Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (consul 58 BC)

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For other people with the same name, see Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus
Statue of Piso at the Museo archeologico nazionale di Parma [it]
Born101 BC
Died43 BC
NationalityRoman
Occupation(s)Politician and philosopher
OfficeConsul (58 BC)
Children
RelativesLucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (grandfather)

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (101 BC

senator and the father-in-law of Julius Caesar[2] through his daughter Calpurnia. He was reportedly a follower of a school of Epicureanism that had been modified to befit politicians, as Epicureanism itself favoured withdrawal from politics.[3] Piso was consul in the year 58 BC with Aulus Gabinius as his colleague.[4]

Biography

Caesar mentions his father-in-law in his

Senate in his speech De provinciis consularibus.[2]

On his return, Piso addressed the Senate in his defence;

Cicero replied with the coarse and exaggerated invective, a writing and/or oratory style or genre in classical times, known as In Pisonem.[2][7] Piso issued a pamphlet by way of rejoinder, and there the matter ended.[2] Cicero may have been afraid to bring the father-in-law of Julius Caesar to trial.[2] At any rate, Piso's repute was solid enough that he was elected, though reluctant, to the office of censor in 50 BC.[6]

At the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and

Octavianus, Piso played a role neutral to both parties, yet seeking some form of resolution between the two sides.[10] At the Senate session held that 1 August he offered a proposal to bring harmony between the two, but not one man supported him.[11]

As armed strife between the soldiers of the two sides increased, Piso continued to work for peace. When the Senate opened the year 43 BC with debating over Cicero's motion to declare Antony an enemy of the state, Piso twice intervened over the legality of such an act, arguing for compromise.

Mutina later that month. Piso and Philippus returned the following month—Sulpicius had died on the journey—to present terms from Antony that enraged Cicero. Antony's terms were rejected and the Senate declared a state of war. However, events in the further East alarmed the party at Rome, and a second embassy was sent to Antony in March, which included Piso.[13] He is not heard of after this, and Syme concludes from this silence he died not long after.[14]

Patronage

According to Ronald Syme, Piso "united loyalty to Roman standards of conduct to a lively appreciation of the literature and philosophy of Hellas."[6] The author Philodemus was one of those whom he sponsored.

Piso is believed to have been the owner of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.[15]

Family

According to

Pontifex", consul in 15 BC.[16]

Legacy

The maxim

Somerset's Case and in reversing the outlawry of John Wilkes, and in the alternate form fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus by Ferdinand of Habsburg, is sometimes attributed to Piso Caesoninus (more often to Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso), but this is disputed.[17]

References

  1. ^ R. Evans, "Candidates and Competition in Consular Elections at Rome Between 218 and 49 BC", Acta Classica, 34 (1991), p. 122
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Piso § Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 652.
  3. ^ For a survey of Roman Epicureans active in politics, see Arnaldo Momigliano, review of Science and Politics in the Ancient World by Benjamin Farrington (London 1939), in Journal of Roman Studies 31 (1941), pp. 151–157.
  4. ^ Ronald Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p.
  5. ^ Caesar, De Bello Gallico, I.12
  6. ^ a b c Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 135
  7. ^ Smith 1870, 1. p. 584. "Calventius"..
  8. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 62
  9. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 98
  10. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 136
  11. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 118
  12. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 167
  13. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, pp. 169-172
  14. ^ Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 197
  15. ^ "Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum". BBC. 2013.
  16. ^ Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 329f
  17. ^ Laurence Lee Howe: Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, as Governor of Macedonia (57 to 55 B.C.), University of Chicago, 1938.
Sources

Further reading

Political offices
Preceded by
Roman consul
58 BC
with Aulus Gabinius
 Succeeded by
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