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Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
,
Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...
, and
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
. He was suffect consul for the '' nundinium'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus and as the colleague of the other ordinary consul, Titus Statilius Taurus. Publius was on intimate terms with the elder Pliny, who wrote a biography of him, now lost.


Name

His full name was Publius Calvisius Sabinus Pomponius Secundus, as indicated by two fragmentary inscriptions from
Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio ...
. For some time, Pomponius' praenomen was uncertain; ''Publius'' was not a regular name of the Pompilii, and Olli Salomies discusses the possibility that it might have been Gaius, but notes that a Publius Calvisius Sabinus was attested as existing in Spoletium, and concludes that it is "possible to assume with some confidence" that he had been adopted by a Publius Calvisius Sabinus. That his praenomen was ''Publius'', at least after his adoption, seems to be confirmed by an inscription from
Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...
, dating from his consulship, another from Cyrenae, when he was
proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
, and a third from Mogontiacum, when he was ''
Legatus Augusti pro praetore A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' (literally: "envoy of the emperor – acting for the praetor") was the official title of the governor or general of some Imperial provincess of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones ...
''.


Family

Pomponius' mother was Vistilia, who by other marriages was the mother of
Publius Suillius Rufus Publius may refer to: Roman name * Publius (praenomen) * Ancient Romans with the name: ** Publius Valerius Publicola (died 503 BC), Roman consul, co-founder of the Republic **Publius Clodius Pulcher (c. 93 BC – 52 BC), Republican politician ...
and the general
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo ( Peltuinum c. AD 7 – 67) was a popular Roman general, brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula and father-in-law of Domitian. The emperor Nero, highly fearful of Corbulo's reputation, ordered him to commit suicide, which ...
. The name of his father is not known, but
Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...
has suggested he could be either Gaius Pomponius Graecinus, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 16, or his brother,
Lucius Pomponius Flaccus Lucius Pomponius Flaccus (died 33) was a Roman senator, who held a number of imperial appointments during the reign of Tiberius. He was consul in AD 17 with Gaius Caelius Rufus as his colleague. Flaccus was the brother of Gaius Pomponius Graec ...
, consul ''ordinarius'' in 17. Pomponius' brother, Quintus Pomponius Secundus, was involved in various intrigues during the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius. Quintus tried to protect his brother from Tiberius' displeasure.


Political career

Pomponius was a friend of
Sejanus Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian ...
, who served as consul in 31. Upon the latter's denunciation and execution in October of that year, mobs hunted down and killed anyone they could link to Sejanus. Pomponius was placed under house arrest by Tiberius, where he remained until 37. Tiberius died in 37, and his successor Caligula promptly released Pomponius from prison and appointed him as governor of the
senatorial province A senatorial province ( la, provincia populi Romani, province of the Roman people) was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint the governor ( proconsul). These provinces were away from the outer ...
of
Creta et Cyrenaica Crete and Cyrenaica ( la, Provincia Creta et Cyrenaica, Ancient Greek ) was a senatorial province of the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire, established in 67 BC. It comprised the island of Crete and the region of Cyrenaica in present-day ...
. Caligula married Caesonia, Pomponius' half-sister, in 40, but he was assassinated in late January 41. Upon Caligula's death, Claudius appointed Pomponius' brother, Quintus Pomponius Secundus as consul (Caligula had been Consul of Rome, as well as emperor, at the time of his assassination).Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Claudius", pp. 407, 424. Pomponius himself, who was still serving as governor of Creta et Cyrenaica province, served also as consul from January until June of 44. Pomponius continued to serve as governor of the Creta et Cyrenaica until 50, at which time Claudius appointed him as
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and ''
legatus A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...
'' of
Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio ...
. In 50, Pomponius led the Roman legions to victory against the
Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the val ...
and freed the survivors of the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius ...
after forty years of slavery. For this, he was decreed the honour of a ''
ornamenta triumphalia The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or in some historical tra ...
''. He served as governor of Germania Superior until 54. This was the final mention of Pomponius in the historical record, except by the Plinies.


Writings

It was by his tragedies that Secundus obtained the most celebrity. They are spoken of in the highest terms by Tacitus,
Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...
, and the younger Pliny, and were read even in a much later age, as one of them is quoted by the grammarian
Charisius Flavius Sosipater Charisius ( 4th century AD) was a Latin grammarian. He was probably an African by birth, summoned to Constantinople to take the place of Euanthius, a learned commentator on Terence. ''Ars Grammatica'' The ''Ars Grammatica'', ...
. These tragedies were first put on the stage in the time of Claudius. Quintilian asserts that he was far superior to any writer of tragedies he had known, and
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
expresses a high opinion of his literary abilities. Secundus devoted much attention to the niceties of grammar and style, on which he was recognized as an authority. His subject matter was Greek, with one known exception, a '' praetexta'' called ''Aeneas''. Tragedians in the
Julio-Claudian , native_name_lang=Latin, coat of arms=Great_Cameo_of_France-removebg.png, image_size=260px, caption= The Great Cameo of France depicting emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, type=Ancient Roman dynasty, country= Roman Empire, estates=* ...
and Flavian periods typically were men of relatively high social status, and their works often expressed their political views under an insufficient veil of fiction. Only a few lines of his work remain, some of which belong to ''Aeneas''.Rudich, ''Political Dissidence under Nero'', p. 304.


See also

* Pomponia gens *
Calvisia gens The gens Calvisia was an ancient Roman family, which first rose to prominence during the final decades of the Republic, and became influential in imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calvisius Sabinus in 39 B ...


References


Bibliography

* Gaius Plinius Secundus (
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
), '' Historia Naturalis'' (Natural History). * Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (
Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...
), ''
Institutio Oratoria ''Institutio Oratoria'' (English: Institutes of Oratory) is a twelve-volume textbook on the theory and practice of rhetoric by Roman rhetorician Quintilian. It was published around year 95 AD. The work deals also with the foundational education ...
'' (Institutes of Oratory). * Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (
Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...
), '' Epistulae'' (Letters). * Publius Cornelius Tacitus, '' Annales'', '' Dialogus de Oratoribus'' (Dialogue on Oratory). * Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (
Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
), ''Roman History''. * Flavius Sosipater Charisius, ''Ars Grammatica'' (The Art of Grammar). * Friedrich Heinrich Bothe, ''Poëtae Scenici Latinorum Fragmenta'' (Fragments of the Latin Theatrical Poets), Heinrich Vogler, Halberstadt (1822). * ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/ biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...
'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). *
Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centur ...
''et alii'', ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). * René Cagnat ''et alii'', '' L'Année épigraphique'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present). *
Otto Ribbeck Johann Carl Otto Ribbeck (23 July 1827, in Erfurt – 18 July 1898, in Leipzig) was a German classical scholar. His works are mostly confined to criticisms of Latin poetry and to classical character sketches. Biography He was born at Erfurt in ...
, ''Geschichte der römischen Dichtung'', vol. iii. (1892); ''Tragicorum Romanorum fragmenta'' (1897). *
Martin Schanz Martin Schanz (12 June 1842 – 15 December 1914) was a German classicist and Plato scholar. He was a Dozent and Professor at the University of Würzburg from 1867 to 1912, and is especially known for his history of Roman literature and his gr ...
, ''Geschichte der römischen Literatur'', vol. ii, p. 2 (1900). *
Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel (; September 27, 1820March 8, 1878), German classical scholar, was born at Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1849 he was appointed extraordinary, in 1857 ordinary professor in the university of Tübingen, wh ...
, ''History of Roman Literature'' (Eng. trans.), pp. 284, 287 (1900). *
Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...
,
Domitius Corbulo
, in ''
Journal of Roman Studies The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (The Roman Society) was founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The Society is the leading organisation in the United Kingdom for those interest ...
'', vol. 60 (1970). *
Werner Eck Werner Eck (born 17 December 1939) is Professor of Ancient History at Cologne University, Germany, and a noted expert on the history and epigraphy of imperial Rome.Eck, W. (2007) ''The Age of Augustus''. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, cover notes. Hi ...
, "Über die prätorischen Prokonsulate in der Kaiserzeit. Eine quellenkritische Überlegung" (Concerning the Praetorian Proconsulate of the Imperial Period: a Source-Critical Consideration), in ''Zephyr'', vol. 23/24, pp. 246 ''ff.'' (1972/1973). * Paul A. Gallivan,
The ''Fasti'' for the Reign of Claudius
, in ''
Classical Quarterly The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are def ...
'', vol. 28, pp. 407–426 (1978). * Olli Salomies, ''Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire'', Societas Scientiarum Fenica, Helsinki (1992). * Vasily Rudich, ''Political Dissidence under Nero'', Routledge, (1993). * Gian Biagio Conte, ''Latin Literature: A History'', JHU Press (1999). {{DEFAULTSORT:Pomponius Secundus, Publius Ancient Roman generals Roman governors of Crete and Cyrenaica Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Germania Superior Roman-era poets Silver Age Latin writers Secundus, Publius Pomponius Secundus, Publius 1st-century Romans 1st-century writers 1st-century Roman poets