Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus
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Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 May 82 BC |
| Died | c. 47 BC (aged 34-35) |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, poet, orator |
| Relatives | Licinius Macer (father) |
Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus (28 May 82 BC[1] – c. 47 BC) was an orator and poet of ancient Rome.
Son of Licinius Macer[2] and thus a member of the gens Licinia, he was a friend of the poet Catullus, whose style and subject matter he shared.[2] Calvus' oratorical style opposed the "Asian" school in favor of a simpler Attic model: he characterized Cicero as wordy and artificial.[2] Tacitus mentions twenty-one of his speeches are mentioned by Tacitus, including several speeches against Publius Vatinius.</ref name="Tacitus">Tacitus, Dialogus, 21</ref> Calvus likely prosecuted Vatinius multiple times, in 58 BC and then later in 54 BC, where he was defended by Cicero.[3] The second trial was also was the subject of Catullus 53.[4]
Calvus was apparently short, since Catullus alludes to him as salaputium disertum (eloquent Lilliputian).[2] Seneca the Elder also mentions his short stature, and refers a story in which Calvus asked to be raised to a platform, so that he could defend one of his clients.[5]
Frédéric Plessis published fragments of Calvus in 1896.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 7.165
- ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 587.
- ^ Cicero (1958). In Vatinium (Report). Harvard University Press. pp. 330–331. doi:10.4159/dlcl.marcus_tullius_cicero-in_vatinium.1958.
- ^ Comfort, Howard (1935). "The Date of Catullus LIII". Classical Philology. 30 (1): 74–76. doi:10.1086/361811. JSTOR 265227.
- ^ Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, 7.4.6
- ^ Plessis, Frédéric (1896). Calvus: édition complète des fragments et des témoignages. Paris: Klincksieck.
- Weiss, M. "An Oscanism in Catullus 53", Classical Philology 91 (1996) 353–359.
