A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

584 CALVINUS.
Matius' friendship with Caesar is mentioned by
Suctonius (Caes. 52), and his intimacy with Augustus by Pliny (H. N. xii. 2, s. 6), who erroneously calls him Cn. Matius, and who speaks of him
as alive about 80 years before his time. Tacitus
(Ann. xii. 60) also alludes to the power and influence which Matius possessed.
This C. Matius is in all probability the same as
the C. Matius (not Cn. as Gellius calls him), who
translated the Iliad into Latin verse, and was the
author of several other works. His version of the
Iliad is first quoted by his contemporary Varro
(L. L. vii. 95, 96, ed. Miiller), and is referred to
by A. Gellius (vi. 6, ix. 14) and the Latin grammarians. Matius also wrote " Mimiambi," which
were as celebrated as his translation of the Iliad,
and were particularly admired for the elegance of
the new words which he introduced in them. (Gell.
xv. 25, xx. 8.) Matius also paid great attention
to economics and agriculture, and wrote a work on
the whole art and science of cookery, in three
books, which were entitled respectively Cocus,
Cetarius, Salgamaesrius. (Columella, xii. 4, 44.) It
was probably from this Matius that the manlms
Matianum derived its name (Plin. H. N. xv. 14,
15; Columella, v. 10, 19; Suet. Dom. 21; Macrob.
Saturn. ii. 10; Athen. iii. p. 82, c.), and the OpsoZniaen Matianum, praised by Apicius (iv. 3).
(Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. iv. p. 568,
&c.; Leutsch, in the Zeitschrift frii Allerthnumswissenscljft, 1834, p. 164, &c.)
CALVE'NTIUS, an Insubrian Gaul, of the
town of Placentia, and a merchant, whose daughter
married L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father
of L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, consul in B. c.
58. In his speech against the latter, Cicero upbraids him with the low origin of his mother, and
calls him Caesoninus Semiplacentinus Calventius
(in Pison, 6, 23; Ascon in Pison, p. 5, ed. Orelli;
rcomp. Cic. de prov. Cons. 4, pro Sext. 9); and in a
letter to his brother Quintus (iii. 1. ~ 4), Piso is
also meant by the name of Calventius Marius.
CA'LVIA CRISPINILLA. [CRIsPINILLA.]
CALVFINA, JU'LIA, the sister of L. Silanus,
was at first married to a son of Vitellius, but afterwards, for the sake of doing a favour to Agrippina,
Vitellius accused her of incestuous intercourse with
her brother, L. Silanus. There was, however, according to the concurrent testimony of the ancients,
no ground whatever for that charge, except that
Silanus was attached to his sister, aind perhaps
expressed his love for her in too unguarded a manner, surrounded as he was by spies and enemies.
When Silanus had put an end to his own life,
Calvina was expelled from Italy. (Tac. Ann. xii.
4, 8; L. SILAN.us.) It is highly probable that this
Calvina is the same as the Junia (Julia?) Calvina
mentioned by Suetonius (Vesp. 23) as still alive
towards the end of the reign of Vespasian, for it is
stated there, that she belonged to the family of
Augustus, and it is well known that the Silani
were great-great-grandsons of Augustus. 1 L. S.]
CALVI'NUS, the name of a family of the plebeian Domitia gens.
1. CN. DoMITIUS CALVINUS, consul in B.C. 332.
(Liv. viii. 17.)
2. CN. DOMITIUs CN. F. CALVINUS, surnamed
AMaxinmus, offered himself as a candidate for the
curule aedileship in B. c. 304; but, although his
father had been consul, Cn. Flaiius, the famous
scribe of Appius Clasdius, was preferred to him,.

CALVINUS.
Five years later, however, B. c. 299, he was elected
curule aedile. (Liv. x. 9, where instead of the
praenomen C. we ought to read Cn.) He was
raised to the consulship in B. c. 283, together with
P. Cornelius Dolabella. The name of Calvinus
scarcely appears during the year of his consulship,
though he must have been very actively engaged,
for Rome was just then threatened by a coalition
of all her enemies in Italy. Stimulated by the
Lucanians and Bruttians, and more especially by
the Tarentines, the Etruscans, Gauls, Umbrians,
and Samnites took up arms against her. The Senones, allied with the Etruscans, attacked the
town of Arretium; and as the consuls were probably engaged in other parts of Italy, the praetor L.
Caecilius was sent out to the relief of the place;
but he lost a battle and his life near Arretium.
His successor, TM'. Curius, sent ambassadors to the
Senones to effect an exchange of prisoners, but the
ambassadors were murdered by the Senones. In
order to avenge this breach of the law of nations,
the consul P. Cornelius Dolabella marched through
the country of the Sabines and Picentians into
that of the Senones, conquered their army and
ravaged their country, to secure which a Roman
colony was established in it. The events which
we have just described are not mentioned by all
authorities in the same succession. According to
Orosius (iii. 22; comp. Liv. Epit. 12), the murder
of the Roman ambassadors preceded the campaign
of L. Caecilius; whereas, according to Appian, the
campaign of Dolabella followed iminediately after
the murder, and the object of the embassy was to
remonstrate with the Senones for serving against
the Romans, their allies. (Comnp. Niebuhr, -list. of
Romes, iii. p. 427, &c.) In what manner Calvinus
was engaged during this time, is not known.
When the Boians saw that the Senones were expelled from their country, they began to dread the
same fate, joined the remaining Senones and the
Etruscans, and marched against Rome. Butin crossing the Tiber they met a Roman army, and in the
ensuing battle most of the Etruscans were slain,
and only a few of the Gauls escaped. Our accounts
differ as to the Roman commanders in this battle;
for sosme represent Dolabella and others Calvinus
as the victorious general, whereas it is most probable that both consuls gained laurels on that day.
It was undoubtedly to this victory that Calvinuis
owed the surname of Maximus, and in B. c. 280
he wvas further honoured by being made dictator.
On laying down this office in the same year, he
was elected censor-the first instance of a plebeian
being raised to that office. (Plin. 1H. N. xxxiii. 1;
Polyb. ii. 19, 20; Liv. Epit. 13; Appian, Samsnit.
6, Gall. 11; Flor. i. 13; Eutrop. ii. 10; Dion Cass.
Excerpt. Vat. p. 163, ed. Sturz; Fast. Cap.)
3. DOMITIus CALVINUS, probably a son of No.
2, conquered the Etruscan town of Luna, which
was occupied by the Illyrians. He seems to have
been praetor when he made the conquest. The
year to which it belongs is unknown, though it is
clear that the event must have occurred after the
first Punic war, that is, after B. c. 240. (Frontin.
Striteg. iii. 2. ~ 1; Liv. Epit. 20; Zonar. viii. 19,
&c.)
4. CN. DoMITIUS, M. F. M. N. CALVINUS, appears, in B. c. 62, as legate of L. Valerius Flaccus
in Asia, and in B. c. 59 as tribune of the people, in
which capacity he supported the consul M. Bibulus
against the other consul, C. Julius Caesar, and the