Gaius_Licinius_Macer_Calvus

Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus

Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus

Add article description

Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus (28 May 82 BC[1] – c. 46 BC[2]) was an orator and poet of ancient Rome.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

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.[3]

Calvus' oratorical style opposed the "Asian" school in favor of a simpler Attic model:[2] he characterized Cicero as "solutum et enervem" (loose and nerveless), while Cicero described him as "exsanguem et aridum" (bloodless and dry).[4] However, there was no enmity between these two, and Cicero praised Calvus highly.[2]

Tacitus mentions twenty-one of his speeches are mentioned by Tacitus, including several speeches against Publius Vatinius.[5] Calvus likely prosecuted Vatinius multiple times, in 58 BC and then later in 54 BC, where he was defended by Cicero.[6] The second trial was also was the subject of Catullus 53.[7] In Catullus 53, Catullus also referred to Calvus as salaputium disertum. The meaning of this has been disputed however, it has been suggested that it referred to Calvus' wit.[8]

Seneca the Elder 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.[9]

Frédéric Plessis published fragments of Calvus in 1896.[10]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 7.165
  2. [2]
    Frank, Tenney (1919). "Cicero and the Poetae Novi". The American Journal of Philology. 40 (4): 396–415. doi:10.2307/288916. JSTOR 288916.
  3. [3]
    Augustus Weichert (1825). De C. Licinio Calvo, oratore et poeta (in Latin). Archived from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  4. [4]
    Tacitus, Dialogus, 18
  5. [5]
    Tacitus, Dialogus, 21
  6. [6]
    Cicero (1958). In Vatinium (Report). Harvard University Press. pp. 330–331. doi:10.4159/dlcl.marcus_tullius_cicero-in_vatinium.1958. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  7. [7]
    Comfort, Howard (1935). "The Date of Catullus LIII". Classical Philology. 30 (1): 74–76. doi:10.1086/361811. JSTOR 265227.
  8. [8]
    Hawkins, Shane (2012). "On the Oscanism salaputium in Catullus 53". Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-). 142 (2): 329–353. doi:10.1353/apa.2012.0017. JSTOR 23324455.
  9. [9]
    Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, 7.4.6
  10. [10]
    Plessis, Frédéric (1896). Calvus: édition complète des fragments et des témoignages. Paris: Klincksieck.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Gaius_Licinius_Macer_Calvus, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.