Larcius Macedo

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Larcius Macedo was a Roman senator of Praetorian rank who lived during the reign of Emperor Trajan . He is known from a letter from the younger Pliny .

Larcius Macedo was physically attacked by some of his slaves around the year 101 in his villa, which was located on an estate near the port city of Formiae . Contrary to expectations, he survived the attack, but succumbed to the consequences of his injuries a few days later. The slaves involved in the crime that could be caught were tortured and executed.

Pliny the Younger, who reports on the incident in one of his letters, describes Larcius Macedo as a cruel parvenu who, as the son of a former slave, provoked the attack himself by mistreating his unfree people. Pliny illustrates the general aversion to an upstart who was not clearly aware of his parentage by the incident that is said to have happened a few days before the event. Accordingly, Larcius Macedo was beaten and humiliated by a Roman knight in a public bath in Rome because a slave of Larcius had bumped into him to clear the way for his master.

Macedo's father Larcius Lydus , a freedman , had probably made a fortune through financial deals. So he was able to offer Emperor Nero the sum of a million sesterces in the Circus Maximus in return for a performance of his singing skills. Based on an inscription from Ephesus , Werner Eck suspects that Macedo had a brother named Aulus Larcius Crispinus , who was a tax farmer in Asia Minor . Macedo's son, Aulus Larcius Macedo , was governor of Galatia around 120 and then a suffect consul .

literature

  • Rudolf Hanslik : Larcius II 2. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, column 493.
  • Philip Matyszak, Joanne Berry: 65. Larcius Macedo. In: Who's Who in Ancient Rome. Emperors, citizens, gladiators. von Zabern, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-8053-4078-6 , pp. 197-199.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Pliny, Briefe 3, 14 ( German translation ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) ; Werner Eck : Cum dignitate otium. Senatorial domus in imperial Rome. In: Monument and Inscription. Collected essays on senatorial representation. de Gruyter, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-024694-0 , pp. 207–239, here p. 230 ( limited preview in the Google book search). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.e-latein.at
  2. ^ Cassius Dio 63, 21, 2 ( English translation ).
  3. ↑ Christoph Börker , Reinhold Merkelbach (ed.): The inscriptions of Ephesus. Part 2 (= inscriptions of Greek cities from Asia Minor. Volume 12). Habelt, Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-7749-1688-8 , No. 517; Werner Eck: On inscriptions on Asia Minor (Ephesus; Museum Bursa). In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy. Volume 117, 1997, pp. 107-116, here pp. 113-114 ( PDF ).
  4. ^ Rudolf Hanslik : Larcius II 3rd In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, column 493 f.
personal data
SURNAME Macedo, Larcius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman senator
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century
Place of death Formiae