Nepos, Cornelius

▪ Roman historian

born c. 110 BC

died c. 24 BC

      Roman historian, the earliest biographer to write in Latin. He was a correspondent and friend of Cicero (Cicero, Marcus Tullius) and Atticus (Atticus, Titus Pomponius), and he was the friend (or patron) to whom Catullus (Catullus, Gaius Valerius) dedicated his poems.

      Nepos came, like Catullus, from Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy). His principal writings were De viris illustribus (“On Famous Men”; in at least 16 books), comprising brief biographies of distinguished Romans and foreigners; Chronica (in 3 books), which introduced to the Roman reader a Greek invention, the universal comparative chronology; Exempla (in at least 5 books), which consisted of anecdotes; possibly a universal geography to match the Chronica; and biographies of the elder Cato (Cato, Marcus Porcius) and Cicero. There survive only one complete and one partial book from the De viris illustribus; the biographies in these extant texts are mostly quite brief, being a few characteristic anecdotes strung together to illustrate trite moral principles. The most interesting lives are those of Cato and Atticus. Nepos is not notable as a literary stylist; he wrote simply, but without elegance or purity. He looked for ethical lessons and uncritically praised his subjects.

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