CORNELIUS NEPOS.
(1) LIFE.
The praenomen of Cornelius Nepos is unknown. In Pliny, N.H. iii. 127, he is called ‘Padi adcola,’ and in Pliny, Ep. iv. 28, 1 (to Vibius Severus), he is mentioned as a townsman of T. Catius, ‘Imagines municipum tuorum, Cornelii Nepotis et T. Cati.’ Now T. Catius was an Insubrian (Cic. ad Fam. xv. 16, 1), and as the only Insubrian town on the Padus was Ticinum, Nepos was probably born there.
There is no direct evidence as to the date of his birth but we may infer from the following facts that he was born not long before B.C. 100.
1. Jerome puts his literary activity under B.C. 40 = yr. Abr. 1977, ‘Cornelius Nepos scriptor historicus clarus habetur.’
2. A son of his died B.C. 44 while a boy, and unknown to Cicero.
Cic. ad Att. xvi. 14, 4, ‘Male narras de Nepotis filio: valde mehercule moveor et moleste fero; nescieram omnino esse istum puerum.’
3. The respect with which he looks up to Atticus, who was born B.C. 109.
4. A fragment of his Exempla quoted by Pliny, N.H. ix. 136, regarding the changes of fashion in purple robes: ‘Nepos Cornelius, qui divi Augusti principatu obiit, “Me,” inquit, “iuvene violacea purpura vigebat, ... nec multo post rubra Tarentina. Huic successit dibapha Tyria... Hac P. Lentulus Spinther aedilis curulis (B.C. 63) primus in praetexta usus improbabatur. Qua purpura quis non iam,” inquit, “triclinaria facit?”’
Nepos held no public office, but confined himself to literature, in which he was associated with Atticus. Their intimacy must have begun after B.C. 65, when Atticus returned to Rome from Athens, where he had lived more than twenty years.
Pliny, Ep. v. 3, 6, ‘P. Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos ... Non quidem hi senatores.’
Nep. Att. 13, 7, ‘Atque hoc non auditum, sed cognitum praedicamus: saepe enim propter familiaritatem domesticis rebus interfuimus.’
Nepos knew Cicero, doubtless, through Atticus, but there is no evidence that they were intimate, except Gell. xv. 28, 1, who is probably mistaken, ‘Cornelius Nepos ... M. Ciceronis ut qui maxime amicus familiaris fuit.’ A fragment of a letter from Cicero to Nepos is quoted by Sueton. Iul. 55; from Nepos to Cicero by Lactant. inst. div. iii. 15, 10; and Fronto (p. 20, ed. Naber) speaks of a collection of Cicero’s works revised by Nepos and Atticus.
Nepos was on intimate terms with Catullus, whom, as coming from Verona, he may have known in early life. Catullus, who is mentioned by Nepos (Att. 12, 4), dedicated a collection of poems to him (Catull. 1). Nepos was alive in B.C. 29, in which, or the following year, he completed the life of Atticus.
As regards Nepos’ character and views, Pliny, Ep. v. 3, 6, attributes to him sanctitas morum. The words of Cicero, ad Att. xvi. 5, 5, imply only a playful compliment, ‘Et ais, “μετ’ ἀμύμονα.” Tu vero ἀμύμων, ille [Nepos] quidem ἄμβροτος.’
Nepos’ slight regard for philosophy is shown by a letter to Cicero quoted by Lactant. inst. div. iii. 15, 10, ‘Tantum abest, ut ego magistram esse putem vitae philosophiam beataeque vitae perfectricem, ut nullis magis existimem opus esse magistris vivendi quam plerisque, qui in ea disputanda versantur.’
Cf. also Cic. ad Att. xvi. 5, 5, ‘Nepotis epistulam exspecto. Cupidus ille meorum? qui ea, quibus maxime γαυριῶ, legenda non putet.’
Philosophy, according to Nepos, ought to be practical.
Nep. Att. 17, 3, ‘Nam principum philosophorum ita percepta habuit praecepta, ut his ad vitam agendam, non ad ostentationem uteretur.’
Nepos, as is shown by his works, supported government by the Senate.
(2) WORKS.
1. Erotic poems; mentioned by Pliny, Ep. v. 3, 6.
2. Chronica, in three books, embracing universal history. Catull. 1,
‘Quoi dono lepidum novom libellum
arida modo pumice expolitum?
Corneli, tibi; namque tu solebas
meas esse aliquid putare nugas
iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum
omne aevom tribus explicare chartis,
doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis.’
It is clear, from the above, that Nepos had mentioned Catullus in the work. That the mythical period was treated of is shown by Ausonius, Ep. 16, ‘Apologos Titiani et Nepotis chronica quasi alios apologos (nam et ipsa instar sunt fabularum) ... misi ... ad institutionem tuorum.’
From Catullus we may possibly infer that the Chronica were written before B.C. 63[31]; unus Italorum would imply that they were written before the similar works of Varro and Atticus.
3. Exempla, in at least five Books, treating of the history of Roman manners.
Gell. vi. 18, 11, ‘Cornelius Nepos in libro exemplorum quinto.’
4. Life of the elder Cato.
Nep. Cat. 3, 5, ‘Huius de vita et moribus plura in eo libro persecuti sumus, quem separatim de eo fecimus rogatu T. Pomponii Attici. Quare studiosos Catonis ad illud volumen delegamus.’
5. Life of Cicero, written after his death (B.C. 43). Gell. xv. 28, 2, ‘in primo librorum, quos de vita illius composuit.’
6. A geographical work, referred to by Pliny, N.H. v. 4, etc. All the above works are lost.
7. De Viris Illustribus, his last work, was dedicated to Atticus (praef. i); an addition to the life of Atticus was made after his death.
Att. 19, 1, ‘Hactenus Attico vivo edita a nobis sunt. Nunc, quoniam fortuna nos superstites ei esse voluit, reliqua persequemur.’
From Att. 12, 1-2, we may conclude that the publication took place between B.C. 35 and 33. The addition to the life of Atticus was written at some time between B.C. 31 and 27, as in Att. 19, 2, Octavian is called imperator, but not Augustus, a title which he received in the last-mentioned year.
The work contained at least sixteen Books: cf. Charis. G.L. i. 141 (ed. Keil), ‘Cornelius Nepos illustrium virorum libro xvi.’; and was divided into sections of two Books each, the first on distinguished foreigners, the second on distinguished Romans of the same class. We possess the book de excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium; from de historicis Latinis the lives of Cato the Censor and Atticus, and fragments of the letters of Cornelia, mother of the Gracci. There are also mentioned the books de regibus (Nep. de reg. 1, 1; 3, 5); de excellentibus ducibus Romanorum (Nep. Hann. 13, 4); de historicis Graecis (Nep. Dion, 3, 2); de poetis (Sueton. p. 31 R.); de grammaticis (Sueton. p. 103 R.). The work probably dealt also with iurisconsulti, oratores, and philosophi. The book is biographical rather than historical, and is designed to compare foreigners with Romans, and to please, as well as instruct, those ignorant of Greek culture.
Pel. 1, 1, ‘Vereor ... ne non vitam eius enarrare, sed historiam videar scribere.’
Hann. 13, 4, ‘Tempus est ... Romanorum explicare imperatores, quo facilius collatis utrorumque factis, qui viri praeferendi sint, possit iudicari.’
Pel. 1, 1, ‘Medebor cum satietati tum ignorantiae lectorum.’
Praef. 2, ‘Hi erunt fere, qui expertes litterarum Graecarum,’ etc.
Besides tradition and his own recollection, Nepos mentions the following sources: Thucydides (Them. 1, 4, etc.); Xenophon (Ag. 1, 1); Plato’s Symposium (Alc. 2, 2); Theopompus (Alc. 11, 1); Dinon (Con. 5, 4); Timaeus (Alc. 11, 1); Silenus, Sosilus, Polybius, Sulpicius Blitho, Atticus (Hann. 13, 1 and 3); the writings of Hannibal (Hann. 13, 2); Speeches and Origines of Cato (Cat. 3, 2); Cicero’s works, especially Epp. ad Att. (Att. 16, 3). The book contains lives of twenty Greek generals from the Persian wars to the time of Alexander’s successors; a short article on Persian and Macedonian kings who were also generals; and the lives of Hamilcar and Hannibal, Cato and Atticus. The work possesses little independent value, and the following are the chief faults:
1. There are many mistakes in history and geography.
2. The biographies, and the events recorded in them, are badly arranged; eulogy is employed indiscriminately, and petty anecdotes are too frequent.
3. Important names, as Cimon and Lysander, are dismissed too briefly; others, as Atticus and Datames, are treated too fully. Many are left out altogether, as some of the leaders in the Peloponnesian war.
4. Important authorities are not used: so Herodotus, for Miltiades, Themistocles, and Pausanias. No use is made of the Hellenica of Xenophon.
For views on Nepos, cf. Gell. xv. 28, 1, ‘Cornelius Nepos rerum memoriae non indiligens.’
Pliny, N.H. v. 4, ‘Portentosa Graeciae mendacia ... quaeque alia Cornelius Nepos avidissime credidit.’
Nepos is not mentioned by Quintilian in his list of Roman historians.
In the MSS. only the Atticus and the Cato are ascribed to Nepos, the rest being entitled Liber Aemilii Probi de excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium. It has been suggested that this arose from a misapprehension of em(endavi) Probus. There is an epigram by this Probus in the MSS., referring to poems of his and standing after the Life of Hannibal, which informs us that he was a contemporary of Theodosius (probably Theodosius I., A.D. 379-395). That the work cannot be by him is shown by the political references, which suit only the beginning of the empire, by the mention of Atticus in the preface, and by the correspondence in style between the book and the lives of Atticus and Cato, admittedly the work of Nepos; also by the fact that L. Ampelius, who probably wrote before the time of Diocletian, used the work in his Liber Memorialis.