A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

1. L.TrkemelliusScrofa, quaestor of A. Licinius Nerva, who governed Macedonia as propraetor in B. C. 142. During the absence of i Nerva, he defeated a Pseudo-Persens or a Pseudo-Philippus, for there is some uncertainty about the name, and a body of 16,000 men. When attacked by the enemy, he said that he would scatter them straightway like a sow does her pigs (" dixit celeriter se illos, ut scrofa porcos, disjecturum"); and from this saying he obtained the cognomen of Scrofa, which became hereditary in his family. His grandson told Varro that this was the origin of their family name; but Maerobius relates another tale respecting its introduction. (Liv. Epit. 53 ; Eutrop. 4.15; Varr. R. R. 2.4; Macr. 1.6.)