Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa

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Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa , also Gnaeus Tremellius Scrofa, was a Roman senator of the late Republic . He is especially honored in the work De re rustica by Marcus Terentius Varro . Modern research suggests that there was another senator of the same name.

The elder Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa

The older Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa appears in Varro's dialogue De re rustica as an agricultural authority in books 1 and 2. Some information there about his life allows us to reconstruct his biography, albeit with some uncertainties. He was a grandson of Lucius Tremelius Scrofa , Quaestor 143 or 142 BC. His father must shortly before 100 BC. Have been praetor. Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa was probably a little older than Varro and therefore between 120 and 114 BC. Born in BC. According to Varro, Scrofa was the seventh generation of his family to receive the Praetor in uninterrupted succession . The exact date is not known, but it is believed to have been around 77 or 72 BC. As praetor, Scrofa was apparently governor of the province of Gallia Transalpina and led a military advance to the Rhine . (It cannot be completely ruled out that this only happened as a legate of Gaius Julius Caesar in the Gallic War .) Since the year 59 BC. He belonged to the vigintiviri ( college of twenty men) who had been used to distribute land to veterans of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in Campania (ager Campanus) (see First Triumvirate ).

Varro praises Scrofa's profound knowledge of agriculture, as confirmed by later writers. In his fictional conversations, Varro Scrofa deals with the chapters on pig breeding, which is probably not related to the Tremelius actually paying particular attention to this branch of agriculture. Rather, an example of Varro's popular gimmicks with names and surnames ( scrofa = "pig") should be seen here.

The younger Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa

The older Scrofa can be distinguished from a relative of the same name (nephew or cousin?) Who lived shortly before 100 BC. Must be born in the year 71 BC and served as quaestor of Marcus Licinius Crassus in the Spartacus uprising , in 70 in the Verres trial acted as judge and for the year 69 BC. Was elected tribune of the people . It is disputed whether he was 51/50 BC. Chr. Proconsul of the province of Creta et Cyrenaica was.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Combined by Friedrich Münzer : Tremelius 5. Cn. Tremellius Scrofa. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Col. 2287-2289. Later literature (Brunt, Perl) separates the two.
  2. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 2, 4, 1 .
  3. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 1, 3, 1 .
  4. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 2, 4, 2 .
  5. ^ Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton : The magistrates of the Roman republic. Volume 3: Supplement. Scholars Press, Atlanta 1986, p. 207.
  6. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 1, 7, 8 .
  7. ↑ Against this possibility cf. PA Brunt : Cn. Tremellius Scrofa the Agronomist . In: The Classical Review . New Series, Vol. 22, 1972, pp. 306 .
  8. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 1, 2, 10 ; 2, 4, 1-2.
  9. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 1, 2.
  10. ↑ Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia 17, 199 ; Columella , De re rustica 1, 1, 12 .
  11. ↑ Varro, De re rustica 2, 1, 2; 2, 1, 11.
  12. ↑ Friedrich Münzer: Cn. Tremellius Scrofa. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Col. 2289.
  13. ^ Plutarch , Crassus 11, 4 .
  14. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero , In Verrem 1, 30 .
  15. ^ Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton: The magistrates of the Roman republic. Volume 3: Supplement. Scholars Press, Atlanta 1986, p. 207.
personal data
SURNAME Tremelius Scrofa, Gnaeus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tremellius Scrofa, Gnaeus; Scrofa, Gnaeus Tremelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician of the late republic
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC Chr.