Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus (incorrectly also Publius Syrius ; first name and dates unknown) was a Roman mime author in the 1st century BC. Chr.
According to Pliny the Elder , Publilius Syrus came from Antioch and came to Rome as a slave . His real name is unknown, Syrus is the slave name, which indicates his origin. He was named Publilius after his last master, who released him. After his release , he had great success in the cities of Italy with his literary mimes, in which he also appeared as an actor. In 46 BC In BC he won an improvisation competition on the occasion of the games hosted by Caesar against his literary competitor, the Roman knight Decimus Laberius . Caesar had forced him to take part in the competition.
The mimes of Publilius Syrus are all lost. His aftermath goes back to a collection of his sayings, the Sententiae . These soon became school reading and were accordingly widespread into late antiquity . There are around 700 iambic or trochaic one-liners, in alphabetical order, with moral wisdom such as "many must fear whom many fear". It is believed that the collection was significantly expanded in the Middle Ages , so that only some of the sayings can be considered authentic. The Sententiae were popular reading especially in humanism ; numerous editions at that time attest to this.
The sentences were handed down in several manuscripts : the Collectio Palatina , the Collectio Senecae (compilation of Seneca), the Caecilii Balbi collectio minor and maior (smaller and larger compilations ascribed to Caecilius Balbus), the Collectio Turicensis (Zurich collection), the Collectio Frisingensis (Freising Collection) and the Collectio Veronensis (Verona Collection).
expenditure
- Hermann Beckby (ed. And translator.): The sayings of Publilius Syrus. Latin - German ( Tusculum Collection ). Munich 1969.
- Otto Friedrich (Ed.): Publilii Syri mimi Sententiae . Olms, Hildesheim 1964 (reprint of the Berlin 1880 edition).
- J. Wight Duff , Arnold M. Duff (translator): Minor Latin Poets . Latin - English ( Loeb Classical Library ). Volume 1, Cambridge (MA) 1934.
- Wilhelm Meyer (Ed.): Publilii Syri mimi Sententiae . Teubner, Leipzig 1880 ( digitized version ).
literature
- Otto Skutsch : Publilius 28. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXIII, 2, Stuttgart 1959, Sp. 1920-1928.
Web links
- Literature by and about Publilius Syrus in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Publilius Syrus in the German Digital Library
- Publilii Syri sententiae (Latin)
- Publilius Syrus in the Bibliotheca Augustana
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Publilius Syrus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman mime poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1st century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1st century BC Chr. |