Scanned text contains errors.
584
MatiusV friendship with Caesar is mentioned by Suetonius (Caes. 52), and his intimacy with Augustus by Pliny (H* N. xii. 2, s. 6), who erroneously calls him Cn. Matius, and who speaks of him as alive about 80 years before his time. Tacitus (Ann. xii. 60) also alludes to the power and influence which Matius possessed.
This C. Matius is in all probability the same as the C. Matius (not Cn. as Gellius calls him), who translated the Iliad into Latin verse, and was the author of several other works. His version of the Iliad is first quoted by his contemporary Varro (L. L. vii. 95, 96, ed. Mliller), and is referred to by A. Gellius (vi. 6, ix. 14) and the Latin grammarians. Matius also wrote " Mimiambi,"" which were as celebrated as his translation of the Iliad, and were particularly admired for the elegance of the new words which he introduced in them. (Gell. xv. 25, xx. 8.) Matius also paid great attention to economics and agriculture, and wrote a work on the whole art and science of cookery, in three books, which were entitled respectively Cocus^ Cetarius, Salgamarius. (Columella, xii. 4, 44.) It was probably from this Matius that the me/Hum Maiianmn derived its name (Plin. //. N. xv. 14, 15 ; Columella, v. 10, 19 ; Suet. Dom. 21; Macrob. Saturn, ii. 10; Athen. iii. p. 82, c.), and the Opso-nium Matianum* praised by Apicius (iv. 3).
(Wernsdorf, Pott. Lett. Min. vol. iv. p. 568, &c. ; Leutsch, in the Zeitsclirift fur Altertlmms-ivisse.nsclwfi) 1834, p. 164, &c.)
CALVENTIUS, an Insubrian Gaul, of the town of Placentia, and a merchant, whose daughter married L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father of L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, consul in b. c. 58. In his speech against the latter, Cicero upbraids him with the low origin of his mother, and calls him Caesoninus Semiplacentinus Calventius (in Pison, 6, 23 ; A scon in Pison, p. 5, ed. Orelli ; 'Comp. Cic. de prov. Cons. 4, pro Sext. 9) ; and in a letter to his brother Quintus (iii. 1. § 4), Piso is also meant by the name of Calventius Marius.
CALVIA CRISPINILLA. [crispinilla.]
CALVINA, JU'LIA, the sister of L. Silanus, was at first married to a son of Vitellius, but afterwards, for the sake of doing a favour to Agrippina, Vitellius accused her of incestuous intercourse with her brother, L. Silanus. There was, however, according to the concurrent testimony of the ancients, no ground whatever for that charge, except that Silanus was attached to his sister, and perhaps expressed his love for her in too unguarded a manner, surrounded as he was by spies and enemies. When Silanus had put an end to his own life, Calvina was expelled from Italy. (Tac. Ann. xii. 4, 8 ; L. silanus.) It is highly probable that this Calvina is the same as the Junia (Julia ?) Calvina mentioned by Suetonius (Vesp. 23) as still alive towards the end of the reign of Vespasian, for it is stated there, that she belonged to the family of Augustus, and it is well known that the Silani were great-great-grandsons of Augustus. •• L. S.]
CALVINUS, the name of a family of the plebeian Domitia gens.
1. cn. ddmitius calvinus, consul in b.c. 332. (•Liv. viii. 17.)
2. cn. domitius cn. f. calvinus, surnamed Maximus, offered himself as a candidate for the curulo aedileship in b. c. 304 ; but, although his father had been consul, Cn. Flavins, the famous ecribe of Appius Claudius, was preferred to him.
Five years later, however, u. c. 299, he was elected curule aedile. (Liv. x. 9, where instead of the praenomen C. we ought to read Cn.) He was raised to the consulship in b. c. 283, together with P. Cornelius Dolabella. The name of Calvinus scarcely appears during the year of his consulship, though he must have been very actively engaged, for Rome was just then threatened by a coalition of all her enemies in Italy. Stimulated by the Lucanians and Bruttians, and more especially by the Tarentines, the Etruscans, Gauls, Umbrians, and Samnites took up arms against her. The Se-nones, allied with the Etruscans, attacked the town of Arretium ; and as the consuls were probably engaged in other parts of Italy, the praetor L. Caecilius was sent out to the relief of the place; but he lost a battle and his life near Arretium. His successor, M'. Curius, sent ambassadors to the Senones to effect an exchange of prisoners, but the ambassadors were murdered by the Senones. In order to avenge this breach of the law of nations, the consul P. Cornelius Dolabella marched through the country of the Sabines and Picentians into
V
that of the Senones, conquered their army and ravaged their country, to secure which a Roman colony was established in it. The events which we have just described are not mentioned by all authorities in the same succession. According to Orosius (iii. 22 ; comp. Liv. Epit. 12), the murder of the Roman ambassadors preceded the campaign of L. Caecilius; whereas, according to Appian, the
campaign of Dolabella followed immediately after the murder, and the object of the embassy was to remonstrate with the Senones for serving against the Romans, their allies. (Comp. Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome., iii. p. 427, &c.) In what manner Calvinus was engaged during this time, is not known-. When the Boians saw that the Senones were expelled from their country, they began to dread the same fate, joined the remaining Senones and the Etruscans, and marched against Rome. But in crossing the Tiber they met a Roman army, and in the ensuing battle most of the Etruscans were slain7 and only a few of the Gauls escaped. Our accounts differ as to the Roman commanders in this battle; for some represent Dolabella and others Calvinus as the victorious general, whereas it is most probable that both consuls gained laurels on that day. It was undoubtedly to this victory that Calvinus owed the surname of Maximus, and in b. c. 280 he was further honoured by being made dictator. On laying down this office in the same year, he was elected censor—the first instance of a plebeian being raised to that office. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 1; Polyb. ii. 19, 20; Liv. Epit. 13; Appian, Samnit. 6, Gall. 11; Flor. i. 13; Eutrop. ii. 10; Dion Cass, Excerpt. Vat. p. 163, ed. Stiirz ; Fast. Cap.)
3. domitius calvinus, probably a son of No. 2, conquered the Etruscan town of Luna, which was occupied by the Illyrians. He seems to have been praetor when he made the conquest. The year to which it belongs is unknown, though it is clear that the event must have occurred after the first Punic war, that is, after b. c. 240. (Frontin. Strateg. iii. 2. § 1; Liv. Epit. 20 ; Zonar. viii. 195 &c.)
4. cn. domitius, M. f. M. n. calvinus, appears, in b. c. 62, as legate of L. Valerius Flaccus in Asia, and in b. c. 59 as tribune of the people, in which capacity he supported the consul M. Bibulus against the other consul, C. Julius Caesar, and the
