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

860 CORUNCANIUS.
tion, possessing no particular merit, of the Virgilian
line " Vivo equidem, vitamque 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 probably belongs to a
late period. [W. R.]
CORO'NIS (Kopwcvs). 1. A daughter of
Phlegyas and mother of Asclepius. (Ov. Fast. i.
291; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iii. 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 implored the protection of Athena. (Ov. Mlet. ii.
550, &c.) A third Coronis is mentioned among
the Hyades. (Hygin. Fab. 182.) [L. S.]
CORO'NUS (Kopwvo's). 1. A son of Apollo
by Chrysorthe, father of Corax and Lamedon, and
king of Sicyon. (Paus. ii. 5. ~ 5.)
2. A son of Thersander, grandson of Sisyphus,
and founder of Coroneia. (Paus. ix. 34. ~ 5;
Muller, Orchom. p. 1 33, &c.)
3. A son of Caeneus, was a prince of the Lapithae, and father of Leonteus and Lyside. He was
slain by Heracles. (Apollod. ii. 7. ~ 7; Muller,
Orchom. pp. 194, 203.)
4. The father of the Argonaut Caeneus. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ 16; comp. Schol. ad 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 accordingly 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, disdained to surrender himself, and fell fighting desperately. (Hirt. B. G. viii. 5-17.) [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 descendants seem to have invariably adopted the form
Corvinus. [See CoRvus.] The Messallae Corvini
of the Valeria gens are given under MESSALLA.
CORVI'NUS, TAURUS STATPLIUS, consul in A. D. 45 with M. Vinucius. (Dion Cass, lx.
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. (Vell. Pat. ii. 128.) In n. 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 quelling the remains of disaffection, and entirely defeated the Vulsinienses and Vulcientes. For these
victories he was honoured with a triumph early
in the following year. After subduing Etruria,

CORUNCANIUS.
he returned towards Rome to aid Laevinus in
checking the advance of Pyrrhus. (Appian, Samn.
10. ~ 3.) In B. c. 270, he seems to have been
censor with C. Claudius Canina. Modern writers
appear to be ignorant of any ancient historical account of this censorship. In l'Art de verifier les
Dates, i. p. 605, Coruncanius is inferred to have
been censor in the 34th lustrum, from the expressions of Velleins Paterculus (ii. 128), and a Claudius is wanting to complete the seven censors in
that family mentioned by Suetonius. (Tiber. 1.)
Seneca (de Vit. 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 authority extant concerning it, known to less modern
scholars, for Panciroli (de Clar. Interp. 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 included in the census amounted to 277,222.
About B. c. 254, Coruncanius was created pontifex 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 consuls from Sicily; and he must have died shortly
afterwards, at a very advanced age (Cic. de Senect.
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 Samnites, 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 public assembly. (Cic. de Orat. 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 Nat. 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 cral opinions, which were handed down
to remembrance by legal tradition. Cicero says,
that the Pontificum Commentarii afforded proof of
his surpassing abilities (Brit. 14); and, in the treatise de Legibus (ii. 21), he cites one of his memorabilia. 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 Coruncanius were extant in his time,
for he there ridicules the affectation of orators,
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 passage relating to Coruncanius iu