Sicinia gens
The gens Sicinia was a
Origin
The only hint as to the origin of the Sicinii comes from the surname Sabinus, applied to one of the first members of this family appearing in history. Sabinus belongs to a common class of surnames derived from the names of peoples or localities, and suggests that the Sicinii may have been of Sabine origin.
Praenomina
The main praenomina of the Sicinii were Lucius, Gaius, Gnaeus, Titus, and Quintus, all of which were common throughout Roman history. The early generations of the family may have used Spurius, but the nomen of this individual is uncertain, and he may not have been a member of the same family.
Branches and cognomina
The Sicinii do not seem to have been divided into distinct branches, and most of those mentioned in history bore no
Members
- This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
- Spurius Sicinius Bellutus, tribune of the plebs in 492 BC, perhaps a brother of Lucius, although some scholars think him a mistake for Spurius Icilius, otherwise his colleague in the tribunate.[9][10]
- Titus Sicinius Sabinus,[i] consul in 487 BC, defeated the Volsci and received a triumph. He was a legate under the consul Manlius in 480.[11][12]
- Appius Claudius Sabinus, the consul of the preceding year, for opposing an agrarian law.[13]
- Lucius Sicinius Dentatus,[iii] tribune of the plebs in 454 BC, was a famous warrior, described by ancient historians as "the Roman Achilles", for his courage and martial prowess. Under the second decemvirate, he encouraged the people to secede again, and was assassinated by the decemvirs.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
- Lucius Sicinius, tribune of the plebs in 387 BC, proposed a law distributing arable land in the ager Pomptinus.[25][26]
- Sardinia. Praetor for the second time in 172, he spent his year of office forming alliances and raising troops for the Third Macedonian War, and was propraetor the following year, assigned the province of Macedonia.[27][28]
- Gnaeus Sicinius,[iv] tribune of the plebs in 76 BC, led the assault on the Sullan law, which deprived the tribunes of much of their power. He harshly criticized the aristocracy, but Cicero relates that he was a poor orator, his chief virtue being the ability to make his audience laugh.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]
- Gaius Sicinius, a grandson of Quintus Pompeius, the consul of 141 BC, was quaestor circa 70 BC, but died before his career could advance further. Cicero mentions him among those Romans who had developed a talent for oratory.[36][37]
- Sicinius, mentioned in one of Cicero's letters to Titus Pomponius Atticus, dating to 51 BC.[38]
- Quintus Sicinius, triumvir monetalis in 49 BC, possibly the same as the man mentioned by Cicero in 51. A supporter of Pompeius, with whom he departed Rome ahead of Caesar's approach, but he continued to mint coins for Pompeius during their flight.[39]
- Sicinius Amicus, the first husband of Aemilia Pudentilla, and father of Sicinius Pontianus and Sicinius Pudens. After his death, his elder son encouraged a friend, the writer Apuleius, to marry Pudentilla, who was quite wealthy.[40]
- Sicinius Aemilianus, the brother of Sicinius Amicus and Sicinius Clarus, and uncle of Sicinius Pontianus and Sicinius Pudens, was persuaded by Herennius Rufus to join the accusation against Apuleius.[41]
- Sicinius Clarus, the brother of Sicinius Amicus and Sicinius Aemilianus, described by Apuleius as a feeble old country gentleman.[40]
- Sicinius Pontianus, a native of Oea (now Tripoli), and friend of Apuleius at Athens. He encouraged Apuleius to marry his mother, Pudentilla, a wealthy widow. However, Pontianus' father-in-law, Herennius Rufinus, eager to ensure that Prudentilla's money should remain in his family, induced Pontianus, his younger brother, Sicinius Pudens, and his uncle, Sicinius Aemilianus, to charge Apuleius with gaining Prudentilla's affections through witchcraft. Apuleius' spirited and ultimately successful defense formed the basis of his Apologia, or "Discourse on Magic".[42]
- Pontianus Pudens, the younger brother of Sicinius Pontianus, was only a boy when Herennius Rufus persuaded him to join the accusation against Apuleius.[40]
- Marcus Sicinius Philodamus, a boy buried at Rome, was the son of a vir egregius, a member of the equestrian nobility of the late second or early third centuries.[43]
- Quintus Sicinius Clarus, governor of Thrace circa AD 202.[44]
Footnotes
See also
References
- ^ a b c Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 815, 816 ("Sicinia Gens").
- ^ a b Chase, pp. 113, 114.
- ^ Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome, pp. 252–256.
- ^ New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. vellutus.
- ^ Chase, p. 109.
- ^ Livy, ii. 32–34.
- ^ Dionysius, vi. 45, 70, vii. 14, 33–39.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 15–18.
- ^ Dionysius, vii. 14, 17.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 17.
- ^ Dionysius, ix. 12.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 19, 20 (note 1), 25.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 31.
- ^ Dionysius, x. 48–52, xi. 25–27.
- ^ Livy, iii. 43.
- ^ Aulus Gellius, ii. 11.
- ^ Pliny the Elder, vii. 27.
- ^ Valerius Maximus, ii. 3. § 24.
- ^ Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. ii, p. 346.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 43.
- ^ Livy, iii. 54.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 48.
- ^ Livy, v. 24.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 89.
- ^ Livy, vi. 6.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 99.
- ^ Livy, xxxix. 39, 45, xli. 13, xlii. 9, 10, 27, xliii. 5.
- ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 372, 379, 411, 414 (note 1), 417.
- ^ Cicero, Brutus, 60.
- ^ Pseudo-Asconius, In Divinatio, p. 103 (ed. Orelli).
- ^ Quintilian, xi. 3. § 129.
- ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Crassus", 7.
- ^ Sallust, Historiae, iii. 22
- ^ Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iv, p. 385.
- ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 93, 96 (note 2).
- ^ Cicero, Brutus, 76.
- ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 128.
- ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, v. 4. § 3.
- ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 460-462.
- ^ a b c Apuleius, Apologia, 68.
- ^ Apuleius, Apologia, 2, 28, 98.
- ^ Apuleius, Apologia, passim.
- ^ CIL VI, 1631.
- ^ PIR, vol. III, pp. 241, 242.
Bibliography
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, Epistulae ad Atticum.
- Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Historiae (The Histories).
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia (Roman Antiquities).
- Titus Livius (History of Rome.
- Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Facts and Sayings).
- Pseudo-Asconius, Commentarius in Oratorio Ciceronis Divinatio in Quintum Caecilium (Commentary on Cicero's Divinatio in Quintum Caecilium).
- Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Historia Naturalis (Natural History).
- Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian), Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory).
- Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch), Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
- Apuleius, Apologia.
- Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights).
- Barthold Georg Niebuhr, The History of Rome, Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirlwall, trans., John Smith, Cambridge (1828).
- Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms in seinem Übergang von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, oder: Pompeius, Caesar, Cicero und ihre Zeitgenossen, Königsberg (1834–1844).
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
- Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
- George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
- Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898).
- T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952–1986).
- Michael Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press (1974, 2001).
- Timothy J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC), Routledge, London (1995).