Cluvius
- the name of a Roman gens, Cic. Rosc. Com. 14, 42; id. Fam. 13, 56, 1 sq.
- —Hence, Cluviāna hereditas, of a Cluvius, Cic. Att. 13, 46, 3.
the name of a family of Campanian origin, of whom we find the following mentioned:--
1. C. Cluvius Saxula, praetor in B. C. 175, and again in B. C. 173 praetor peregrinus. (Liv. 41.22, 33, 42.1.)
2. Sp. Cluvius, praetor in B. C. 172, had Sardinia as his province. (Liv. 42.9, 10.)
3. C. Cluvius, legate in B. C. 168 to the consul L. Aemilius Paullus in Macedonia. (Liv. 44.40.)
4. C. Cluvius, a Roman knight, a contemporary of Cicero, was judex in a suit between C, Fannius Chaerea and Q. Flavius, about B. C. 76. (Cic. pro Rosc. Com. 14.14-16.)
5. M. Cluvius, a wealthy banker of Puteoli, with whom Cicero was on intimate terms. In B. C. 51, Cicero gave him a letter of introduction to Thermus, who was propraetor in Asia, whither Cluvius was going to collect some debts due to him from various cities and individuals. In his will he bequeathed part of his property to Cicero. (Cic. Att. 6.2, ad Fam. 13.56, ad Att. 13.46, 14.9.)
6. C. Cluvius, made consul suffectus in B. C. 29 by Augustus. (D. C. 52.42.) It was probably this Cluvius who in B. C. 45 was appointed by Caesar to superintend the assignment of lands in Gallia Cisalpina, when Cicero wrote to hinm on behalf of the town of Atella. (Ad Fam. 13.7.) This same Cluvius also is probably referred to in a funeral oration of the age of Augustus. (Orelli, Inscr. No. 4859.)
The annexed coin, struck in the third dictatorship of Caesar, seems to belong to this Cluvius. Its obverse represents the head of Victory, with Caesar Dic. Ter.; its reverse Pallas, with C. Clovi Praef.
7. M. Cluvius Rufus, consul suffectus in A. D. 45. (J. AJ 2.1; Suet. Nero 21; D. C. 63.14.) He was governor of Hispania in the time of Galba, B. C. 69. (Tac. list. 1.8.) On the death of Galba he first swore allegiance to Otho, but soon afterwards he appears as a partisan of Vitellius. Hilarius, a freedman of Vitellius, having accused him of aspiring to the independent government of Spain, Cluvius went to Vitellius, who was then in Gallia, and succeeded in clearing himself. He remained in the suite of the emperor, though he still retained the government of his province. (Tac. Hist. 2.65.) Tacitus speaks of him (Hist. 4.43) as distinguished alike for his wealth and for his eloquence, and says, that no one in the time of Nero had been endangered by him. In the games in which Nero made his appearance, Cluvius acted as herald. (Suet. Nero 21; D. C. 63.14.) It is probably this same Cluvius whom we find mentioned as an historian. He wrote an account of the times of Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. (Tac. Ann. 13.20, 14.2; Plin. Ep. 9.19.5.) [C.P.M]