Claudius Mamertinus (fl. mid-late 4th century AD) was an official in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...
. In late 361 he took part in the
Chalcedon tribunal to condemn the ministers of
Constantius II
Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic ...
, and in 362, he was made
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states th ...
as a reward by the new Emperor
Julian
Julian may refer to:
People
* Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363
* Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots
* Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints
* Julian (give ...
; on January 1 of that year he delivered a
panegyric in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
by way of thanks to the Emperor. The text of this is extant, preserved in the ''
Panegyrici Latini''.
Claudius Mamertinus later went on to become praetorian prefect of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, and
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...
before being removed from public office in 368 for embezzlement.
The panegyric text is followed by two panegyrics from three quarters of a century earlier, addressed to the Emperor
Maximian
Maximian ( la, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus; c. 250 – c. July 310), nicknamed ''Herculius'', was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then '' Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his ...
(the first delivered in 289 and the second in 290 or 291). The text of the ''Panegyrici'' that has survived also attributes these to Claudius Mamertinus; it is unclear whether there was an older orator of the same name or the text is corrupt. They have also been attributed to
Eumenius but later scholarship disputes that attribution.
[C.E.V. Nixon / Barbara Saylor Rodgers: ''In Praise of Later Roman Emperors'', Berkeley 1994.]
References
External links
* The "Gratiarum Actio Juliano Augusto"
anegyric to Julianin
Migne's ''
Patrologia Latina
The ''Patrologia Latina'' ( Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...
'', Vol. XVIII, hosted a
''Documenta Catholica Omnia''and the
Latin Wikisource
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Mamertinus
4th-century Romans
4th-century Roman consuls
Imperial Roman consuls
Mamertinus
Praetorian prefects of Italy
Praetorian prefects of the Illyricum