Foremost poets in Roman history
Catullus came from Verona and his father had some affiliation with Julius Caesar, but details of his life are few. He stood in some regard with the writers of his own age. He visited Bithynia with the governor, Gaius Memmius, Helvius Cinna, and others, staying there from 57 to 56 b. c.e. On his return he made a pilgrimage to the tomb of his brother in Troas. in Rome he continued his affiliations with Cicero and Cornelius Nepos, and remained close friends with Cinna and Calvus.
The most notable involvement in his life was with “Lesbia,” probably clodia the sister of P Clodius Pulcher. Unhappily married to Metellus Celer, Clodia seemed to have carried on a torrid romance with Catullus, the passion of which influenced his love poems. Again the details remain obscure, including the intrusion of Caelius into the affair. Politics held no interest for him, despite his definite views on certain matters. He wrote against Julius Caesar and his adherents, especially the engineer Mamurra, whom he called “Mentula.”
The works of Catullus were varied and extensive. He openly imitated the Alexandrine school but showed his own special brilliance with his short poems. A collection of his work, including a dedicatory poem to Cornelius Nepos, probably saw publication in 54 b. c.e. The poet received acclaim at the time but died before any concomitant wealth could be garnered. The collection, as it has come down through the ages, was apparently organized in three parts. Part one presented short iambic and melic poems. Part two had long poems, including Peleus and Thetis. Finally, part three contained elegiacs (epigrams).
See also poetry.
Catus Decianus (fl. mid-first century c. e.) Procurator of Britain
Catus was an unpopular governor who was responsible in part for the rebellion of boudicca in 61 c. E. As Roman policy in the province turned harsher, the death of Prasu-tagus, king of the iceni, prompted the direct seizure of his territory, the claims of his wife Boudicca and his daughters notwithstanding. catus also demanded the repayment of large sums given to the dead king by CLAUDIUS. Such outrages pushed the Britons too far, and they revolted. catus, in charge of military affairs while Suetonius Paulinus was away on campaign, sent only a handful of soldiers to defend against the onslaught of the queen’s forces. Frightened by the defeat of the IX Legion, the procurator fled to safety on the continent. He was replaced by Julius Classicianus.
Catuvellauni A leading tribe in Britain that reached ascendancy in the southern part of the isles between 55 B. C.E. and 43 c. e. They were a part of the large influx of the BELGAE into Britain, occupying much of the Thames region. In 54 b. c.e., under their King cassivellaunus, they resisted the invasion of Julius Caesar. Warfare conducted by the Catuvellauni was in a style traditionally Celtic that used chariots, long abandoned on the mainland of Europe. Forced to accept treaty terms with Rome, the tribe waited only until Caesar’s departure to reassert its dominance, and the Trinovantes fell under their power. Cassivellaunus established a strong kingdom around CA-MULODUNUM (Colchester) and verulamium (St. Alban’s), composed of the Belgic tribes, of which the Catuvellauni were the heart. A line of kings established by Cassivel-launus included tasciovanus, cunobellinus, and carata-CUS. Under Caratacus, in 43 C. E., the tribe fought against the massive invasion of Aulus Plautius and Claudius. Despite hard fighting, the warriors broke before the Roman legions. The territory of the Catuvellauni became the Roman province of Britannia.
Celer, Caninius (fl. second century c. e.) Orator and rhetorician
Celer served as a tutor to Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Lucius verus.
Celer, Publius (d. c. 69 c. e.) Philosopher during the reign of Nero (r 54-68)
Celer profited from accusing a former pupil, Barea Soranus, of using magic. Nero, who was looking for an excuse to murder Soranus, prosecuted him and put him to death. Publius received rewards and honors for the deed, and according to Tacitus this had not been his first service to the imperial household. in 54, he reportedly helped poison the proconsul of Asia, Junius Silanus, the great-grandson of Augustus, at the behest of Empress Agrippina the Younger. In 69, after the fall of Nero and vitellius, Musonius Rufus prosecuted Celer on the grounds of perjury in the Soranus case. Accusers were out of fashion in Rome under the Flavians, and the conviction was obtained.
Celer and Severus (fl. first century c. e.) Two architects Commissioned by Emperor nero to rebuild Rome after the terrible fire of 64 C. E., Severus and Celer rebuilt much of the devastated city at great cost and then laid out grand designs for Nero’s new palace, the Domus Aurea, the GOLDEN HOUSE, to replace the burned domus transi-TORIA.
Celestine I (d. 432) Pope from 422-432, Christian saint Celestine was traditionally held to have come from Campania and was a deacon at the time of his election to the papacy on September 10, 422, to succeed Boniface I. He soon undertook to continue the efforts of his predecessor in combating the various heresies that were plaguing the church. In 429, he sent St. Germanus of Auxerre to Britain to counter the teachings of Pelagius in the isles. He also wrote letters condemning the Semi-Pelagianism being propagated by John Cassian in southern Gaul. Celestine launched a campaign against Nestorianism by condemning its author, Nestorius, at a Roman synod in August 430. St. Cyril of Alexandria was then ordered to excommunicate and depose the troublesome patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, if he did not submit. Nes-torius refused, and, on December 7, 430, the sentence by Cyril was delivered to Constantinople in a set of 12 anathemas.
Celestine also consecrated St. Palladius at Rome in 431 and sent him on his short-lived mission as bishop of the Christians of Ireland.
Celsus (fl. second century c. e.) Platonic philosopher Celsus wrote (177-180 c. e.) one of the first comprehensive and intellectual attacks on Christianity. The actual work is lost, but large parts of it are preserved in the reply written by the theologian origen (246-248). Celsus’s attack utilized a series of progressively logical questions and answers, demanding such information as why should God come to Earth or why should he visit the Earth in the shape of Jesus and why in Palestine. He dismissed
Christ as the illegitimate child of Mary and a Roman soldier and said that he was no better than an Egyptian magician. Despite Origen’s ardent defense of Christian thought, subsequent pagan Neoplatonists used Celsus’s polemic in their own attacks on the growing church.
Celsus, Aulus Cornelius (fl. first century c. e.) Encyclopedist, probably during the time of Tiberius (ruled 14-37 C. E.)
Celsus composed a large encyclopedia, Artes, that was similar to those of Cato the Elder and varro. His subjects included war, farming, law, oratory, philosophy, and medicine. The only extant books are 6 to 13, on medicine, clearly influenced by Hippocrates and including general therapy, internal illnesses, pharmacology, and surgery. Celsus’s work on farming was used by Julius Graecinus and his compilation on war by vegetius. Celsus was respected well past the Middle Ages.
Celsus, Marius (fl. first century c. e.) General and consul-elect in 69 c. e.
At the start of Galba’s reign; Celsus stood firm in his loyalty to the emperor, despite the turbulence of that emperor’s reign. Following the death of Galba, Celsus refused to disavow his previous fealty and stood in danger of execution. Otho had to arrest him to protect him from the angry Roman citizens and soldiers, pardoning him as part of a larger amnesty to cement his control of the throne. Henceforth Celsus obediently served Otho, even in the face of scheming fellow generals, such as the Praetorian Prefect Licinius proculus. When word arrived that the legions on the Rhine had revolted and were marching on Italy, Otho appointed Celsus one of his leading generals, along with Proculus, L. Otho, and suetonius Paulinus. He conducted himself well in the early skirmishes but advised against an all-out effort against the vitellian units, being joined in this counsel by Paulinus. Otho, however, listened to Proculus and to his own brother. At the battle of bedriacum on April 15, 69, Celsus went into battle faithfully and lost, trying afterward to rally the broken and fleeing Othonian legions. Emperor vitellius allowed him to serve his consulship.
Celsus, L. Publius (d. 117 c. e.) Senator and friend of Emperor Trajan who also served as consul in 113
Celsus belonged to a group of four respected advisers, which included A. Cornelius Palma, L. Junius ursus ser-vianus, and Lusius Quietus. As supporters of Trajan, Cel-sus and his companions opposed Hadrian as heir to the throne and greeted his rise with jealousy and concern for the future imperial policies. Each was murdered, however, at the start of Hadrian’s reign, ending what may have been a conspiracy but beginning the emperor’s reign in an unpleasant manner.
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