.
GELLIUS, GNAEUS: an annalist who, C.130, wrote a history of Rome down to 146, at least. The work was characterized by its verbosity. See Raaflaub 3 and his references. L. 1. 6.
GELLIUS PUBLICOLA, LUCIUS: praetor, then governor of an eastern province. At Athens on his way home he offered to help the philosophers to reach a consensus. He was an adherent of Pompey, and supported Cicero in 63. L. 1. 53.
GRACCHUS, GAIUS SEMPRONIUS: younger brother of Tiberius. Tribune in 123, he carried some radical measures, continuing the programme of Tiberius. In 122 he tried to obtain citizenship for the Latins, but was defeated. When his policies were attacked in 121, he resorted to violence, and, like his brother, was killed in a riot. L. 3. 20, 24, 26.
GRACCHUS, TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS: father of the Gracchi; censor 169, when he opposed the syndicates of tax-collectors in Asia Minor. Distinguished as a general and as a statesman. See Livy 43. T 6. R. 6. 2.
GRACCHUS, TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS: cousin and brother-in-law of Scipio. As Tribune in 133 he proposed to the people (by-passing the Senate) an agrarian law assigning public land to the Roman poor. It was vetoed by another tribune, Marcus Octavius, who was then illegally deposed. Gracchus (again ignoring the Senate) proposed that the legacy left to Rome by Attalus of Pergamum should be used to equip the new allotment holders. Scipio Nasica then led a mob of senators against Gracchus, who was killed in the ensuing riot. R. 1. 31; 2. 49 (?); 3. 41; L. 3. 20, 24.
GRATIDIUS, MARCUS GAIUS: attempted to bring in a ballot law in Arpinum. L. 3. 36.
GRATIDIANUS, MARIUS: son of Marcus Gratidius and nephew of Gaius Marius. When he was praetor (probably in 85 or 84) he announced an edict to fix the value of the currency, thus obtaining personal credit for what had been a committee’s decision. L. 3. 36.
HELENUS: son of Priam, he prophesied the fall of Troy and, later, the course of Aeneas’ wanderings. L. 2. 33.
HERACLIDES OF PONTUS: a fourth-century academic philosopher who wrote on a wide range of subjects. Among his ethical works were dialogues on government and laws, in which philosophers, generals, and statesmen conversed. L. 3. 14.
HERCULES: i.e. Heracles, the most popular of all Greek heroes. At a very early
stage his cult came to Rome, where he was worshipped at the Ara Maxima (Greatest Altar) and several other places. R. 1. 37; 2. 34; L. 2. 19, 27
HERODOTUS: ‘the father of history’. Born in Halicarnassus in Caria (Asia Minor) probably in the 490s, he lived until the 420s. He travelled extensively, gathering information of all kinds, which he used in his history of the Persian wars. L. T. 5.
HOMER: accepted in antiquity as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The date and place of his birth are unknown. Modern opinion puts him in the late eighth century. R. 1. 56; 2. 18, 19; 4. 5; 6. 10; L. 1. 2.
HORATIUS BARBATUS, MARCUS: consul 449. Following the secession of the plebs and the resignation of the second Board of Ten, he and his colleague passed laws which made important concessions to the plebs in connection with their resolutions, the right of appeal, and the inviolability of the tribunes. R. 2. 54.
HYPERBOLUS: an influential Athenian demagogue who became leader of the radical war-party after the death of Cleon. In 417 he went into exile in Samos, where he was murdered in 411. R. 4. 11.
IACCHUS: a minor deity connected with the Eleusinian mysteries. As Bacchus (Dionysus) was also associated with Ceres (Demeter), the two names tended to be confused. L. 2. 35.
IDAEAN MOTHER: See Cybele.
JUNIUS CONGUS GRACCHANUS, MARCUS: called Gracchanus because of his friendship with Gaius Gracchus; he wrote a work on the origins and powers of the magistrates. L. 3. 49.
JUNO: wife and sister of Jupiter, identified with the Greek Hera, who had an important cult on the island of Samos. Juno was worshipped on the Capitol with Jupiter and Minerva. L. 2. 41.
JUPITER: king of the gods, identified with the Greek Zeus. R. 1. 30, 50, 56; 2. 36, 43; 6. 17; L. 1. 2; 2. 7, 10, 20, 28; 3. 43.
LACEDAEMONIANS, or SPARTANS: inhabitants of the south-east Peloponnese. From the eighth century Sparta had a strong, oligarchic constitution which, with her military institutions, appealed to conservative Romans. R. 1. 25, 50; 2. 2, 15, 24, 42, 43, 50, 58; 3. 15; 4. 3, 4; L. T. 15; 2. 39; 3. 16.
LAELIUS, GAIUS: a cultivated man, closely identified with Scipio’s policies; consul 140; central figure in Cicero’s De Amicitia.
LAENAS, PUBLIUS POPILLIUS: consul 132, presided over a court set up by the Senate to punish supporters of Ti. Gracchus. He was exiled in 123 by C. Gracchus, but was recalled a few years later. R. 1. 6; L. 3. 26.
LARCIUS, TITUS: according to tradition, he was consul in 501 and 498 and dictator in 497. R. 2. 56.
LIBER: ‘the free one’ = Bacchus. L. 2. 19.
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, LUCIUS: a Greek from Tarentum who was brought to Rome as a prisoner of war in 272. On manumission, he took his owner’s name (Livius). He wrote adaptations of Greek tragedies and comedies, and of the Odyssey. L. 2. 39.
LIVIUS DRUSUS, MARCUS: an aristocrat who became tribune in 91. He proposed that 300 knights should be added to the Senate, that criminal juries should be chosen from the enlarged body, that land should be found for the poor, and that the Italian allies should be made citizens. Extreme elements from all three sections combined against him, his legislation was cancelled by Philippus, and he himself was killed. L. 2. 14.
LOCRIANS: a Greek colony in the toe of Italy, founded c.700. It seems that the Locrians became clients of Cicero as a result of his services to Sicily in 70 (i.e. his prosecution of Verres). L. 2. 15.
LUCERES: one of the three tribes of early Rome, allegedly derived from a supporter of Romulus called Lucumo. R. 2. 36.
LUCRETIA: wife of Tarquinius Collatinus. She was violated by Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus. This resulted in the expulsion of the Tarquins. See Livy T. 57–60. R. 2. 46; L. 2. 10.
LUCRETIUS TRICIPITINUS, SPURIUS: father of Lucretia; consul 509. The family is supposed to have worshipped a three-headed deity, hence Tricipitinus (Ogilvie 228). R. 2. 46, 55.
LUCULLUS PONTICUS, LUCIUS LICINIUS: as consul in 74 he obtained a military command against Mithridates of Pontus, but failed to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. After 59 he lived in luxurious retirement. L. 3. 30.
LUCUMO: said to be an Etruscan king who supported Romulus, but the origin of the name Luceres is far from clear (Ogilvie 8T ; Cornell 139–40). Later, in Livy 1.34, Lucumo is said to have been the original name of Tarquinius Priscus, who was born in Etruria. R. 2. 14.
LYCAONIANS: they lived in Asia Minor, north of Cilicia, east of Phrygia and Pisidia. R. z. 33.
LYCURGUS: according to tradition, he was the founder of the Spartan constitution. R. 2. 2, 15, 18, 42, 43, 50, 58; 3. 16; 4. 5; L. 1. 57.
MACER, GAIUS LICINIUS: father of Catullus’ friend, Calvus. In 73 he campaigned for the restoration of the tribunes’ powers. After serving as praetor in 68, he was convicted of extortion in 66 and took his own life. His history of Rome in at least 16 books was used by Livy. L. 1.7.
MAELIUS, SPURIUS: a rich man who in 440 bought corn in Etruria and began to distribute it free to the Roman plebs. He was accused of aiming at the kingship. When he resisted arrest he was killed by Servilius Ahala, Master of the Cavalry (Livy 4. 13–14). R. 2. 49.
MAMILIUS LIMETANUS, GAIUS: as tribune in 109, he reduced the three arbitrators on boundaries required by the Twelve Tables to one. Hence his name Limetanus, ‘the boundary man’. L. 1. 55.
MANCINUS, GAIUS HOSTILIUS: as consul in 137 he was defeated by the people of Numantia in Spain. His quaestor, Ti. Gracchus, managed to make an agreement which saved the Roman army, but it was repudiated by the Senate at the instigation of Scipio. Mancinus was handed over to the Numantines, but they, magnificently, refused to accept him. Mancinus then resumed his career. R. 3. 28.
MANILIUS, MANIUS: consul 149; a prominent orator and jurist. R. 1. 18, 20, 34; 2. 28, 29; 3. 17; 5. 3(?); 6. 9.
MANLIUS CAPITOLINUS, MARCUS: in 390, alerted by the sacred geese, he held the Capitol against the Gauls (Livy 5. 47). Subsequently he tried to use the gold recovered by Camillus to relieve the conditions of the plebs. He was therefore condemned for treason and put to death (Livy 6. 11–20). R. 2. 49
MARCELLUS, GAIUS CLAUDIUS: served with Cicero in the college of augurs, though he seems to have been entirely sceptical about the institution. L. 2. 32, (33).
MARCELLUS, MARCUS CLAUDIUS: consul for the first time in 222, he was a famous general who had several successes in northern Italy, Campania, and Sicily. R. 1. 1, 21; 5. 10.
MARCELLUS, MARCUS CLAUDIUS: consul 166 and 155. His policy of conciliation brought peace to nearer Spain from 151 to 143. R. 1. 21.
MARIUS, GAIUS: c.157–86. Seven times consul. From an equestrian family in Arpinum, he served under Scipio at Numantia (134–3), married into the Julian family, enrolled troops from the Roman poor for his campaigns against Jugurtha in North Africa. After disposing of Jugurtha (104), he defeated the Teutones and Cimbri (German tribes) in 102 and IOT. He fought in the Italian war, but fled to Africa when Sulla seized Rome in 88. On Sulla’s departure, Marius raised troops and marched on Rome in 87. Sulla was declared an exile, and Marius entered on his seventh consulship in 86. He died early in that year. R. 1. 6; L. 1. 1, 2, 3, 4; 2. 56; 3. 36.
MARS: whatever his origins may have been, he was identified with the Greek war-god Ares at an early stage. In Roman myth he was the father of Romulus. R. 2. 4; 6. 17.
MASINISSA: C.240–148. A prince of Numidia in North Africa who helped the Carthaginians against the Romans in Spain before 206. He was then won over by Scipio the elder, and was thereafter a loyal ally of Rome. As such he became master of all Numidia. R. 6. 9.
MEGILLUS: a Spartan who figures in Plato’s Laws. L. r. 15.
MELAMPUS: a legendary Greek prophet who came to understand the speech of birds and animals. L. 2. 33.
MERCURY: the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hermes, and one of the seven planets, the others being Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun, and the moon. The earth was not thought of as a planet. (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, being invisible to the naked eye, were unknown in antiquity.) See the index to Manilius, Loeb edn. by G. P. Goold. R. 6.
17.
METELLUS, LUCIUS CAECILIUS: consul 251. In Sicily, during the first Punic war, he captured the Carthaginian war elephants at Panormus (250). R. 1. 1.
METELLUS MACEDONICUS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS: presided over the annexation of Macedonia in 148, then defeated the Greek forces of Critolaus in 146. This led to the destruction of Corinth and the settlement of Greece. Metellus was consul in 143. He overcame the Celtiberians in Hither Spain, preparing the way for its conquest. He was for many years an opponent of Scipio. For their shifting relations see Astin’s index. R. 1. 31.
METELLUS NUMIDICUS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS: nephew of Macedonicus. Consul in 109, he fought against Jugurtha with some initial success, but was replaced by Marius in 108. In 100 the tribune Saturninus introduced a bill to obtain land for Marius’ veterans in the south of France, and obliged every senator to uphold it on pain of exile. Metellus alone chose exile. He was recalled in 99 or 98. R. 1. 6; L. 3. 26.
MILTIADES: he persuaded the Greeks to fight at Marathon (490). He then obtained command of an expedition against the island of Paros, which had supported the Persians. He failed to take it, however, and returned home wounded. He was punished with a heavy fine and died soon after. Cicero’s is a rather tendentious version of what happened. R. 1. 5.
MINOS: prehistoric and semi-legendary king of Crete. His name has been given to the bronze-age civilization of Crete (3000–1000). R. 2. 2.
MOPSUS: famous prophet, son of Apollo and Teiresias’ daughter. L. 2. 33.
MUCIUS: see Scaevola (T).
MUCIUS: see Scaevola (2).
MUMMIUS, SPURIUS: an orator in the Stoic style; he accompanied Scipio to the east in 140–39. R. 1. 18, 34; 3. 46–8; 5. 11.
NAEVIUS, GNAEUS: born in Campania c.270, he wrote an epic on the struggle with Carthage, tragedies on Greek and Roman themes, and numerous comedies. Though Cicero implies that he did not go far in criticizing politicians, there is a strong tradition that he was jailed for his remarks (Aulus Gellius 3. 3. 15). For his fragments see ROL 2. 46–156. R. 4. 11; L. 2. 39.