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 Germanicu ...

, 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 Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

. He was suffect consul for the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul

Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the Roman Empire during the first century. He held the consulship twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor Nero. Background Suetonius reports that Passienus was born at Viselliu ...

and as the colleague of the other ordinary consul,

Titus Statilius Taurus Titus Statilius Taurus was the name of a line of Roman senators. The first known and most important of these was a Roman general and two-time consul prominent during the Triumviral and Augustan periods. The other men who bore this name were hi ...

. 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. 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 Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

, 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 city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the ...

, 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 Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Main ...

, 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 Vistilia was a Roman matron of the gens Vistilia known by her contemporaries for having seven children by six different husbands; Pliny the Elder was more impressed by the fact most of her pregnancies were remarkably brief. Five of her sons became ...

, 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 Graecin ...

, consul ''ordinarius'' in 17. Pomponius' brother,

Quintus Pomponius Secundus Quintus Pomponius Secundus was a Roman aristocrat of the first century, and consul ''suffectus'' in AD 41 as the colleague of Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus.Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Claudius", pp. 407, 424. His brother was the poet and s ...

, 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 Gua ...

, 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 bo ...

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 Milonia Caesonia (died AD 41) was Roman empress as the fourth and last wife of the emperor Caligula from their marriage in AD 39 until they were both assassinated in 41. Life Early life The daughter of Vistilia, Milonia was born toward the begi ...

, Pomponius' half-sister, in 40, but he was assassinated in late January 41. Upon Caligula's death, Claudius appointed Pomponius' brother,

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. 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 valle ...

and freed the survivors of the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, 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 ...

after forty years of slavery. For this, he was decreed the honour of a '' ornamenta triumphalia''. 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 Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

, 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 historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

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 The ''praetexta'' or ''fabula praetexta'' was a genre of Latin tragedy introduced at Rome by Gnaeus Naevius in the third century BC. It dealt with historical Roman figures, in place of the conventional Greek myths. Subsequent writers of ''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 Flavian may refer to: * A member of the Flavian dynasty of Roman emperors, during the late 1st century AD, or their works * Flavian Zeija, a Ugandan lawyer, academic and judge. Principal Judge of Uganda, since December 2019. * A person named 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.

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 (

), '' Institutio Oratoria'' (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 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 ...

, ''

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'', ''

Dialogus de Oratoribus The ''Dialogus de oratoribus'' is a short work attributed to Tacitus, in dialogue form, on the art of rhetoric. Its date of composition is unknown, though its dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus places its publication around 102 AD. Summary The ...

'' (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 p ...

'', 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 cent ...

''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 ''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...

'' (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 S ...

, ''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 grou ...

, ''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, whic ...

, ''History of Roman Literature'' (Eng. trans.), pp. 284, 287 (1900). *

,
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 de ...

'', 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

Name

Family

Political career

Writings

See also

References

Bibliography