Celsus

Celsus, i, m., a Roman cognomen; esp.,

• I A. Cornelius Celsus, the greatest of the Roman writers on medicine.—
• II C. Albinovanus, a friend of Horace, Hor. Ep. 1, 3, 15; 1, 8, 1.

2. Celsus, ī, m., röm. Eigenn., unter dem bes. bekannt: a) A. Cornelius Celsus, berühmter, aber seinen Lebensumständen nach ganz unbekannter Arzt u. Gelehrter, Verf. eines enzyklopädischen Werkes in 20 Büchern, von denen die acht die Heilkunde behandelnden (lib. 6–13) auf uns gekommen sind, Quint. 10, 1, 124 u. 12, 11, 24. Col. 1. 1, 14. Veget. mil. 1, 8, p. 12, 14 L. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Literat.⁵ § 280. – b) die Juristen P. Iuventius Celsus, der Vater, zu Vespasians Zeit, Nerat. dig. 17, 1, 39; u. der berühmtere Sohn, zu Trajans, Domitians u. Hadrians Zeit, Plin. ep. 6, 5, 4. Ulp. dig. 5, 3, 20. § 6. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Literat.⁵ § 316, 4 u. § 342, 2. – c) Celsus Albinovanus, s. Albinovānus.

2 Celsus, (11) ī, m. , Celse ¶ 1 médecin célèbre et écrivain encyclopédiste : Quint. 10, 1, 124 ¶ 2 jurisconsulte sous Trajan : Plin. Min. Ep. 6, 5, 4 ¶ 3 Celsus Albinovanus, v. Albinovanus.

Celsus

(T. Cornelius), one of the thirty tyrants enumerated by Trebellius Pollio. [Comp. Aureolus.] In the twelfth year of Gallienus, A. D. 265, when usurpers were springing up in every quarter of the Roman world, a certain Celsus, who had never risen higher in the service of the state than the rank of a military tribune, living quietly on his lands in Africa, in no way remarkable except as a man of upright life and commanding person, was suddenly proclaimed emperor by Vibius Passienus, proconsul of the province, and Fabius Pomponianus, general of the Libyan frontier. So sudden was the movement, that the appropriate trappings of dignity had not been provided, and the hands of Galliena, a cousin it is said of the lawful monarch, invested the new prince with a robe snatched from the statue of a goddess. The downfall of Celsus was not less rapid than his elevation: he was slain on the seventh day, his body was devoured by dogs, and the loyal inhabitants of Sicca testified their devotion to the reigning sovereign by devising an insult to the memory of his rival unheard-of before that time. The effigy of the traitor was raised high upon a cross, round which the rabble danced in triumph. The names T. Cornelius rest upon the authority of medals published by Goltzius now universally recognised as spurious. Further Information

Trebell. Pollio, Trig. Tyrann. [W.R]

Celsus

a Greek rhetorician, a pupil of Libanius. (Liban. Ep. 627, 1581, Orat. xxvi. vol. ii. p. 606.)

Celsus

an Epicurean, who lived in the time of the Antonines, and was a friend of Lucian. Works Λόγος ἀληθής

There was another Celsus, who lived before the time of Nero, but he is of no historical importance. Neither would the other have been so, but for the doubt whether he is not the author of the attack on Christianity called the Λόγος ἀληθής, which has acquired so much notoriety from the answer written to it by Origen. [Origenes.] To the Epicurean Celsus, Lucian dedicated his life of the magician Alexander, and in the course of it (§ 21) praises a work written by him against the belief in magic. But in the book against Christianity, Celsus stated with apparent approbation the opinion of the Platonists, that enchanters had power over all who have not raised themselves above the influence of sensuous nature (ὕλη), but not over those who are elevated to communion with the Deity; the whole of which sentiment is inconsistent with the doctrine of Epicurus. Again, he talked of the soul's relation to God, of the spirit of man as immortal and derived from the Divinity, of evil spirits springing from the ὕλη and opposing the designs of God. All these are plainly the sentiments, not of an Epicurean, but of a Platonist. Indeed, the only reason for supposing the author of this work to be the Epicurean Celsus, is the positive assertion of Origen, who, however, is obliged to have recourse to some curious hypotheses to account for the prevalence of the Platonic element. One is, that the author chose to conceal his real views, because there was at the time a strong prejudice against Epicureans as deniers of all religion, and therefore unfit to be judges of the merits of Christianity. But this seems improbable, and on the whole it is better to suppose Celsus the Epicurean and Celsus the author of this book to be different persons. With regard to the work itself, it is a mixture of self-sufficiency, ignorance, and inconsistency. In one place the author reproached the Christians as slaves of a blind belief, in another with their numerous sects and evervarying opinions. Sometimes he spoke of them as the slaves of their senses (δειλὸν καὶ φιλοσώματον γένος), on another occasion as persons who rejected all external worship whatever. He was indignant that the Christian promises are offered to sinners, and said in reference to our Lord's coming to save them, τί δὲ τοῖς ἀναμαρτήτοις οὐκ ἐπέμφθη; he also argued a priori against the doctrines of a special Providence, the Fall, and the Redemption, asserting that God made his work perfect once for all, and had no need to improve it afterwards. Further Information

Origenes, ad v. Cels. ; Brucker, Hist. Crit. Phil. Per. ii., 1.1, 2, 8; Neander, Geschichte der Christl. Kirche, vol. i. sect. 2. [G.E.L.C]

Celsus Albinova'nus

the secretary of Tib. Claudius Nero, and a friend of Horace, to whom the latter addressed one of his Epistles (1.8). He is thought to be the same as the poet Celsus mentioned in another of Horace's Epistles (1.3), in which he is said to have compiled his poems from other persons' writings. He must not be confounded with the poet Pedo Albinovanus, the friend of Ovid. [Albinovanus.]

Celsus , Appuleius

a physician of Centuripa in Sicily, who was the tutor of Valens and Scribonius Largus (Scrib. Larg. De Compos. Medicam. capp. 94, 171), and who must therefore have lived about the beginning of the Christian era. He has been supposed to be the author of the work entitled Herbarium, seu de Medicaminibus Herbarum, which goes under the name of Appuleius Barbarus [Appuleius], but this is probably not the case. He may, however, perhaps be the person who is quoted several times in the Geoponica, Cantab. 8vo. 1704. [W.A.G]

Celsus , Arru'ntius

an ancient commentator on Terence, who probably lived in the second half of the fourth century of the Christian aera. (Schopen, De Terentio et Donato, Bonn, 1821.)

Celsus , A. Cornelius* It is not quite certain whether his praenomen was Aulus or Aurelius, but it is generally supposed to have been Aurelius.

a very celebrated Latin writer on medicine, of whose age, origin, or even actual profession, we know but little. There are some incidental expressions which lead to the conjecture, that he lived at the beginning of the Christian era, under the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius; and particularly the mode in which he refers to Themison (Praef. lib. i. pp. 5, 9, 3.4, p. 43) would indicate that they were either contemporaries, or that Themison preceded him by a short period only. With respect to the country of Celsus (though he has been claimed as a native of Verona), we have nothing on which to ground our opinion, except the purity of his style, which at most would prove no more than that he had been educated or had passed a considerable part of his life at Rome. With regard to his profession, there is some reason to doubt whether he was a practitioner of medicine or whether he only studied it as a branch of general science, after the manner of some of the ancient Greek philosophers. This doubt has arisen principally from the mode in which he is referred to by Columella (de Re Rust. 1.1. 14) and by Quintilian (12.11), and by his not being enumerated by Pliny among the physicians of Rome in his sketch of the history of medicine. (H. N. 29.1, &c.) But, on the other hand, his work appears to bear very strong evidence that he was an actual practitioner, that he was familiar with the phenomena of disease and the operation of remedies, and that he described and recommended what fell under his own observation, and was sanctioned by his own experience; so that it seems upon the whole most probable that he was a physician by profession, but that he devoted part of his time and attention to the cultivation of literature and general science. Works

Quintilian speaks rather slightingly of him, calls him (Quint. 12.11) mediocri vir ingenio, and says he not only wrote on all sorts of literary matters, but even on agriculture and military tactics. Of these numerous works only one remains entire, his celebrated treatise on Medicine; but a few fragments of a work on Rhetoric were published under his name in 1569, 8vo., Colon., with the title Aurelii Cornelii Celsi, Rhetoris vetustissimi et clarissimi, de Arte Dicendi Libellus, primum in Lucem editus, curante Sixto a Popma Phrysio.

This little work is inserted by Fabricius at the end of his Bibliotheca Latina, where it fills about six small quarto pages, and is chiefly occupied with the works of Cicero. De Medicina

The treatise of Celsus De Medicina, On Medicine, is divided into eight books. It commences with a judicious sketch of the history of medicine, terminating by a comparison of the two rival sects, the Dogmatici and the Empirici, which has been given in the Dict. of Ant. pp. 350, 379. The first two books are principally occupied by the consideration of diet, and the general principles of therapeutics and pathology; the remaining books are devoted to the consideration of particular diseases and their treatment; the third and fourth to internal diseases; the fifth and sixth to external diseases, and to pharmaceutical preparations; and the last two to those diseases which more particularly belong to surgery. In the treatment of disease, Celsus, for the most part, pursues the method of Asclepiades of Bithynia; he is not, however, servilely attached to him, and never hesitates to adopt any practice or opinion, however contrary to his, which he conceives to be sanctioned by direct experience. He adopted to a certain extent the Hippocratic method of observing and watching over the operations of Nature, and of regulating rather than opposing them,--a method which, with respect to acute diseases, may frequently appear inert. But there are occasions on which he displays considerable decision and boldness, and particularly in the use of the lancet, which he employed with more freedom than any of his predecessors. His regulations for the employment of blood-letting and of purgatives are laid down with minuteness and precision (2.10, &c., p. 30, &c.) ; and, although he was in some measure led astray by his hypothesis of the crudity and concoction of the humours, the rules which he prescribed were not very different from those which were generally adopted in the commencement of the present century. His description of the symptoms of fever, and of the different varieties which it assumes, either from the nature of the epidemic, or from the circumstances under which it takes place (3.3, &c., p. 43, &c.), are correct and judicious ; his practice was founded upon the principle already referred to, of watching the operations of Nature, conceiving that fever consisted essentially in an effort of the constitution to throw off some morbid cause, and that, if not unduly interfered with, the process would terminate in a state of health. We here see the germ of the doctrine of the " vis medicatrix Naturae," which has had so much influence over the practice of the most enlightened physicians of modern times, and which, although erroneous, has perhaps led to a less hazardous practice than the hypotheses which have been substituted in its room.

But perhaps the most curious and interesting parts of the work of Celsus are those which treat of Surgery and surgical operations, of which some account is given in the Dict. of Ant. art. Chirurgia. It is very remarkable that he is almost the first writer who professedly treats on these topics, and yet his descriptions of the diseases and of their treatment prove that the art had attained to a very considerable degree of perfection. Many of what are termed the " capital" operations seem to have been well-understood and frequently practised, and it may be safely asserted, that the state of Surgery at the time when Celsus wrote, was comparatively much more advanced than that of Medicine.

The Pharmacy of Celsus forms another curious and interesting part of his work, and, like his Surgery, marks a state of considerable improvement in this branch of the art. Many of his formulae are well arranged and efficacious, and, on the whole, they may be said to be more correct and even more scientific than the multifarious compounds which were afterwards introduced into practice, and which were not completely discarded until our own times. The style of Celsus has been much admired, and it is in fact equal in purity and elegance to that of the best writers of the Augustan age. This is probably one of the chief reasons of his work having been chosen as a text-book in modern times; but it would be great injustice to suppose that this is its only merit, or that it contains nothing but a judicious and well-arranged abstract of what had been said by his predecessors. Some instances of his lax and inaccurate use of certain anatomical terms are mentioned in the Dict. of Ant. art. Physiologia ; but his anatomical and physiological knowledge does not appear to have been at all inferior to that of his contemporaries. In many passages of his work he follows Hippocrates, especially when treating of the general symptoms and phaenomena of diseases ; and occasionally we meet with sentences literally translated from the Greek. He does not, however, by any means blindly embrace his doctrines, and differs from him occasionally both in theory and practice. Editions

The work of Celsus, entitled De Medicina Libri Octo, has been published very often; Choulant mentions four editions in the fifteenth century, fifteen in the sixteenth, five in the seventeenth, thirteen in the eighteenth, and twelve in the first thirty-five years of the nineteenth.

The first edition was published at Florence, 1478, small fol., edited by Barthol. Fontius : it is said to be very scarce, and is described by Dibden in his Biblioth. Spencer. 1.303. Perhaps the other editions that best deserve to be noticed are those by Van der Linden, Lugd. Bat. 1657, 12mo.; Almeloveen, Amstel. 1687, 12mo. (which was several times reprinted); Targa, Patav. 1769, 4to. (whose text has been the basis of most subsequent editions); Lugd. Bat. 1785, 4to.; Argent. 1806, 8vo. 2 vols.; and Milligan, Edinb. 1826, 8vo. The latest edition mentioned by Choulant is that by F. Ritter and H. Albers, Colon. ad Rhen. 1835, 12mo. Translations

The work has been translated into English, French, Italian, and German. The English translations appear to be chiefly made for the use of medical students in London who are preparing for their examination at Apothecaries' Hall, and are not very good. Further information

A great number of works have been published on Celsus and his writings, which are enumerated by Choulant, but which cannot be mentioned here. Further particulars respecting his medical opinions may be found in Le Clerc's Hist. de la Méd. ; Haller's Biblioth. Medic. Pract. vol. i.; Sprengel's Hist. de la Méd. vol. ii. See also Bostock's Hist. of Med., and Choulant's Handbuch der Bücherkunde für die Aeltere Medicin, Leipz. 1840, 8vo., from which works the greater part of the preceding account has been taken. [W.A.G]

Celsus , Ju'lius

a tribune of the city cohort, was condemned to death under Tiberius, and broke his own neck in prison by means of the chains with which he was fettered, in order to escape the disgrace of a public execution. (Tac. Ann. 6.9, 14.)

Celsus , Ju'lius

a scholar at Constantinople in the seventh century after Christ. Works Recension of the text of Caesar's Commentaries

He made a recension of the text of Caesar's Commentaries, whence we find subjoined to many MSS. of Caesar, Julius Celsus Vir Clarissimus et Comes recensui, or Julius Celsus Constantinus V. C. legi. Many modern writers, indeed, have maintained that Celsus was the author of these commentaries, and still more have attributed to him the works on the Spanish and African wars; but the former supposition is ridiculous, and the latter destitute of proof. Life of Caesar ascribed to Celsus

Julius Celsus has been usually regarded as the author of the life of Caesar, but this work has been proved by C. E. Ch. Schneider (Petrarchae, Historia Julii Caesaris, Lips. 1827) to be a work of Petrarch's. Editions

This has been frequently printed with the editions of Caesar's Commentaries under the title of Julii Celsi Commentarii de Vita Caesaris. Further Information

There is a dissertation on Julius Celsus by Dodwell, appended to his Annales Quinctilianei et Statiani, Oxon. 1698.

Celsus , Juve'ntius

a Roman jurist, who flourished, as Majansius and Heineccius have clearly shewn, in the second half of the first century of the Christian aera. He succeeded Pegasus, the follower of Proculus, and was himself succeeded by Celsus, the son, and Neratius Priscus. (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.47.) He belonged (at least on one occasion) to the consilium of the consul Ducenus Verus, who was probably a consul suffectus, and is nowhere named except in Dig. 31. s. 29. The numerous attempts of learned men to identify Ducenus with recorded consuls are without ground, and most of their conjectures refer to too late a period, unless Celsus the father attained to an unusual age. Thus Wieling (Jurisprudentia Restituta, p. 351) and Guil. Grotius (De Vitis Jurisp. 2.2.2) make Ducenus the same as L. Cejonius Commodus Verus, who was consul A. D. 106. Others are for L. Annius Verus, consul A. D. 121. Ant. Augustinus (De Nominibus Propriis Pandectarum, 100.3, p. 259, n. [g.]) seems to think he might have been the Juventius Verus, who was consul for the third time A. D. 134. Heineccins (Hist. Jur 104.241, n.) is for Decennius Geminus who was consul suffectus A. D. 57, and whose cognomen might have been Verus. It was in the council of Ducenus Verus that the opinion of Celsus the father was given upon an important point, and was adopted as law. He held (to use the nomenclature of English jurisprudence), that the beneficial interest in a legacy did not lapse by the death of the trustee before the testator. (As to the consilium of the consul and other magistrates, see Dist. of Ant. s. v. Conventus ; also Cic. Brut. 22; Plin. Ep. 1.20; Amm. Mar. xxxiii. c. ull. ; Suet. Tib. 33; Tituli ex Corpore Ulpiawni, 1. s. 13; Cod. 1. tit. 51; Dig. 1. tit. 21. s. 2, pr.; tit. 22.) In Dig. 17. tit. 1. s. 39, his opinion is cited along with that of Aristo, who was rather younger than Celsus the father. The Celsus to whom Aristo gives answers in Dig. 2. tit. 14. s. 7.2, and Dig. 40. tit. 7. s. 29.1, was Celsus the son, who, having gained greater celebrity as a jurist than his father, is understood to be meant in the Digest whenever Celsus is named without the addition pater or filius. Bach, who thinks the contrary more likely (Hist. Jurisp. Rom. 3.1.22 . n. [h.]), is certainly mistaken. Compare Dig. 12. tit. 4. s. 3. §§ 6, 7; Dig. 31. s. 20. It can scarcely be doubted that the name of the father was the same as that of the son, viz. P. Juventius Celsus, for otherwise he would probably have been distinguished by the difference of name, whereas he is never mentioned by any other appellation than Celsus pater. There is no direct citation from him in the Digest. Stockmann (ad Bachii Hist. Jurisp. Rom. loc. cit.) mentions a conjecture of Ev. Otto (Praef. ad Thes. i. p. 28), that there were three jurists named Celsus, viz. father, son, and grandson ; but the reference to Otto seems to be incorrect. It is, indeed, highly probable that the P. Juventius, who appears from an inscription in Gruter (p. 607) to have been promagister scrinii under Antoninus Pius, A. D. 155, was a grandson of the elder Celsus, but there is no proof that he was a jurist. Those who, like Ménage (Amoen. Jur. c. xx.), identify the promagister with the son, must suppose that the son discharged an exceedingly laborious office in a very advanced age. Very little is known of Celsus the father, though much has been written upon him. Among the legal biographers who have attributed to his life one or more of the events that belong to the life of his son, are Guil. Grotius, Gravina, and Strauchius. (Vitae vet. JCtorum, No. 2, p. 14.) The Gens Juventia was an ancient race, and could boast of several jurists, as T. Juventius, C. Juventius, and M. Juventius Lateranensis. In manuscripts and monuments, from the ordinary interchange of V and B, the name is often spelt Jubentius. (Majansius, ad XXX JCtos, ii. pp. 236-255.) [J.T.G]

Celsus , P. Juve'ntius

a Roman jurist, the son of the subject of the preceding article. He was an accomplice in a conspiracy against Domitian, along with Nerva (who was afterwards emperor) and others; but although he was denounced to the emperor, he contrived to rescue himself and his companions, by flattering the emperor, by professing his innocence, and by promising to unravel the whole plot, and thus creating delays until the death of Domitian. (D. C. 67.13; Philostrat. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. 7.3.) He was afterwards highly favoured by Nerva and his son Trajan. Pliny (Ep,. 6.5) mentions an altercation between him and Licinius Nepos, concerning the cause of Pomponius Rufus Varinus. Celsus was then praetor, and, as the leges annales were at that time religiously observed (Plin. Ep. 7.16), may be supposed to have been 34 years of age. This would give A. D. 67 for the year of the birth of Celsus, for the cause of Pomponius Rufus was pleaded when M. Acilius was consul-elect (Plin. Ep. 5.20), that is to say, in A. D. 101. Celsus was twice consul. The date of his first consulship is not recorded. The second occurred A. D. 129, when he had C. Neratius Marcellus for his colleague. (Dig. 5. tit. 3. s. 20.6.) He was a friend of Hadrian, and one of that emperor's council (Spartian. Hadrian. 100.18, where for Julius Celsus is to be read Juventius Celsus), and he probably died towards the end of Hadrian's reign, for Julianus, the jurist, in a fragment of a work (Digesta) which was written in the commencement of the reign of Antoninus Pius (compare Dig. 3. tit. 5. s. 6.12; 4. tit. 2. s. 18), speaks of Celsus in the past tense:--" Quod etiam Juventio Celso apertissime placuit." (Dig. 28. tit. 2. s. 28, pr.)

Celsus received legal instruction from his father, and is supposed from several indications in extant passages of his works to have studied philosophy, especially the philosophy of the Stoics. His education was probably attended to with great care, for his style is terse and elegant, and his latinity so pure, that Laurentius Valla and Floridus, who unsparingly criticise the diction of the ancient Roman jurists, find little or nothing to carp at in Celsus. There are fragments which prove that he was acquainted with Greek. (Dig. 33. tit. 10. s. 7, 13. tit. 3. s. 3.) He early commenced the practice of the law. One of his youthful opinions was followed by Julianus, and is cited by Paulus. (Dig. 45. tit. 1. s. 91.3, unless by Celsus ad olescens we are here to understand Celsus the younger.) Celsus was manifestly well versed in the writings of his predecessors, for in the 20 pages which his 142 fragments occupy in Hommel (Palingen. Pandect.), will be found references to Sex. Aelius, Brutus, Cascellius, Cato, Livius Drusus, Q. Mucius Scaevola, Q. Antistius Labeo, C. Trebatius Testa, Aelius Tubero, M.Tullius Cicero, Servius Sulpicius, Nerva, Masurius Sabinus, Semp. Proculus, and Neratius Priscus. In return, we find him quoted by many of the most eminent later jurists, as Julianus, Pomponius, Maecianus, Ulpian, and Paulus, and by Justinian himself in the Institutes and the Code. In Cod. 6, tit. 2. s. 10 Justinian mentions a curious physiological opinion of Celsus concerning deafness. He belonged, like his father, to the sect of Proculus, but he was an independent thinker, sometimes differing from Labeo, Nerva, and his own father, and sometimes agreeing with Sabinus and Cassius. (Dig. 47. tit. 2.. s. 25.1; 21. tit. 2. s. 29, pr.; 12. tit. 4. s. 3. §§ 6, 7; 12. tit. 5. s. 6.) In the fragments of Celsus there are several passages which betoken great self-confidence and uncivil dogmatism. In this he deviated from the usual practice (almost amounting to professional etiquette) of jurists ancient and modern. A Roman or an English lawyer would say, "mihi videtur," " I think," " verius est," " the better opinion is ;" but Celsus sometimes omits such modest forms of expression. For example, it appears from Dig. 21. tit. 2. s. 29, pr., that he called Nerva's opinion false. But the grossest instance of rudeness occurs in answer to one Domitius Labeo, who inquired whether the person by whose hand a will was written was thereby disqualified front being one of the attesting witnesses. " Juventius Celsus Labeoni suo salutem. Aut non intelligo de quo me consulueris, aut valde stulta est consultatio tua: plus enim quam ridiculum est dubitare, an aliquis jure testis adhibitus sit, quoniam idem et tabulas testamenti scripserit." (Dig. 28. tit. 1. s. 27.) This question and this answer obtained such undesirable celebrity among civilians, that silly questions were called Quaestiones Domitianae, and blunt answers Responsiones Celsinae.

He wrote--1. Digestorum Libri XXXIX. after the order of the praetor's edict. Seven books of this work, viz. xxx--xxxvi, were occupied by a commentary on the Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea. This is the only one of the works of Celsus of which pure fragments are preserved in the compilations of Justinian, and perhaps the only one then extant. It belongs, according to Blume's theory, to the Classis Edictalis of the Digest. 2. Epistolae, of which Ulpian (Dig. 4. tit. 4. s. 3.1) cites the llth book. 3. Quaestiones, which, according to a citation of Ulpian (Dig. 34. tit. 2. s. 19.3), consisted of at least 19 books. 4. Commentarii, of which the 7th book is cited by Ulpian. (Dig. 34. tit. 2. s. 19.6.) 5. Institutiones, in 7 books, according to the testimony of the old scholiast on Juvenal (6.243). Gravina (Orig. Jur. Civ. lib. 1.49, p. 68) says, that Celsus left a work De Usucapionibus, in which he refers to his father; but this statement is given without authority, and appears to be an error partly copied from Panciroli (de Claris Leg. Interp. p. 44), who cites a passage in the Digest (Dig. 41. tit. 2. s. 47) referring not to Celsus, but to Nerva filius.

(Heinece. de Juventio Celso, Op. ii. pp. 518-532; Schott. de Quaestione Domiliana, Lips. 1771; Hub. Greg. van Vryhoff, Observ. Jur. Civ. 100.35; Neuber, Die juristiche Klassiker, pp. 133-1451; Kämmerer, Beiträge zur Gesch. u. Theorie des Röm. Rechts, i. No. 3, pp. 208-226.) [J.T.G]

Celsus , P. Ma'rius

consul in A. D. 62 (Fasti), was the commander of the fifteenth legion in Pannonia, with which he was sent to join Corbulo in his expedition against the Parthians in 64. On the death of Nero in 68, Celsus joined Galba's party, at which time he is spoken of as consul designatus, but whether he had been nominated to the consulship by Nero or by Galba is uncertain. He was one of the ablest and most faithful of Galba's supporters; and when the troops rebelled against the new emperor, Celsus was sent to endeavour to propitiate the detachment of the Illyrian army which had encamped in the Vipsanian porticus. It was probably thought that Celsus would have more influence with this army than any one else, on account of his former connexion with it: but he was unable to quell the insurrection. The death of Galba soon followed, and Otho obtained the sovereignty. The life of Celsus was now in great danger; the partizans of Otho loudly demanded his execution; but Otho, who appreciated his fidelity to his late master, not only spared his life, but admitted him to the circle of his most intimate friends. Celsus served Otho with the same fidelity as he had the late emperor. He was sent, together with Suetonius Paullinus and Annius Gallus, in command of the army to oppose the generals of Vitellius, who were advancing into Italy. At first he and his colleagues were completely successful; in the campaign on the Po, in the neighbourhood of Placentia and Cremona, they defeated all the plans of Caecina, the general of Vitellius [Caecina, No. 9]; and it was not till the latter had been joined by Fabius Valens, and Otho had resolved, against the advice of Celsus as well as Suetonius Paullinus, to risk a battle, that the aspect of affairs was changed. The battle of Bedriacum, in which Otho's army was defeated, gave Vitellius the empire; but Celsus, who had remained faithful to Otho to the last, again did not suffer for his fidelity. Vitellius allowed him to enter on the consulship on the calends of July (A. D. 69), as had been arranged fron the first. (Tac. Ann. 15.25, Hist. 1.14, 31, 39, 45, 71, 77, 87, 90, 2.23, 33, 60.)

Celsus , Pa'pius

Celsus appears as a surname of the Papia gens on several coins of the republican period, but does not occur in any ancient writer. Two of the most remarkable of these coins are given below. On the obverse the former contains a youthful head with a trophy behind it, the latter the head of Juno Sospita. The reverse of both represents the same subject, namely, a wolf with a piece of wood in its mouth, and an eagle standing before a burning heap of wood. This subject appears to refer to a legend related by Dionysius (1.59) in connexion with the foundation of Lavinium by the Trojans. He tells us, that the forest in which the city was afterwards built took fire of its own accord, and that a wolf was seen bringing dry wood to feed the flame, which was fanned by an eagle with its wings; but that a fox at the same time tried to extinguish the fire by its tail, which had been dipped in water; and that it was not till after several efforts that the wolf and eagle were able to get rid of him. Now we know that the Papia gens came originally from Lanuvium, which was also one of the chief seats of the worship of Juno Sospita. Hence it has been conjectured, that Dionysius has made a mistake in referring this legend to Lavinium : but it is not improbable that the same story may have been told, in later times, of the foundation of each city.

Celsus , L. Publi'cius

consul under Trajan in A. D. 113 (Fasti), was so much esteemed by this emperor, that he had a statue erected to his honour. He was, however, a personal enemy of Hadrian's, and accordingly the latter caused him to be put to death at Baiae immediately after his accession, A. D. 117. (D. C. 68.16, 69.2; Spartian. Hadr. 4, 7.)

Celsus

(1) Aulus Cornelius. A celebrated physician. His native city is unknown; some writers contending for Rome, others for Verona. The time in which he lived has also been made a subject of controversy, but the most probable opinion is that he lived in the first half of the first century A.D., and wrote under Tiberius and Claudius. Celsus composed a large work, on the plan, in some measure, of an encyclopaedia, in which he treated of philosophy, jurisprudence, warfare, agriculture, and medicine. It was entitled De Artibus. Unhappily, however, only the eight books (from the sixth to the fourteenth) which treat of medicine have come down to us.

Roman literature, otherwise so barren of good medical authorities, can boast of possessing in Celsus one who, for elegance, terseness, learning, good sense, and practical information, stands unrivalled. His preface contains an admirable exposition of the principles of the different schools which had risen up in medicine before his time; and in the remaining part of the first book there are many pertinent remarks on the best method of preserving the health. In the second, which treats of the general symptoms and phenomena of diseases in general, he has drawn freely from Hippocrates. The last part of this book is devoted to the subject of diet and regimen; and here his views will, with a few exceptions, be admitted by the unprejudiced to be wonderfully correct. In the third book he has treated of fevers; and here his distinctions, remarks upon critical days, and treatment will be found to be particularly deserving of attention. The other parts of his work it is unnecessary to go over minutely; but one may point out, as particularly valuable, his divisions and treatment of ulcers. It is remarkable that no ancient writer has treated of the diseases of the sexual organs with the same precision that he has done. The different shades of cutaneous diseases he has marked with a surprising degree of precision. But of the whole work the most interesting part, perhaps, is the seventh book, which treats of the operations of surgery according to the views of the Alexandrian School. His account of those performed upon the eye may be instanced as particularly excellent. The operation of lithotomy, as described by him, though not exactly the same as that now generally practised, has had, even in modern times, its admirers. Celsus has the merit of being the first author who makes mention of the application of the ligature to arteries for stopping hemorrhage. The best MSS. of Celsus are in the Vatican, the Laurentian Library, and in Paris—the oldest being of the tenth century. They all have a common origin. The best editions are those of Targa (Padua, 1769, and Verona, 1810); Milligan (Edinb. 1831); Ritter and Albers (Cologne, 1835); Renzi (Naples, 1851); and Daremberg (Leipzig, 1859). Milligan's edition has a good index, and that of Renzi a good lexicon. See Kissel, Celsus, eine hist. Monog. (Giessen, 1844), and on the Latinity, Brolen, De Elocutione Celsi (Upsala, 1872); also the articles Chirurgia and Medicina.

(2) A Platonic, or perhaps Epicurean, philosopher who lived about A.D. 180. His name is famous as that of one of the bitterest enemies of Christianity. From a motive of curiosity, or, perhaps, in order to be better able to combat the new religion, Celsus caused himself to be initiated into the mysteries of Christianity, and to be received into that secret society which St. Clement of Rome is supposed to have founded. It appears, however, that the sincerity of the neophyte was distrusted, and that he was refused admittance into the higher ceremonies. The discontent to which this gave rise in the breast of Celsus inflamed his resentment against the Christians, and he wrote a work against them, entitled Ἀληθὴς Λόγος, “A true discourse,” in which he employed all the resources of his intellect and eloquence to paint Christianity as a ridiculous and contemptible system, and its followers as a sect dangerous to the well-being of the State. There is no falsehood to which he has not recourse in order to represent in an untrue light the Christian scheme of morals, to parody and falsify the text of the Old and New Testaments, and to calumniate the character of Jesus Christ and his disciples. He styles Christianity a doctrine tending to pervert and corrupt the human race, and exhorts the government to extirpate the sect if it wishes to save the Empire. The discourse itself is lost; but Origen, who refuted it, in a work divided into eight books, has given us so complete an extract from it that by the aid of this we can follow all the principal reasoning of the author. Celsus wrote also a work against magicians and sorcerers (Κατὰ Μάγων), which is cited by Origen and Lucian. The latter, who was his friend, addressed to him his memoir on Alexander, the false prophet, in which he extols the wisdom of Celsus, his love for truth, and his amiable manners. See Keim, Celsus' wahres Wort (1873); Aubé, La Polémique Païenne (1878); and Pélagaud, Étude sur Celse (1878).

(3) Albinovānus, a friend of Horace, warned against plagiarism (Epist. i. 3, 15) and pleasantly ridiculed (Epist. i. 8) for his foibles.