CORN2816 C. Cornelius (164) Cn. f. Gallus

Life Dates

  • 69?, birth (DPRR Team) Expand

    Hieron. Chron. Ol. 188.2 (died in 43rd year, in 26).

  • 26, death - violent (DPRR Team) Expand

    Suicide. Verg. Ecl. 10, Propert. 2.34b, Suet. Aug. 66.1-2, Suet. Gram. 16, Dio. 53.23.5-7, Amm. Marc. 17.4.5, Hieron. Chron. Ol. 188.2.

Career

  • Praefectus Fabrum? 41 (Broughton MRR II) Expand
    • See below, Special Commissions. According to Serv. Dan. on Eel. 6.64, Cornelius Gallus was placed in charge (praepositus) of collections of money from towns in the Transpadane region whose lands were not divided (cf. Serv. Dan. on Ecl. 9.10, which quotes from a speech of protest to Alfenus Varus for leaving Mantua too little land). See below, Special Commissions. (Broughton MRR II)
    • Praefectus fabrum. See MRR 2.377. Syme suggested that he may possibly have served as praefectus fabrum under Asinius Pollio in 41-40 when he was governing the Cisalpina for Antonius (RR 252, and note 4). The underlying inscription on the Vatican obelisk, which F. Magi discovered and deciphered, shows that he served in this office under Octavian, quite possibly in 31 even before Actium, and certainly in 30 when he approached Egypt from the west by way of the Cyrenaica and received the surrender of L. Pinarius Scarpus and his legions (Dio 51.9.1-4; Syme RR 298; cf. MRR 2.422). On the inscription, see F. Magi, StudRom 11, 1963, 50-56; G. Guadagno, Opuscula Romana 6, 1968, 21-26. (Broughton MRR III)
  • Triumvir Agris Dividendis 41 (Broughton MRR II) Expand
    • In Donatus, Vit. Verg. (ed. Brummer, p. 16) these three men receive the traditional title Triumviri agris dividendis (see also Schol. Bern., Jahrb. f. Philol., Supb. 9 [1867], p. 743; Iun. Philargyr. II, on Eclogue I, Proem.). Our sources also describe their position as follows: Pollio agris praeerat dividundis (Serv. on Eel. 2.1); qui praeesset Transpadanae regioni (Iun. Philargyr. II on Eel. 6.7; cf. Iun. Philargyr. I and II on Eel. 4.3); Alfenus qui agros divisit (Serv. Dan. on Eel. 9.10); victo enim Antonio Caesar Alphenum, Varum in locum Pollionis constituit (Iun. Philargyr. II on Ecl. 6.7); Gallus a Triumviris praeposilus fuit ad exigendas pecunias ab his municipiis, quorum agri in Transpadana regione non dividebantur (Serv. Dan. on Eel. 6.64). Polio and Alfenus Varus are named also in the following passage: ... fugatoque Asinio Pollione, ab Augusto Alfenum, Varum legatum, substitutum, qui Transpadanae provinciae et agris dividendis praeessel (Sery. Dan. on Eel. 6.6). The activities of these men in the confiscation of land and the settlement of veterans in the Transpadane region brought them into contact with Vergil, whose land in the territory of Mantua was supposedly either confiscated, and later returned to him, or, according the Donatus life of Vergil (ed. Brummer, p. 5), he received an indemnity. The references to their activities deal exclusively with Vergil's land. Bayet (REL 6 [1928] 271-299) interprets these notices to mean that these men formed a board of three like the senatorial land cominissions of Gracchan and earlier times (see p. 276). But Gallus, being a knight, not a senator, was technically ineligible for such an appointment. Moreover, the passage of Serv. Dan. on Ecl. 6.64 indicates that his task was not to divide land but to exact money from towns whose land was not divided, a task more suitable for an equestrian Prefect (cf. on 9.10 for a fragment of his speech of protest to Alfenus Varus for taking too much land from Montua). The system used by Antony and Octavian in dividing the land among their soldiers probably followed closely the system of Prefects and other officers, including Promagistrates, who received grants of imperium for the purpose, which Caesar used for the settlement of his veterans (see 45, Prefects, on C. Clovius; 44, Prefects, on Plotius Plancus; and note also App. BC 2.120, regard- ing the multitude of soldiers in Rome in March, 44, #). Q. Valerius Orca performed this function under Caesar as Legatus pro praetore (see 45, Legates). Munatius Plancus was probably a Proconsul when he distributed lands at Beneventum in this year (ILS 886); and in this period L. Memmius distributed lands at Luca to the sixth and the twenty-sixth legions as Prefect for the purpose (ILS 887). The members therefore of this so-called commission were probably individual appointees, with or without imperium, Pollio probably a Proconsul until he assumed the consulship in 40, Alfenus Varus probably a Legate or a Prefect but possibly also a Promagistrate, and Gallus almost certainly an equestrian Prefect. The old senatorial commissions were practically obsolete (see Grant, From Imperium to Auctoritas 9-11). (Broughton MRR II)
  • Praefectus Fabrum? 40 (Broughton MRR III) Expand
    • Praefectus fabrum. See MRR 2.377. Syme suggested that he may possibly have served as praefectus fabrum under Asinius Pollio in 41-40 when he was governing the Cisalpina for Antonius (RR 252, and note 4). The underlying inscription on the Vatican obelisk, which F. Magi discovered and deciphered, shows that he served in this office under Octavian, quite possibly in 31 even before Actium, and certainly in 30 when he approached Egypt from the west by way of the Cyrenaica and received the surrender of L. Pinarius Scarpus and his legions (Dio 51.9.1-4; Syme RR 298; cf. MRR 2.422). On the inscription, see F. Magi, StudRom 11, 1963, 50-56; G. Guadagno, Opuscula Romana 6, 1968, 21-26. (Broughton MRR III)
  • Praefectus Fabrum? 31 (Broughton MRR III) Expand
    • Praefectus fabrum. See MRR 2.377. Syme suggested that he may possibly have served as praefectus fabrum under Asinius Pollio in 41-40 when he was governing the Cisalpina for Antonius (RR 252, and note 4). The underlying inscription on the Vatican obelisk, which F. Magi discovered and deciphered, shows that he served in this office under Octavian, quite possibly in 31 even before Actium, and certainly in 30 when he approached Egypt from the west by way of the Cyrenaica and received the surrender of L. Pinarius Scarpus and his legions (Dio 51.9.1-4; Syme RR 298; cf. MRR 2.422). On the inscription, see F. Magi, StudRom 11, 1963, 50-56; G. Guadagno, Opuscula Romana 6, 1968, 21-26. (Broughton MRR III)