Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/878

860 CORUNXANIUS. tion, possessing no piutlcuiar merit, of the Virgilian line '* Vivo equidem, vitanique extrema per omnia duco;" the second and third are short epigrams, ingeniously expressed, upon hens fattened with their own eggs. We possess no information with regard to this writer, but he probablv belongs to a late period. ' [W.R.] CORO'NIS (Kopuvis). 1. A daughter of Ph'egyas and mother of Asclepius. (Ov. Fast. i. 291 ; Schol. ad Find. FytL iiL 14, 48, 59 ; comp. Asclepius.) 2. A daughter of Phoroneus, king of Phocis ; she was metamorphosed by Athena into a crow, for when she was pursued by Poseidon, she im- plored the protection of Athena. (Ov. Afet. ii. 550, &c. ) A third Coronis is mentioned among the Hyades. (Hvgin. Fab. 182.) [L. S.] CORO'NUS ikofKcv6s). 1. A son of Apollo by Chrysorthe, father of Corax and Liimedon, and king of Sicyon. (Pans. ii. 5. § 5.) 2. A son of Thersander, grandson of Sisyphus, and founder of Coroneia. (Paus. ix. 34. § 5 ; MiJller, Orchonu p. 1 33, &c.) 3. A son of Caeneus, was a prince of the Lapi- thae, and father of Leonteus and Lyside. He was slain by Heracles. (ApoUod. ii. 7. § 7 ; Miiller, Orchom. pp. 194,203.) 4. The lather of the Argonaut Caeneus. (Apol- lod. i. 9. $ 16 ; comp. Schol. <id Apollon. Rhod. i. 57.) [L. S.] CORREUS, a Gaul, chief of the Bellovaci, was distinguished by a high spirit of independence and an inveterate hatred of the Romans, and was ac- cordingly acknowledged as their commander by all the tribes which, together with the Bellovaci, made war against Caesar in b. c. 51. Correus, conducted the campaign with much ability, and, when he at length met with a decisive defeat, dis- dained to stirrender himself, and fell fighting des- perately. (Hirt. B. G. viii. 5—) 7.) [E. E.] CORVI'NUS, a cognomen in the Valeria gens, and merely a longer form of Corvus, the surname of M. Valerius. Many writers give Corvinus as the surname of M. Valerius himself, and his des- cendants seem to have invariably adopted the form Corvinus. [See Corvus.] The Messallae Corvini of the Valeria gens are given under Messalla. CORVI'NUS, TAURUS STATI'LIUS, con- sul in A. D. 45 with M. Vinucius. (Dion Cass, Ix. 25 ; Phlegon, Mirabil. 6.) He is probably the same as the Statilius Corvinus who conspired against the emperor Claudius. (Suet. Claud. 13 ) TI. CORUNCA'NIUS, a distinguished Roman pontiff and jurist, was descended from a father and a grandfather of the same name, but none of his ancestors had ever obtained the honours of the Roman magistracy. According to a speech of the emperor Claudius in Tacitus, the Coruncanii came from Camerium {Ann. xi. 24) ; but Cicero makes the jurist a townsman of Tusculum {pro Plane. 8). Notwithstanding his provincial extraction, this novus homo was promoted to all the highest offices at Rome. (Veil. Pat. ii. 128.) In b. c. 280, he was consul with P. Valerius Laevinus, and while his colleague was engaged in the commencement of the war against Pyrrhus, the province of Etruria fell to Coruncanius, who was successful in quell- ing the remains of disaffection, and entirely de- feated the Vulsinienses and Vulcientes. For these A-ictories he was honoured with a triumph early in the following year. After subduing Etruria. CORUNCANIUS. he rcturnod towards Rome to aid Laevinus in checking the advance of Pyrrhus. (Appian, Samu. 10. $ 3.) In B. i;. 270, he seems to have been censor with C. Claudius Canina. Modern writers appear to be ignorant of any ancient historical ac- count of this censorship. In VArt de verifier les Dates., i. p. 605, Coruncanius is inferred to have been censor in the 34 th lustrum, from the expres- sions of Velleius Paterculus (ii. 128), and a Clau- dius is wanting to complete the seven censors in that family mentioned by Suetonius. {Tiber. 1.) Seneca {de VU. Beat. 21) says, that Cato of Utica was wont to praise the age of M'. Curius and Coruncanius, when it was a censorian crime to possess a few thin plates of silver. Niebuhr (iii. p. 555) speaks of this censorship as missing ; but, though it is not mentioned by the epitomizer of Livy, we suspect that there is some classical au- thority extant concerning it, known to less modem scholars, for Panciroli {de Clar. Intcrp. p. 21) says, that Coruncanius was censor with C. Claudius ; and Val. Forsterus {Historia Juris., fol. 41, b.) states, that in his censorship the population in- cluded in the census amounted to 277,222. About B. c. 254, Coruncanius was created pon- tifex maximus, and was the first plebeian who ever filled that office (Liv. Epist. xviii.), although, before that time, his brother jurist, P. Sempronius Sophus, and other plebeians, had been pontifices. (Liv. X. 9.) In B.C. 246, he was appointed dictator for the purpose of holding the comitia, in order to prevent the necessity of recalling either of the con- suls from Sicily; and he must have died shortly afterwards, at a very advanced age (Cic. de Seneci. 6), for, in Liv. Epit. xix., Caecilius Metellus is named as pontifex maximus. Coruncanius was a remarkable man. He lived on terms of strict friendship with M'. Curius and other eminent statesmen of his day. He was a Roman sage (Sapiens), a character more practical than that of a Grecian philosopher, but he was sufficiently versed in the learning of the times. That philosophy which placed the highest good in pleasure he rejected, and, with M Curius, wished that the enemies of Rome, Pyrrhus and the Sam- nites, could be taught to believe its precepts. He was a manly orator ; his advice and opinion were respected in war as well as in peace, and he had great influence in the senate as well as in the pub- lic assembly. (Cic. de Oral. iii. 33.) Cicero, who often sounds his praises, speaks of him as one of those extraordinary persons whose greatness was owing to a special Providence, {De jVat. Deor. ii. 66.) To the highest acquirements of a politician he united profound knowledge of pontifical and civil law. Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 38) says, that he left behind no writings, but that he gave many cml opinions, which were handed down to remembrance by legal tradition. Cicero says, that the Pontificum Commentarii afforded proof of his surpassing abilities {Brut. 14) ; and, in the trea- tise de Legibus (ii. 21), he cites one of his memo- rabilia. Another of his legal fragments is preserved by Pliny. {H. N. viii. 51. s. 77.) It might be supposed from a passage in Seneca {Ep. 114), that writings of Conmcanius were extant in his time, for he there ridicules the affectation of oratoi-s, who, thinking Gracchus and Crassus and Curio too modern, went back to the language of the 12 Tables, of Appius, and of Coruncanius. There is a passiige relating to Coruncanius in