Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/876

Rh 858 CORNIFICIUS. the reverse Juno holding a shield and crowning a man who has a lituus in his right hand, with the legend Q. Cornvfici Avgvr Imp. From the head of Ammon, it would appear to have been struck in Africa, and the title of Imperator was probably given hira by his soldiers after his vic- tory over T. Sextius. 4. L. CoRNiFicius, was one of the accusers of Milo in B. c. 52, after the death of Clodius. (As- con, in Milon. pp. 40, 54, ed. Orelli.) The P. Cornificius, a senator, also mentioned by Asconius (/« Milon. p. 37), is probably the same person. 5. L. Cornificius, probably, from his praeno- men, the son of No. 4, was the accuser of M. Brutus in the court by which the murderers of Caesar were tried. He afterwards commanded the fleet of Octavianus in the war against Sex. Pompey, and by his boldness and bravery saved the fleet when it was in great danger off the coast of Sicily (b. c. 38), and took the ship of Demo- chares, the admiral of the Pompeian squadron. Cornificius again distinguished himself in the cam- paign of B. c. 36. He had been left by Octavianus with the land forces at Tauromenium, where they were in circumstances of the greatest peril ; but by a most bold and dangerous march he arrived at Mylae, and united his army with Agrippa's. For these services he was rewarded with the con- sulship in the following year, b. c. 35 ; and he considered himself entitled to such honour from saving the lives of the soldiers, that he was accus- tomed afterwards at Rome to ride home upon an elephant whenever he supped out. Like the other generals of Augustus, Cornificius was obliged after- wards to expend some of his property in embel- lishing the city, and accordingly built a temple of Diana. (Plut. Brut. 27; Appian, B. C. v. 80, 8f), 111—115 ; Dion Cass. xlix. 5—7 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 79; Dion Cass. xlix. 18; Suet. Aug. 29.) Quintilian speaks (iii. 1. § 21, ix. 3. §§ 89, 91!) of one Cornificius as the writer of a work on Khe- toric ; and, as some of the extracts which Quinti- lian gives from this work agree in many respects both in form and substance with the " Rhetorica ad Herennium," several critics have ascribed the authorship of the latter treatise to Cornificius. But the difficulties in which this matter is in- volved are pointed out under Cicero, p. 727, b. ; and even if the " Rhetorica ad Herennium" were written by Cornificius, there is no reason to iden- tify him either with Q. Cornificius, the father, or the son [No. 2 or 3], as is usually done. There are also chronological difficulties in this supposition which are pointed out in the Prolegomena to the first -olume (p. Iv.) of the complete edition of Ci- cero's works by Schlitz. (Lips. 1814.") The au- thor of the work on Rhetoric referred to by Quin- tilian may be (though the matter is quite uncertain) tlie same as the writer of the "• Et}niia," of which the third book is quoted by Macrobius {^Sat. i. 9), and which must have been composed at least sub- sequently to B. c. 44, as it contained a quotation from Cicero's " De Natura Deorum ,"' which was CORNUTUS. published in that year. The etymologies of Cor- nificius, frequently quoted by Festus, were takiMi undoubtedly from this work, and are rather worse than the usual wretched etjTuologies of the an- cients. Thus, for instance, nare is derived from navis, because " aqua feratur natans ut avis ; " oscillare from os and caelare; nupliae from norus " quod nova petantur conjugia," the word for marriage being of course of no consequence ! Again, there is a poet Cornificius mentioned by Ovid {Trist. ii. 436), and also by Macrobius, who has preserved an hexameter line and a half of a poem of his, entitled " Glaucus." (5a^ vi. 5.) Donatus, in his life of Virgil (§§ 67, 76), likewise speaks of a Cornificius who was an enemy and a detractor of the Mantuan bard ; and Servius tells us, that Cornificius is intended under the name of Amyntas in two passages of the Eclogues. (Serv. ad Virg. Eel. ii. 39, v. 8.) Now, it seems proba- ble enough that the poet mentioned by Ovid and Macrobius are the same ; but his identity with the detractor of Virgil is rendered doubtful by the statement of HieronjTuus (Chron. Euseb. 01. 184. 4), that the poet Cornificius perished in B. c. 41, deserted by his soldiers. Heyne, who is followed by Clinton, remarks, that, if the date of Hierony- mus is correct, the poet Cornificius must be a dif- ferent person from the detractor of Virgil, as the latter had not risen to eminence so early as b. c. 4 1 ; but Weichert {^Po'ctaruin Latinorum Reliquiae^ p. 167) observes, that as the "Culex" was written in B. c. 44 and some of the Eclogues before B. c. 4 1, the rising fame of Virgil may have provoked the jealousy of Cornificius, who is described by Dona- tus as a man " perversae naturae." At all events, it is likely enough that the poet Cornificius is the same as the Cornificius to whom Catullus addresses his 38th poem. CORNU'TUS, occurs as an agnomen in the family of the Camerini, who belonged to the pa- trician Snlpicia gens [Camehixl's], and also as a cognomen of several plebeians whose gens is u)i- known. 1. C. CoRNUTUS, tribune of the plebs in b. ( . 61, is described by Cicero as a well-meaning man, and resembling Cato in his character, whence he is called Pseudo-Cato. In 57 he held the office of praetor, and was among those who were active iu bringing about the recall of Cicero from exile. (Cic. ad Att. i. 14, Pod. Red. in Sen. 9.) 2. M. CoRNiJTUS, a praetorian, served, in b. c. 90, as legate in the Marsic war, and distinguished himself as an experienced officer. (Cic. pro Foid. 15.) He is in all probability the same person with the Comutus who, in B. c. 87, opposed Marius and Cinna, and was saved from destruction through the artifice of his slaves. (Appian, B. C. i. 73; Plut. Mar. 43.) 3. M. CoR.xuTU.s, probably a son of No. 2, was praetor urbanus in b. c. 43, and, during the absence of the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, he sup- plied their place at Rome : after the death of the consuls, he was ordered by the senate to superin- tend their funeral. When Octavianus shortly after demanded the consulship for himself, and advanced towards Rome upon the senate refusing to grant it, the three legions stationed in the city went over to Octavianus, and M. Cornutus, who had the command of one of them, put an end to his life, (Cic. ndFam. x. 12, 16, Philip, xiv. 14 ; Val. Max. V. 2. § 10 ; Appian, B. C. iii. 92.) [L. S.]