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

PISO. PISO. 373
Caesar. At the beginning of the following year, Piso and his two sons that Horace addressed his
B. c. 49, Piso, who had not yet laid down his cei- epistle on the Art of Poetry, and there are no suffisorship, offered to go to Caesar to act as mediator; cient reasons for rejecting this statement, as has been
but the aristocratical party would not hear of any ac- done by some modern writers. Respecting these
commodation, and hostilities accordingly commenced. two sons we only know that the elder was called
Piso accompanied Pompey in his flight from the Lucius (Anon. ad Hor. Ar. Poet. 366), but
city; and although he did not go with him across neither of them can be identified for certain with
the sea, he still kept aloof from Caesar. Cicero ac- any of the Pisones mentioned in history.
cordingly praises him, and actually writes to Atticus, 9. L. CALPURNIUS Piso FRUGI, consul B.C.
" I love Piso" (Cic. ad Att. vii. 13, a., ad Faon. 133. His descent is quite uncertain, since neither
xiv. 14). Piso subsequently returned to Rome, the Fasti nor coins mention the name of his father.
and though he took no part in the civil war, was From his integrity and conscientiousness he received
notwithstanding treated with respect by Caesar. the surname of Frugi, which is perhaps nearly
On the murder of the latter, in B. C. 44, Piso equivalent to our "man of honour," but the exact
exerted himself to obtain the preservation of the force of which is explained at length by Cicero
laws and institutions of his father-in-law, and was (Tues. iii. 18). Piso was tribune of the plebs,
almost the only person that dared to oppose the B. c. 149, in which year he proposed the first law
arbitrary conduct of Antony. Afterwards, how- for the punishment of extortion in the provinces
ever, he appeared as one of the most zealous ad- (Lex Calpurnia de Repetundis, Cic. Brut. 27, Ferr.
herents of Antony; and when the latter went to iii. 84, iv. 25, de Off. ii. 21). In B. c. 133 hle was
Cisalpine Gaul, at the end of the year, to prosecute consul with P. Mucius Scaevola, and was sent into
the war against Decimus Brutus, Piso remained at Italy against the slaves. He gained a victory over
Rome, to defend his cause and promote his views. them, but did not subdue them, and was succeeded
At the beginning of the following year, B. C. 43, he in the command by the consul P. Rupilius (Oros.
was one of the ambassadors sent to Antony at v. 9; Val. Max. ii. 7. ~ 9). Piso was a staunch
Mutina. After this time his name does not occur. supporter of the aristocratical party; and though
(Orelli, Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 123, &c.; Caes. B. C. he would not look over their crimes, as his law
i. 3; Dion Cass. xl. 63, xli. 16; Appian, B. C. ii. against extortion shows, still he was as little
14, 135, 143, iii. 50, 54, &c.) disposed to tolerate any invasion of their rights
8. L. CALPURNIUS L. F. L. N. PIso CAESONI- and privileges. He therefore offered a strong opNUS, the son of No. 7, must have been born during position to the measures of C. Gracchus, and is
the civil war between Caesar and Pompey (B.c. especially mentioned as a vehement opponent of the
49-48), as he was eighty at the time of his death lex frumentaria of the latter (Cic. pro Font. 1 3,
in A.D. 32 (Tac. Ann. vi. 10). He was consul Tusc. iii. 20). He is called Censorius by several
B. c. 15, with M. Livius Drusus Libo, and after- ancient writers; and though the date of his censorwards obtained the province of Pamphylia; from ship is uncertain, it may perhaps be referred to
thence he was recalled by Augustus in B. c. 11, in B. C. 120. Piso left behind him orations, which
order to make war upon the Thracians, who had had disappeared in Cicero's time, and Annals,
attacked the province of Macedonia. After a which contained the history of Rome from the
struggle which lasted for three years he subdued earliest period to the age in which Piso himself
the various Thracian tribes, and obtained in con- lived. This work, which, according to Cicero's
sequence the triumphal insignia. The favour which judgment (Brut. 27), was written in a meagre
Augustus had shown to Piso, he continued to re- style, is frequently referred to by ancient writers.
ceive from his successor Tiberius, who made him Piso was, in Niebuhr's opinion, the first Roman
praefectus urbi. He was one of the associates of writer who introduced the practice of giving a raTiberius in his revels, but had nothing of the cruel tionalistic interpretation to the myths and legends
and suspicious disposition of the emperor. Although in early Roman history. (Comp. Niebuhr, Hist.
he spent the greater part of the night at table, and of Rome, vol. i. pp. 235, 237, vol. ii. p. 9; Lachdid not rise till midday, he discharged the duties mann, De Fontibus T. Livii, p. 32; Krause, Vitae
of his office with punctuality and diligence; and et Fragm. Hist. Roman. p. 139; Liebaldt, De L.
while retaining the favour of the emperor, without Pisone Annalium Scriptore, Naumburg, 1836.)
condescending to servility, he at the same time 10. L. CALPURNIUS PIso FRUGI, the son of
earned the good-will of his fellow-citizens by the No. 9, and a worthy inheritor of his surname,
integrity and justice with which he governed the served with distinction under his father in Sicily,
city. Velleius Paterculus, who wrote his history in B. C. 133, and died in Spain about B. C. 111,
while Piso held the praefecture of the city, pro- whither he had gone as propraetor. (Cic. Verr. iv.
nounces a glowing eulogy on his virtues and merits. 25; Val. Max. iv. 3. ~ 10; Appian, Hisp. 99.)
He died, as we have already stated, in A. n. 32, 11. L. CALPURNIUS PIso FRUGI, the son of
and was honoured by a decree of the senate, with No. 10, was, like his father and grandfather, a man
a public funeral. He was a pontiff at the time of of honour and integrity. He was a colleague of
his death. The year in which he was appointed Verres in the praetorship, B. c. 74, whens he
praefectus urbi has occasioned considerable dispute. thwarted many of the unrighteous schemes of the
Tacitus says that he held the office for twenty latter. (Cic. Verr. i. 46.)
years, but this is opposed to the statements of 12. C. CALPrRNIUS Piso FRUeI, a son of No.
Seneca and Tiberius, who place his appointment 11, married Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, in B. C.
much later than Tacitus. It is impossible, however, 63, but was betrothed to her as early as B. c. 67
to come to any definite conclusion on the subject (Cic. ad Att. i. 3). In Caesar's consulship, B. c.
(Dion Cass. liv. 21, 34, lviii. 19; Florus, iv. 12; 59, Piso was accused by L. Vettius as one of the
Vell. Pat. ii. 98; Tac. Ann. vi. 10, 11; Senec. conspirators in the pretended plot against Pompey's
Ep. 83; Suet. Tib. 42; Plin. H. N. xiv. 22. s. life. He was quaestor in the following year, B. c.
28). According to Porphyrion it was to this 58, when he used every exertion to obtain the
B, 3