Macer

• a Roman surname.
• • • 1 C. Licinius Macer, an historian, Cic. Leg. 1, 2, 7; id. Brut. 67, 238; Liv. 4, 7, 12. —
    • 2 Aemilius Macer, a poet and a friend of Virgil and Ovid, Ov. Tr. 4, 10, 44; v. Aemilius.

of Verona, was senior to Ovid, and died in Asia, B. C. 16, three years after Virgil, as we learn from the Eusebian Chronicle. Works

He wrote a poem or poems upon birds, snakes, and medicinal plants, in imitation, it would appear, of the Theriaca of Nicander. His productions, of which not one word remains, are thus commemorated in the Tristia:-- Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo, Quaeque necet serpens, quae juvet herba, Macer. Medieval work ascribed to Macer

The work now extant, entitled Aemilius Macer de Herbarum Virtutibus, belongs to the middle ages. Of this piece there is an old translation, "Macer's Herbal, practys'd by Doctor Lynacro. Translated out of Laten into Englysshe, which shewynge theyr Operacyons and Vertues set in the margent of this Boke, to the entent you myght know theyr vertues." There is no date; but it was printed by "Robt. Wyer, dwellynge at the sygne of Saynt Johan evangelyste, in Seynt Martyns Parysshe, in the byshop of Norwytche rentes, besyde Charynge Crosse."

2. We must carefully distinguish from Aemilius Macer of Verona, Macer who was one of the Latin Homeristae, and who must have been alive in A. D. 12, since he is addressed by Ovid in the 2d book of the Epistles from Pontus (Ep. x.), and is there spoken of as an old travelling companion, his literary undertaking being clearly described in the lines: -- Tu canis aeterno quidquid restabat Homero, Ne careant summa Troica bella manu; while elsewhere (ex Pont. 4.16. 6) he is designated as" Iliacus Macer." We gather from Appuleius that the title of his work was Bellum Trojanum. Further Information

Hieron. in Chron, Euseb. Ol. cxci. ; Ov. Tr. 4.10. 43; Quintilian. 6.3.96, 10.1. §§ 56, 87, 12.11.27; Appuleius, de Orthograph. § 18; Maffei, Verona Illustruta, 2.19; Broukhus. ad Tibull. 2.6; Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. iv. p. 579.

If the Macer named by Quinctilian in his sixth book be the same with either of the above, we must conclude that one of them published a collection of Tetrasticha, which were turned aside from their true meaning, and pieced together by Ovid, so as to form an invective on good-for-nothing poets, "Adjuvant urbanitatem et versus commode positi, seu toti, ut sunt (quod adeo facile est, ut Ovidius ex tetrastichon Macri carmine librum in malos poetas composuerit)," &c. [W.R]

a Roman jurist, who wrote after Ulpian and Paulus, and lived in the reign of Alexander Severus. (Dig. 49. tit. 13.) He wrote several works, extracts from which are given in the Digest. The most important of them were, De Appellationibas, De Re Militari, De Officio Praesidis, De Publicis Judiciis, and Ad Legem de Vicesima Hereditatum. (Zimmern, Geschichte des Römischen Privatrechts, vol. i. part i. p. 328.)

1. One of the consuls suffecti A. D. 101, was consul designatus when the younger Pliny pleaded the cause of Bassus before the senate. (Plin. Ep. 4.9.16.) He was praefectus urbi at the time of Trajan's death, A. D. 117. (Spart. Hadr. 5.) Whether he or Calpurnius Macer is the Macer to whom Pliny addresses three of his letters (3.5, 5.18, 6.24), is uncertain.

2. Praefectus praetorio in the reign of Valerian. (Vopisc. Aurel. 12.)

governor of a Roman province at no great distance from that of Bithynia, at the time when Pliny administered the latter, A. D. 103, 104. (Plin. Ep. 10.51, 69, 81.) [See Macer, Baebius.]

was appointed by Nero governor of Africa; and, on the death of this emperor, A. D. 68, he raised the standard of revolt, and laid claim to the throne. He took this step at the instigation of Calvia Crispinilla, whom Tacitus calls the teacher of Nero in all voluptuousness, and who crossed over to Africa to persuade him to revolt; and it was also at her advice that he prevented the corn-ships from going to Rome, in order to produce a famine in the city. [Crispinilla.] As soon as Galba was seated on the throne, he caused Macer to be executed by the procurator, Trebonius Garucianus. During the short time that Macer exercised the sovereign power in Africa, he had become hated for his cruelties and extortions. (Tac. Hist. 1.7, 11, 37, 73, 2.97, 4.49; Suet. Galb. 11; Plut. Galb. 6, 15.) The head of Macer occurs on coins which he had struck, from which we learn that his praenomen was Lucius. (Eckhel, vol. vi. p. 288, &c.)

incurred the anger of the emperor Caligula, because he saluted him only by his praenomen Caius. (Senec. de Const. Sap. 18.)

1. A Roman annalist and orator, was the father of C. Licinius Calvus [CALvus], and must have been born about B. C. 110. He was quaestor probably in B. C. 78, was tribune of the plebs B. C. 73, was subsequently raised to the praetorship and became governor of a province. He was distinguished by his hostility towards C. Rabirius, whom he charged (B. C. 73) with having been accessory to the death of Saturninus, an offence for which the same individual was brought to trial a second time ten years afterwards. Macer himself was impeached by Cicero, A. D. 66, when the latter was praetor, under the law De Repetundis; and finding that, notwithstanding the influence of Crassus, with whom he was closely allied, the verdict was against him, he instantly committed suicide, before all the forms were completed, and thus saved his family from the dishonour and loss which would have been entailed upon them had he been regularly sentenced. This is the account given by Valerius Maximus, and it does not differ in substance from that preserved by Plutarch.

His Annales, or Rerum Romanarum Libri, or Historiae, as they are variously designated by the grammarians, are frequently referred to with respect by Livy and Dionysius. They commenced with the very origin of the city, and extended to twentyone books at least; but whether he brought down the record of events to his own time it is impossible for us to determine, since the quotations now extant belong to the earlier ages only. He appears to have paid great attention to the history of the constitution, and to have consulted ancient monuments, especially the Libri Lintei preserved in the temple of Juno Moneta, noting down carefully the points in which they were at variance with the received accounts. In consequence of his diligence in this department, Niebuhr conceives that he must have been more trustworthy than any of his predecessors, and supposes that the numerous speeches with which he was fond of diversifying his narrative afforded materials for Dionysius and Livy. Cicero speaks verycoldly, and even contemptuously, of his merits, both as a writer and a speaker, but some allowance must perhaps be made in this case for personal enmity.

A few words from an oration, Pro Tuscis, have been preserved by Priscian (10.8, p. 502, ed. Krehl), and a single sentence from an Epistola ad Senatum, by Nonius Marcellus (s. v. contendere). (Pigh. Ann. ad ann. 675; Sall. Histor. 3.22, p. 252, ed. Gerlach; Cic. Att. 1.4, pro Rabir. 2, de Leg. 1.2, Brut. 67; V. Max. 9.12 § 7 ; Plut. Cic. 9; Macrob. 1.10, 13; Censorin. de Die Nat. 20; Solin. 8; Non. Marcell. s. vv. clypeus, contendere, luculenetum, lues, patibulum; Diomed. i. p. 366, ed. Putsch; Priscian. 6.11, p. 256, 10.6, p. 496, ed. Krehl; in the last passage we must read Licinius for Acmilius; Liv. 4.7, 20, 23, 7.9, 9.38, 46, 10.9; Dionys. A. R. 2.52, 4.6, 5.47, 74, 6.1 , 7.1; Auctor, (de Orig. Gent. Rom. 19, 23; Lachmann, de Fontibus Historiar. T. Livii Comment. prior, § 21; Krause, Vitae et Frag. Hist. Rom. p. 237; Meyer, Orat. Rom. Frag. p. 385, 2nd ed.; Weichert, Poet. Lat. Reliquiae, p. 92.) [W.R]

2. An account of his son, who bore the agnomen Calvus, and who is frequently described as C. Licinius Calvus, is given under Calvus.

The annexed coin probably refers to No. 1. The obverse represents a youthful head, and the reverse Pallas in a chariot, drawn by four horses.

was a captain of gladiators in Otho's army, A. D. 69. Ascending the stream of the Po with a detachment of the Ravenna fleet, Macer drove the Vitellians from the left bank of the river, but shortly before the final defeat of his party at Bedriacum was himself repulsed, and displaced by Otho from his command. Macer's name was erased by Vitellius from the list of supplementary consuls for A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. 2.23, 35, 36, 71.) Plutarch (Plut. Oth. 10) mentions Otho's gladiators, but not the name of their leader. [W.B.D]

was one of the praetors in A. D. 15, and put the question to the senate, whether there should be an extension of the Lex Majestatis. His praetorship therefore marks the epoch at which the government of Tiberius began to assume its worse and darker features. (Tac. Ann. 1.72; Suet. Tib. 58; comp. D. C. 57.19; Sen. de Ben. 3.26; and see Majestas, s. v. Dict. of Antiq. [W.B.D]

only known from coins, a specimen of which is annexed. The obverse represents the head of Julius Caesar, and the reverse Victory, holding in one hand a spear, and in the other a small statue of Victory.

Aemilius. (1) A Roman poet, a native of Verona, who died in Asia, B.C. 16. He wrote a poem upon birds, snakes, and medicinal plants, the fragments of which are given in Bährens, Frag. Poet. Rom. 345.

(2) We must distinguish from Aemilius Macer of Verona, a poet Macer who wrote on the Trojan War, and who must have been alive in A.D. 12, since he is addressed by Ovid in that year (Epist. ex Pont. ii. 10, 2).

(3) A Roman jurist of the time of Alexander Severus.

Licinius. See Licinius.