Caecina

• a surname in the gens Licinia, originating in Etruria (pure Etrusc. Ceicna, O. Müll. Etrusk. 1, p. 416), among whom the most celebrated is Licinius Caecina, for whose Roman citizenship Cicero made the oration pro Caecinā, Cic. Fam. 6, 7, 1; 6, 6, 8; Suet. Caes. 75; cf. Sen. Q. N. 2, 39, 1; 2, 49, 1.—Hence, adj.: Caecīnĭānus, a, um: Caeciniana oratio, Mart. Cap. 5, § 527.

• a river in Etruria, now the Cecina, Plin. 3, 5, 8, § 50.—
• II A town in Etruria, Mel. 2, 4, 9.

the name of an Etruscan family of Volaterrae, one of the ancient cities of Etruria. It seems either to have derived its name from, or given it to, the river Caecina, which flows by the town. Persons of this name are first mentioned in the century before Christ, and they are expressly said to have been natives of Volaterrae. Under the empire the name is of frequent occurrence, and it is probable that all these Caecinae were of Etruscan origin. As late as the reign of Honorius, we read of the poet Decius Albinus Caecina [see below], residing at his villa in the neighbourhood of Volaterrae; and there is, or was lately, a family of this name at the modern Volterra, which Italian antiquaries would make out to be descended from the ancient Caecinae. There has been discovered in the neighbourhood of Volterra the family tomb of the Caecinae, from which we learn that Ceicna was the Etruscan form of the name. In this tomb there was found a beautiful sarcophagus, now in the Museum of Paris. The family was divided into several branches, and we accordingly find on the funeral urns the cognomens Caspu and and Tlauni:. in Latin inscriptions we also meet with the surnames Quadratusand Placidus; and various others occur below. (Müller, Etrusker, vol. i. p. 416, &c.) The most important persons of this name are:

1. A, Caecina, of Volaterrae, whom Cicero defended in a law-suit, B. C. 69. The argument of this oration, which is of a purely legal nature, cannot be understood without a knowledge of the Roman interdict. It is discussed at length by Keller in the second book of his " Semestrium ad M. Tullium Ciceronem Libri VI." Turici, 1843. He was probably the father of the following, and not the same person, as is usually supposed. (Comp. Cic. Fam. 6.9; Orelli, Onom. Tull. s. v.)

2. A. Caecina, son of the preceding.

Cicero tells us (ad Fam. 6.6.3), that Caecina was trained by his father in the knowledge of the Etruscans, and speaks of him otherwise as a man of talent, and possessed of oratorical powers. Seneca (Quaest. Nat. 2.56) says, that he would have had some reputation in eloquence if he had not been thrown into the shade by Cicero.

In 47 Caecina was in Asia, and was recommended by Cicero to the proconsul P. Servilius, the governor of the province (ad Fam. 13.66): from thence he crossed over to Sicily, and was again recommended by Cicero to Furfanius, the governor of Sicily. (Ad. Fam. 6.9.) From Sicily he went into Africa, and, upon the defeat of the Pompeians there in the same year, B. C. 46, surrendered to Caesar, who spared his life. (Hirt. Bell. Afr. 89.) Works Libellous work against Caesar

Caecina published a libellous work against Caesar, and was in consequence compelled to go into exile after the battle of Pharsalia, B. C. 48. Querelae

In order to obtain Caesar's pardon, he wrote another work entitled Querelae, which he sent to Cicero for revision. Letters

In the collection of Cicero's letters there is rather a long one from Caecina to Cicero, and three of Cicero's to Caecina. (Suet. Jul. 75; Cic. Fam. 6.5_8.) Etrusca Disciplina

Caecina was the author of a work on the Etrusca Disciplina, which is referred to by Pliny as one of his authorities for his second book; and it is probably from this work that Seneca quotes Quaest. Nat. 2.39) some remarks of Caecina upon the different kinds of lightning.

This must be the same Caecina whose work on the Etruscan Discipline is quoted in the Veronese scholia on the Aeneid (10.198, ed. Mai).

3. Caecina of Volaterrae, a friend of Octavianus, sent by the latter to Cicero in n. 100.44. (Cic. Att. 16.8.) Cicero speaks of him as "Caecinam quendam Volaterranum," which would seem to shew that he could not have been the same as the preceding, nor even his son, with whom also Cicero was well acquainted. (Cic. Fam. 6.5.) This Caecina was sent by Octavianus with proposals to Antony in 41. (Appian, App. BC 5.60.)

4. A. Caecina Severus, a distinguished soldier and general in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, had served forty campaigns by the year A. D. 15, and lived several years afterwards. (Tac. Ann. 1.64, 3.33.) He was governor of Moesia in A. D. 6, when the formidable insurrection under the two Batos broke out in the neighboring provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. [Bato.] He immediately marched against the Breucians in Pannonia, whom he defeated after a hard-fought battle, in which many of his troops fell, but was recalled almost im mediately afterwards to his own province by the ravages of the Dacians and Sarmatians. In the following year, he gained another victory over the insurgents, who had attacked him while on his march from Moesia to join Germanicus in Pannonia. (D. C. 55.29, 30, 32; Vell. 2.112.)

In A. D. 14, Caecina had the command, as legate of Germanicus, of the Roman army in Lower Germany, and was employed by Germanicus, in the following year, in the war against Arminius. With the view of distracting the attention of the enemy, Caecina was sent with forty cohorts through the territory of the Bructeri to the river Amisia; and when Germanicus determined upon retreating after a hard-fought but indecisive battle with Arminius, he ordered Caecina to lead back his division of the army to the Rhine. His way lay through an extensive marsh, over which there was a causeway known by the name of the Long Bridges. Here his army was attacked and nearly destroyed by Arminius; but he eventually defeated the Germans with great slaughter, and reached the Rhine in safety. [Arminius.] On account of this victory, he received the insignia of a triumph. (Tac. Ann. 1.31, 32, 56, 60, 63_68, 72.)

This is the last military command which Caecina appears to have held. He is mentioned in A. D. 20 as the author of a proposition in the senate that an altar should be erected to the goddess of Vengeance, on account of the suppression of Piso's conspiracy; and again in A. D. 21, as proposing that the governors of provinces should not be allowed to take their wives with them into their provinces. Tacitus gives a speech of his on the latter of these motions, in which he states, that he had always lived in harmony with his wife, who had borne him six children. His motion, which was opposed by Valerius Messallinus and Drusus, was not carried. (Tac. Ann. 3.18, 33, 34.)

5. Caecina Paetus, was put to death by the emperor Claudius in A. D. 42. The heroism of his wife Arria on this occasion is mentioned under Arria. His daughter married Thrasea, who was put to death by Nero. (Plin. Ep. 3.16; D. C. 60.16; Martial, 1.14; Zonaras, 11.9.)

6. C. Caecina Largius, consul A. D. 42 with the emperor Claudius, inhabited the magnificent house which formerly belonged to Scaurus, the contemporary of Cicero. (D. C. 9.10; Ascon. in Scaur. p. 27, ed. Orelli; Plin. Nat. 17.1.)

7. P. Caecina Largus, one of the chief friends of the emperor Claudius, was perhaps the brother of No. 6, unless indeed he is the same person, and C should be read in Tacitus instead of P. (Tac. Ann. 11.33, 34.)

8. Caecina Tuscus, the son of Nero's nurse, had been appointed in A. D. 56, according to Fabius Rusticus, praefect of the Praetorian troops in the place of Afranius Burrus, but did not enter upon the office, as Burrus was retained in the command through the influence of Seneca. Caecina was subsequently appointed governor of Egypt by Nero, but was afterwards banished for making use of the baths which had been erected in anticipation of the emperor's arrival in Egypt. He probably returned from banishment on the death of Nero, A. D. 68, as we find him in Rome in the following year. (Tac. Ann. 13.20; Suet. Nero 35; D. C. 63.18; Tac. Hist. 3.38.)

9. A. Caecina Alinus (called in the Fasti A. Licinius Caecina), was quaestor in Baetica in Spain at the time of Nero's death, A. D. 68, and was one of the foremost in joining the party of Galba. He was rewarded by Galba with the command of a legion in Upper Germany; but, being shortly afterwards detected in embezzling some of the public money, the emperor ordered him to be prosecuted. Caecina, in revenge, induced his troops to revolt to Vitellius. Caecina was a great favourite with the soldiers. His personal presence was commanding; he was tall in stature, comely in person, and upright in gait; he possessed considerable ability in speaking; and, as he was ambitious, he used every means to win the favour of his troops. After persuading them to espouse the side of Vitellius, he set out at the beginning of the year (A. D. 69), on his march towards Italy at the head of an army of 30,000 men, the main strength of which consisted in one legion, the twenty-first. In his march through Switzerland, he ravaged the country of the Helvetians in a frightful manner, because they had refused to own the authority of Vitellius. He crossed the Great St. Bernard and marched through northern Italy without meeting with any opposition. Upon entering Italy, he observed greater discipline than he had done previously, and prevented his troops from plundering the country ; but his dress gave great offence to the citizens, because he wore in receiving them a military cloak of various colours, and also trowsers, which were reckoned as characteristic of barbarians. People were also scandalized at his wife Salonina riding as it were in state upon a beautiful horse, and dressed in purple.

As Placentia was garrisoned by the troops of Otho, who had now succeeded Galba, Caecina crossed the Po, and proceeded to attack that city. He was, however, repulsed in his attack with considerable loss, and thereupon recrossed the Po and retired towards Cremona. Otho's troops were commanded by Suetonius Paullinus and Celstus, the former a general of great skill and military experience, who frustrated all the plans of Caecina. Anxious to retrieve his honour before he was joined by Fabius Valens, who was advancing with the other division of the German army, Caecina determined to make a vigorous effort to gain some decisive advantage. He accordingly laid an ambush at place called Castorum, twelve miles from Cremona; but his plans were betrayed to the enemy, and he suffered a signal defeat. Shortly afterwards, he was joined by Fabius Valens, and their united forces then gained a victory over Otho's troops at Bedriacum, which established the power of Vitellius in Italy. The unhappy country, however, was now exposed to pillage in every direction, as neither Caecina nor Valens attempted to restrain his soldiers, the former through desire of preserving his popularity with them, the latter because he himself took part in the plunder.

After obtaining possession of Rome, Caecina and Valens were advanced to the consulship, and entered upon the office on the 1st of September, A. D. 69. Meantime, Antonius Primus, who had declared in favour of Vespasian; was preparing to invade Italy, and Caecina was accordingly sent against him. Caecina met with Antonius in the neighbourhood of Verona, and might with his numerous army have easily crushed him; but he resolved to desert the cause of Vitellius, and concerted measures for that purpose with Lucilius Bassus, who meditated the same treachery and had the command of Vitellius's fleet. But when he attempted to persuade his soldiers to take the oath of allegiance to Vespasian, they rose against him and put him in irons. In this state of things, they were attacked by Antonius, who conquered them near Bedriacum, and forthwith proceeded to assault Cremona, where most of the conquered had taken refuge. Alarmed at the success of Antonius, Caecina was released by his soldiers, and sent to Antonius to intercede on their behalf. Antonius despatched Caecina to Vespasian, who treated him with great honour. When the news of his treachery reached Rome, he was deprived of his consulship, and Roscius Regulus elected in his stead. (Tac. Hist. 1.52, 53, 61, 67_70, 2.20_25, 30, 41_44, 71, 99, 100, 3.13, 14, 31; D. C. 65.10, 14; Joseph. B. J. 4.11.3.)

Nothing more is heard of Caecina till the latter end of the reign of Vespasian (A. D. 79), when he entered into a plot against the emperor, and was slain, by order of Titus, as he rose from a banquet in the imperial palace. (D. C. 66.16; Suet. Tit. 6.) According to Aurelius Victor (Epit. 10), Caecina was put to death by Titus because he suspected him of intriguing with his mistress Berenice.

10. Licinius Caecina, a senator attached to Otho's party, A. D. 69 (Tac. Hist. 2.53), may perhaps be the Licinius Caecina, a man of praetorian rank, mentioned by Pliny. (H. N. 20.18. s. 76.)

a Roman satirist who flourished under Arcadius and Honorius. Rutilius Numatianus in his Itinerary (1.599) addresses a certain Decius, a man of high station, whom he styles " Lucilli nobile pignus," and whose father he pronounces to be not inferior as a poet to Turnus and Juvenal. But this Decius, the son, is supposed to be the same person with the Decius, son of Albinus, introduced by Macrobius as conversing with Postumianus (Saturn. 1.2, init.), and Decius the father is identified with Caecina Albinus, represented in the same chapter of the Saturnalia as the friend and companion of Aurelius Symmachus. Moreover, it is maintained that the elder Decius, the satirist, is the individual to whom several of the epistles of Symmachus are addressed (Ep. 7.35-65, comp. 8.21), that he was praefectus urbi in A. D. 302 (Cod. Theod. 7. tit. 15. s. 13; Gruter, Corp. Inscr. p. cclxxxvii.), and that from the success with which he followed in the foot-steps of Aurunca's bard, he was known as the Lucilius of his day. Hence the expression " Lucilli (Lucili) nobile pignus" applied to his son, and hence the mistake of those historians of literature who have included a Lucillus or Lucullus (corrupt forms of Lucilius) among the satirical writers of the fifth century. Lastly, the persons who hold the above opinions believe that the epigrams in the Greek Anthology bearing the name of Lucillius, and assigned by Fabricius to a writer who lived at the end of the fourth century, are in reality the productions of the subject of this article. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 719.)

The web of conjecture by which all these facts are connected has been very ingeniously woven by Wernsdorff, but in many places the tissue is too frail to bear rough handling. (Wernsdorff, Poet. Latin. Min. vol. iii. p. xxii., vol. v. p. 182.) [W.R]

CAECINA or CECINA, a river of Etruria, mentioned both by Pliny and Mela, and still called Cecina. It flowed through the territory of Volaterrae, and after passing within 5 miles to the S. of that city, entered the Tyrrhenian sea, near the port known as the Vada Volaterrana. There probably was a port or emporium at its mouth, and Mela appears to speak of a town of the. same name. The family name of Caecina, which also belonged to Volaterrae, was probably connected with that of the river, and hence the correct form of the name in Latin would be Caecina, though the MSS. both of Pliny and Mela have Cecina or Cecinna. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 8; Mela, 2.4; Müller, Etrusker, vol. i. p, 405.)

The name of a family of the Etruscan city of Volaterrae, probably derived from the river Caecina, which flows by the town. (1) A. Caecina, whom Cicero defended in a lawsuit, B.C. 69.

(2) A. Caecina, son of the preceding, who published a libellous work against Caesar, and was in consequence sent into exile after the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 48.

(3) A. Caecina Aliēnus, quaestor in Baetica, in Spain, at Nero's death, and one of the foremost in joining the party of Galba. He served first under Galba, and afterwards under Vitellius; but, proving a traitor to the latter, he joined Vespasian, against whom also he conspired, and was slain by order of Titus.