Tigellius (1st century BC – 40 BC), was a

lyric poet Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

during the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

. The little information we have about him derives from the

Satires Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

and some

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

s of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

. From them we know that he was a Sardinian, a fine singer and a close friend of Julius Caesar.

Identification

Some

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...

identified Tigellius with ''Tigellius Hermogenes'' mentioned in other parts of the

. Such identification was rejected by

André Dacier André Dacier ( la, Andreas Dacerius; 6 April 165118 September 1722) was a French classical scholar and editor of texts. He began his career with an edition and commentary of Festus' ''De verborum significatione'', and was the first to produce a ...

, in his edition of the works of Horace, but few scholars agreed with him until Karl Kirchner presented a detailed argument for the interpretation of Dacier. According to

Berthold Ullman Berthold Louis Ullman (August 18, 1882 in Chicago, Illinois – June 26, 1965 in Vatican City) was an American Classical scholar. Ullman was born in Chicago to Louis Ullman and Eleanora Fried. He was educated at the University of Chicago (A.B. 1903 ...

however, the version of the scholiasts cannot be excluded, nor are Kirchner's arguments irrefutable. The Tigellius mentioned in some verses of Satires is in fact the same mentioned by Cicero in some of his letters. Cicero, Horace and

Licinius Macer Calvus Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus (28 May 82 BC – c. 47 BC) was an orator and poet of ancient Rome. Son of Licinius Macer and thus a member of the ''gens Licinia'', he was a friend of the poet Catullus, whose style and subject matter he shared. Cal ...

used to call him either Tigellius or ''Sardus Tigellius'' ("Tigellius the Sardinian"), and never ''Hermogenes''. Cicero spoke ill of Tigellius, stating "it is a clear gain to be free from the society of this Sardinian, who is even more pestiferous than his own homeland (''pestilentiorem patria sua'')". Nevertheless, it is very likely that ''Hermogenes'' is the name of the Sardinian Tigellius. The combination of a Roman name and a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

surname also reveals that he is a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

.B. Ullman, cit., p. 271

Bibliography

*Karl Kirchner, ''Questiones horatianae'', Leipzig, 1834 *Berthold Ullman, ''Horace, Catullus, and Tigellius'', Classical Philology Vol. 10, No. 3, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago Jul. 1915, pp. 270–296

Notes

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External links

BrillOnline Reference Works
1st-century BC Romans People from Sardinia Ancient Roman poets 1st-century BC Roman poets 40 BC deaths