Mummius

• name of a Roman gens. The most celebrated are,
• • • 1 L. Mummius Achaicus, the destroyer of Corinth, Cic. Off. 2, 22, 76; id. Verr. 2, 1, 21, § 55; 2, 3, 4, § 9; Vell. 1, 13, 1.—
    • 2 His brother, Sp. Mummius, Cic. Rep. 1, 12, 18; 3, 34, 46; 5, 9, 16; id. Att. 13, 5, 11.—
    • 3 Another Mummius, a composer of Atellane plays, Charis. p. 118 P.; Prisc. 10, 9, p. 514 Krehl.—In fem.: Mummia, ae, wife of the emperor Galba, Suet. Galb. 3.—Hence, ‡ Mummiānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Mummius, Mummian: aedificia, Paul. ex Fest. p. 140 Müll.

Μόμμιος.

1. L. Mummius was tribune of the plebs in B. C. 187. He opposed the bill of M. Porcius Cato for inquiring into the amount of monies paid by Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, as the price of peace in B. C. 188, to the brothers P. and L. Scipiones. Mummius, intimidated by Cato, withdrew his opposition, and the bill was passed. He was praetor in B. C. 177, and obtained Sardinia for his province. In his praetorship Mummius was instructed by the senate to put in force a decree for dismissing to their respective cities all residents at Rome, who were possessed merely of the Jus Latii. (Liv. 37.54, 41.8 )

2. Q. Mummius, brother of the preceding, was his colleague in the tribunate of B. C. 187. (Liv. 37.54.)

3. L. Mummius Achaicus, L. F. L. N., son of No. 1, was praetor in B. C. 154. His province was the further Spain, where, after some serious reverses, he finally retrieved his reputation by victories over the Lusitanians and Blasto-Phoenicians, and triumphed De Lusitaneis in the following year. (Appian, Hispan. 56-57; Eutrop. 4.9; Fasti.) Mummius was consul in B. C. 146, when he won for himself the surname of Achaicus, by the destruction of Corinth, the conquest of Greece, and the establishment of the Roman province of Achaia. His surname was the more remarkable from the circumstance that Mummius was the first self-raised man-novus homo--who attained a national appellation from military service. From the double name of his descendant, Mummia Achaica, the surname appears to have been perpetuated in the Mummian family. The Achaean league, under its weak and rash leaders, the praetors Critoläus and Diaeus, had been for some time inspired by a warlike spirit alien to their interests and the sounder policy of earlier years. Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, praetor in B. C. 148, had humbled Greece by his victories; but his leniency deceived the Achaean chiefs, and they persuaded themselves that Rome was unable to complete its conquest. They had assembled an army in the Isthmus shortly before the arrival of Mummius. He promptly dismissed his predecessor, Metellus, defeated the army of the league, whose hasty levies were no match for the discipline of the legions, and entered Corinth without opposition, since the garrison and principal inhabitants had abandoned it, and the spirit of Greece was at length completely broken. The city was burnt, rased, and given up to pillage: the native Corinthians were sold for slaves, and the rarest specimens of Grecian art, which the luxury and opulence of centuries had accumulated, were given up to the rapacity of an ignorant conqueror. Polybius the historian, who, on the fall of Corinth, had come from Africa to mitigate, if possible, the calamities of his countrymen, saw Roman soldiers playing at draughts upon the far-famed picture of Dionysus by Aristides; and Murmmius himself was so unconscious of the real value of his prize, that he sold the rarer works of painting, sculpture, and carving, to the king of Pergamus, and exacted securities from the masters of vessels who conveyed the remainder to Italy, to replace by equivalents any picture or statue lost or injured in the passage. But although ignorant, Mummius was more scrupulous in his selection of the spoils than the Roman generals of later tines, or even than some of his contemporaries. He appropriated secular or private property alone, and religiously abstained from all that had been consecrated to religious uses. Mummius remained in Greece during the greater part of B. C. 146-145, in the latter year with the title of proconsul. He arranged the fiscal and municipal constitution of the newly acquired province, and won the confidence and esteem of the provincials by his integrity, justice, and equanimity. Mummius was one of the few Roman commanders in the republican aera who did homage to the religion of the Hellenic race. He dedicated a brazen statue of Zeus at Olympia, and surrounded the shrine of the god with gilt bucklers of brass. The Corinthian bronze, so celebrated in the later art of the ancient world, was an accidental discovery, resulting from the burning of the city. The metallic ornaments of its sumptuous temples, basilicae, and private dwellings, formed the rich and solid amalgam which was employed afterwards in the fusile department of sculpture. Mummius triumphed in B. C. 145. His procession formed an epoch in the history of Roman art and cultivation. Trains of waggons laden with the works of the purest ages moved along the Via Sacra to the Capitoline Hill: yet the spectator of the triumph, who had seen them in their original sites and number, must have mourned many an irreparable loss. The fire had destroyed many, the sea had engulfed many; and the royal connoisseurs, the princes of Pergamus, had carried off many for their galleries and temples. Mummius, with a modesty uncommon in conquerors, refused to inscribe the spoils with his name. He viewed them as the property of the state, and he lent them liberally to adorn the triumphs, the buildings, and even the private houses of others, while in his own villa he retained the severe simplicity of early Rome. Mummius was censor in B. C. 142. His colleague was Cornelius Scipio, better known as the younger Africanus; and no colleagues ever disagreed more heartily. The polished Scipio was rigid to excess; the rustic Mummius culpably lenient. On laying down his office, Scipio dedared that "he should have discharged his functions well, had he been paired with a different colleague, or with none at all." Mummius, however, in private life, was not exempt from the prevailing immorality of the times, to which his conquest of Corinth, by causing a sudden influx of wealth into Rome, contributed. He was a respectable orator; and, as his government of Achaia showed, possessed administrative talents. His political opinions inclined to the popular side. Though he brought so much wealth into the statecoffers, Mummius died poor, and the commonwealth furnished a marriage portion to his daughter. (Polby. 3.32, 40.7, 8, 11; Liv. Ep. 52; Appian, App. Pun. 135; D. C. 81; Flor. 2.16; Eutrop. 4.14; V. Max. 6.4.2, 7.5.4; Cic. in Verr. 1.21, 3.4, 4.2, pro Muraen. 14, de Leg. Agrar. 1.2, de Orat. 2.6, Orat. 70, Brut. 22, de Off. 2.22, ad Att. 13.4, 5, 6, 30, 32, 33, Parad. 5.2, Cornel. ii. fr. 8; Pseudo-Ascon. in Cic. Verr. ii. p. 173, Orelli; Plin. Nat. 34.2, 35.4, 10; Diod. 31.5, fr.; Oros. 5.3; Vell. 1.12, 13, 2.128; Tac. Ann. 14.21; Paus. 7.12'; Strabo viii. p.381; Ath. 4.1; Zonar. 9.20_23.)

4. Sp. Mummius, brother of the preceding, and his legatus at Corinth in B. C. 146-145, was an intimate friend of the younger Scipio Africanus. In political opinions Spurius was opposed to his brother Lucius, and was a high aristocrat. was one of the opponents of the establishment of rhetorical schools at Rome. Mummius composed ethical and satirical epistles, which were extant in Cicero's age, and were probably in the style which Horace afterwards cultivated so successfully. (Cic. de Rep. 1.12, 3.35, 5.9, de Amic. 19,27, ad Att. 13.5, 6, 30.)

5. Sp. Mummius, grandson of the preceding, died shortly before B. C. 46. He had preserved and used to recite to Cicero the epistles of his grandfather, Sp. Mummius [No. 4.] (Cic. Att. 13.6.)

6. M. Mummius, was praetor in B. C. 70, and presided at the trial of Verres in that year. (Cic. in Verr. 3.52.)

7. Mummius, a legatus of M. Crassus in the servile war, B. C. 73, was defeated by the gladiator Spartacus. (Plut. Crass. 10.)

8. Mummius, was a writer of farces, Atellanae, after the year B. C. 90. He is mentioned by Charisius (p. 118) and Priscian (10.9, p. 514, ed. Krehle). In Macrobius (Macr. 1.10) and Gellius (19.9) he is called Memmius. [W. B. D.]

[Lupercus.]

(1) Lucius. A tribune of the plebs B.C. 187, and praetor 177.

(2) Lucius, surnamed Achaĭcus, son of the last, was praetor 154, when he carried on the war successfully in further Spain against the Lusitanians. He was consul in 146, when he won for himself the surname of Achaicus by the conquest of Greece and the establishment of the Roman province of Achaia. After defeating the army of the Achaean League at the isthmus of Corinth, he entered Corinth without opposition. The city was burned, razed, and abandoned to pillage; the native Corinthians were sold for slaves, and the rarest specimens of Grecian art were given up to the rapacity of an ignorant conqueror. Polybius, the historian, saw Roman soldiers playing at draughts upon the far-famed picture of Dionysus by Aristides; and Mummius himself was so unconscious of the real value of his prize that he sold the rarer works of painting, sculpture, and carving to the king of Pergamus, and took bonds from the masters of vessels who conveyed the remainder to Italy to replace by equivalents any picture or statue lost or injured in the passage (Polyb. iii. 32; xl. 7-11; Vell. Paterc. i. 13). He remained in Greece during the greater part of 145 with the title of proconsul. He arranged the fiscal and municipal constitution of the newly-acquired province, and won the confidence and esteem of the provincials by his integrity, justice, and equanimity. He triumphed in 145. He was censor in 142 with Scipio Africanus the younger. The political opinions of Mummius inclined to the popular side.

(3) Spurius, brother of the preceding, and his legate at Corinth in 146-145, was an intimate friend of the younger Scipio Africanus. In political opinions Spurius was opposed to his brother Lucius, and was a noted aristocrat. He composed ethical and satirical epistles, which were extant in Cicero's day, and were probably in the style which Horace afterwards cultivated so successfully.

(4) A writer of Atellanae, who flourished later than B.C. 90 (Macrob. Sat. i. 10, 3).

• commands Roman army against Achaeans: Paus. 7.15.1
• defeats Achaeans and captures Corinth: Paus. 2.1.2, Paus. 2.2.2, Paus. 5.10.5, Paus. 7.16.1-8
• completes subjugation of Greece: Paus. 7.16.9, 10
• dedicates shields at Olympia: Paus. 5.10.5
• dedicates images of Zeus at Olympia from Achaean spoils: Paus. 5.24.4, 8