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The Origin of the Veranii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. Syme
R. Syme
Affiliation:
Brasenose College, Oxford
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Extract

‘VERANIUS’ is an uncommon gentilicium, with brief and transient notice in Loman annals. The earliest Veranius on record is the friend of Catullus. iccording to Catullus (28; 47), he was abroad on the staff of a governor while, or just after, the poet was with Memmius (pr. 58) in Bithynia. The governor was Piso, clearly L. Piso (cos. 58), proconsul of Macedonia till the summer of 55. Veranius, it emerges elsewhere (9. 5 ff.; 12. 14 ff.), had also been in Hispania Citerior, accompanied here too by his inseparable Fabullus. Veranius may, or ray not, have been an author, identical with the Veranius who wrote on religious antiquities—who again might be the Veranius Flaccus whom Caesar Augusstus derided for his affected and archaic style.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 7 , Issue 3-4 , July 1957, pp. 123 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1957

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References

1 All the Veranii (save, by some mishap, the friend of Catullus) are registered by A. E. Gordon in P.-W. viii A, and all in stances of the nomen (967 f.). A suspicious feature should be noted— ‘Veranius’ no fewer than eleven times in C.I.L, xiii. Many of these will be native in origin, and ‘pseudoLatin’, cf. ‘Veracius’, and (sometimes) ‘Veratius’. For such fabricated nomina see W. Schulze, L.E. 48 ff.; Birley, E., Roman Britain and the Roman Army (1953),Google Scholar 165 ff.

2 As has generally been assumed, although some vaguely invoke M. Pupius Piso [cos. 61), who may not have been extant in 57/6. See now Class, et Med. xvii (1956), 129 ff.

3 Veranius the antiquarian, P.I.R., V 264; P.-W. viii A, 937; Veranius Flaccus, Suetonius, Divtis Aug. 86. 3. It is a clue to the date of the former that he was cited by Vermis Flaccus. A trace of his operations might be surmised in the notice of the first pair of Vestal Virgins, Verenia and Gegania (Plutarch, Numa 10). The nomen ‘Verenius’ does not appear to exist. Münzer was puzzled and hesitated to assume that a Verania must be meant (Philologus, xcii (1937). 53)

4 Tacitus, Ann. 2. 74. s; 3. 10. 1; 13. 2; 17. 2 ; 19. 1. Cf.further J.R.S.xlvi (1956), 20.

5 Ann. 14. 29. 1 (not omitting his last will and testament). For his career see now A.E. 1953, 251, with the exhaustive commentary of Gordon, A. E., Univ. of Cat. Pub. in Class. Arch. ii. 5 (1952)Google Scholar, 231 ff.

6 Schmidt, B. in his Prolegomena (1887), xlixGoogle Scholar; Lindsay, R. J. M., Class. Phil, xliii (1948), 44Google Scholar. Only one, a lady of no class, Verania Vera (C.I.L. v. 3787). Observe, for that style of ‘native’ nomenclature, C.I.L. xiii, 652; 12027.

7 Cf. A. E. Gordon, P.-W. viii A, 940. The best and earliest instance is I.G.R. iv. 914 f.—from Cibyra, perhaps temporarily in his provincia. A close parallel are Ummidii in Cyprus (e.g. I.G.R. iii. 950), showing the ‘Teretina’, which is the tribus of the proconsul C. Ummidius Quadratus, of Casinum (P.I.R, V 600).

1 Kubitschek, W., Imp. Rom. Trib. Discr. (1889), 41, 55Google Scholar. He prints ‘Clustumina’ with a query. C.I.L. ix, citing two inscriptions (4789, 4808), omits the query. The ‘Claudia’ is also found there (4790). A new inscription brings no certainty—‘L. Carius L. f. C[..] | M. Atius M. f. Cla.|p.p.’ (published by C. Pietrangeli, Epigr. ii (1940), 287, n. 5). But observe the fragment ’[ Clu. V[’ (ibid. 289, n. 12).

2 C.I.L. xi. 4491 (Ameria).

3 Livy 42. 34. 2. For Crustumerium and the tribe ‘Clustumina’ see Kubitschek, W., De Romanarum Tribuum Origine ac Propagation (1882), 15Google Scholar; Beloch, K. J., Röm. Gesch. (1926), 159Google Scholar, 174 ff., 270, etc.

4 C.I.L. ix. 607871 (Trebula); 4957 (Cures): the solitary instances in the volume. Note that Trebula can show a Verana P. f. Polla (4938). The nomen ‘Veranus’ is exceedingly rare. Schulze cites one other instance (L.E. 379, add.), viz. vi. 31723.

5 Pro Fonteio 19; Ad jam. 8. 4. 2.

6 P.I.R.1 S 398.

7 Very rare. Not in C.I.L. i2, v, ix, x, xi, xiv, and only eight instances at Rome (vi). A notable instance abroad is the primipilaris T. Servaeus Sabinus and his centurion son (C.I.L. iii. 14398; J.R.S. xviii. 189 = A.E. 1930, 109: near Iconium).

8 E. Groag, P.-W. ii A, 1755 (on the suffectus of 101). The African senatorial Servaei, unfortunately omitted from P.-W., are P.I.R. 1 S 399, 400 (cf. I.L.S. 8978), 402, 403.

9 Cf. Historia, iv (1955), 56, discussing ‘Aufustius’, with a reference to ‘Farsuleius’ ‘Fidiculanius’, ‘Furfanius’.