(or Samonicus), enjoyed a high reputation at Rome, in the early part of
the third century, as a man of taste and varied knowledge. He lived upon terms of intimacy
with the court, and must have been possessed of great wealth, since he accumulated a library
amounting, it is said, to 62,000 volumes (Capitolin. Gordian. 18). As the
friend of Geta, by whom his compositions were studied with great pleasure, he was murdered
while at supper, by command of Caracalla, in the year A. D. 212 (Spartian. Caracall. 4, Get. 5), leaving behind him many learned works (cuius Libri plurimi ad doctrinam exstant, Spartian. l.c.). Sidonius Apollinaris (Carm. 13.21) celebrates his
mathematical lore, and that he turned his attention to antiquarian pursuits may be gathered
from Arnobius (ad v. Gentes, 6.17) and Macrobius (Macr. 2.13), of whom the latter quotes some remarks by Sammonicus upon the sumptuary
Lex Fannia, while in another place (Sat. 3.9), he extracts at full length
from the fifth book of his
Res Reconditae, the ancient forms by
which the gods of a beleaguered town were summoned forth by the besiegers, and the place
itself devoted to the destroying powers. In the Saturnalia also (2.12), is preserved a letter
by Sammonicus addressed to the emperor Septimius Severus, on the honours rendered at solemn
banquets to the sturgeon. According to Lampridius he must have been either an orator or a
poet, or perhaps both, for it is recorded by the Augustan historian in his life of Alexander Severus (100.30) that this prince was wont to read " et oratores et poetas, in
queis Serenum Sammonicum, quem ipse noverat et dilexerat, et Horatium." His son, who bore the
same name, was the preceptor of the younger Gordian, and bequeathed to his pupil the
magnificent library which he had inherited from his sire. (Capitolin. Gordian.
18.)
Works
de Medicina praecepta
saluberrima
A medical poem, extending to 115 hexameter lines, divided into 65 chapters or sections,
and ending abruptly, has descended to us under the title
Q. Sereni Sammonici de
Medicina praecepta saluberrima, or, Praecepta de Medicina parvo
pretio parabili, which is usually ascribed to the elder Sammonicus. It contains a
considerable amount of information, extracted from the best authorities, on natural history
and the healing art, mixed up with a number of puerile superstitions, such as the efficacy
of the Abracadabra as an amulet in ague, the whole expressed in plain, unambitious, and
almost prosaic language.
Editions
The text is very corrupt, probably in consequence of the estimation in which the treatise
was held during the middle ages. The most useful edition is that of Burmann, included
in his Poetae Latini Minores (4to. Leid. 1731, vol. ii. pp.
187-388), containing the best notes and the Prolegomena of Kenchen. For an account of
some recent contributions towards the improvement of the text, see Reuss, Lectiones Sammonicae, p. 1.4to. Wirceb. 1837.