A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

a Roman jurist, one of those disciples of Servius Sulpicius, who are stated by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.44) to have written books which were digested by Aufidius Namusa. He was the father of the more eminent jurist of the same name, who lived under Augustus. In his attachment to the ancient republican liberty, he joined the conspiracy of Brutus and was one of the murderers of Julius Caesar. Constant to the party he had espoused, he was present at the battle of Pharsalia, and, after the defeat, was unwilling to survive Brutus, who, he was told, had pronounced his name with a sigh before his death. Having dug in his tent a hole of the length of his body, he settled his worldly affairs, and sent messages to his wife and children. Then, taking the hand of his most faithful slave, he turned him round (as was usual in the ceremony of manumission), and, giving him his sword, presented his throat to be stabbed, and was buried in his tent in the hole which he had dug. (Schol. ad Horat. Sat. 1.3. 83 ; Plut. Brut. 12; Appian, App. BC 4.135.)

[J.T.G]