Aulus Caecina the son of Aulus Caecina, was an

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

writer. He took the side of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

in the civil wars, and published a violent tirade against Caesar, for which he was banished. He recanted in a work called ''Querelae'', and was pardoned by Caesar following the intercession of his friends, above all,

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 esta ...

, who defended him in 69 BC with the speech ''

Pro Caecina The ''Pro Caecina'' is a public speech made by Marcus Tullius Cicero on behalf of his friend Aulus Caecina sometime between 71 BC and 69 BC. The speech was delivered in the third hearing of a lawsuit where Caecina averred that he had been unlawf ...

''. Caecina was regarded as an important authority on the Etruscan system of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

('' Etrusca Disciplina''), which he endeavoured to place on a scientific footing by harmonizing its theories with the doctrines of the

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting tha ...

. Considerable fragments of his work (dealing with lightning) are to be found in Seneca ('' Naturales quaestiones'', ii. 31–49). Caecina was on intimate terms with Cicero, who speaks of him as a gifted and eloquent man and was no doubt considerably indebted to him in his own treatise '' De Divinatione''. Some of their correspondence is preserved in Cicero's letters ('' Epistulae ad Familiares'' vi. 5–8; see also ix. and xiii. 66).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caecina Severus, Aulus Senators of the Roman Republic Golden Age Latin writers Ancient Roman politicians Etruscan religion Correspondents of Cicero 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC writers Latin writers known only from secondary sources Ancient Roman exiles Severus, Aulus