A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

1. Sp.OppiusCornicen, a plebeian, one of the second decemvirate, B. C. 450. When the other decemvirs had to march against the enemy, Cornicen was left as the colleague of App. Claudius to take care of the city; and it was he who convened the senate when the people rose in arms upon the death of Virginia. In the next year, he was sent to prison on the evidence of an old soldier, whom, after twenty-seven years of service, he had ordered to be scourged without any cause; but Cornicen, fearing the result of a trial, put an end to his own life in prison. (Liv. 3.35, 41, 49, 50, 58; Dionys. A. R. 10.58, 11.23, 44, 46.)