Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/602

Rh 584 CALVIN US. Matins' friendship with Ca<^sar is montioiied by Suetonius (Cues. 52), and his intimacy with Au- gustus by Pliny {H, N. xii. 2, s. 6), who errone- ously calls him Cn. Alatius, and who speaks of him as alive about 80 years before his time. Tacitus (Ann. xii. 60) also alludes to the power and in- fluence 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. Miiller), and is referred to by A. Gellius (vi. 6, ix. 14) and the Latin gram- marians. 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 cooker}', in three books, which were entitled respectively Cocus, (k'turius^ Scdyamarius. (Columella, xii. 4, 44.) It was probably from this Matius that the malum Matianum derived its utmie (Plin. H. N. xv. 14, 15 ; Columella, v. 10, 19 ; Suet Dom. 21 ; Macrob. Saturn, ii. 10; Athen iii. p. 82, c), and the Opso- nium Alaiianmns praised by Apicius (iv. 3). (Wemsdorf, Pott. JM. Min. vol. iv. p. 568, &c. ; Leutsch, in the Zeitschrift fur Altcrthuvis- wmenschxj/i, 1834, p. 164, &c.) CALVE'NTIUS, an Insubrian Gaul, of the town of Placentia, and a merchant, whose daughter married L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the fether of L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, consul in b. c. 58. In his speech against the latter, Cicero up- braids him with the low origin of his mother, and calls him Caesoninus Semiplacentinus Calventius (i« Pison, 6, 23 ; A scon in Pison, p. 5, ed. Orelli ; comp. Cic. dc prov. Cons. 4, pro Seat. 9) ; and in a letter to his brother Quintns (iii. 1. § 4), Piso is also meant bv the name of Calventius Marius. CA'LVIA CRISPINILLA. [Crispimi.la] CALVI'NA, JU'LIA, the sister of L. Silanus, was at first married to a son of Vitellius, but after- wards, for the sake of doing a favour to Agrippina, Vitellius accused her of incestuous intercourse with her brother, L. Silanus. There was, however, ac- cording 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 man- ner, 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. Sii.ANUs.) 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 knoTi thnt the Silani were great-great-grandsons of Augustus. L. S.] CALVI'NUS, the name of a family of the ple- beian Domitia gens. 1. Cn. DoMiTius Calvinus, consul in B.C. 332. (Liv. viii. 17.) 2. Cn. DoMiTius Cn. f. Calvinus, sumamed Maximus, offered himself as a candidate for the curule aedileship in B. c. 304 ; but, although his father had been consul, Cn. Flavius, the famous scribe of Appius Claudius, was preferred to him. CALVINUS. Five years later, however, b. 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 proba- bly 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. lu 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 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 tc Orosius (iii, 22 ; comp. Liv. Epit. 12), the murdei 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 ex- pelled from their country, they began to dread the same fate, joined the remaining Senones and the Etruscans, and marched against Rome. But in cross- ing the Tiber they met a Roman army, and in the ensuing battle most of the Etniscans were slain, 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 proba- ble that both consuls gained laurels on that day. It was undoubtedly to this victorj' 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 oflice. (Plin. //. A^. xxxiii. 1 ; Polvb. ii. 19, 20 ; Liv. Epit. 13; Appian, Samiiit. 6, Gall. 11 ; Flor. i. 13 ; Eutrop. ii. 10; Dion Cass. Excerpt. Vat. p. 163, ed. Sturz ; 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. 19, &c.) 4. Cn. Domitius, M. f. M. n. Calvinus, ap- pears, 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. Bibului against the other consul, C. Julius Caesar, and the