Piso

Pīso, ōnis, m.,

• a Roman surname in the gens Calpurnia; v. Calpurnius, Cic. Font. 13, 39; Juv. 5, 109.—Hence,
• II Pīsōnĭ-ānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a Piso, Pisonian: Pisoniana conjuratio, Suet. Ner. 36: Pisoniano vitio, cum loqui nesciret, tacere non potuit (with reference to Cic. Pis. 1, 1, where Cicero charges Piso with lack of eloquence), Hier. Ep. 69, 2.

4. Pīso, ōnis, m., ein röm. Familienname des kalpurnischen Geschlechts, s. Calpurnius. – Dav. Pīsoniānus, a, um, pisonianisch, des Piso, tempus, Cic.: coniuratio, Suet.: senatus consultum, ICt.

3 Pīsō, (8) ōnis, m. , surnom dans la gens Calpurnia ; not^t Pison, surnommé Frugi, consul, orateur : Cic. Font. 39 ; Br. 106 || C. Calpurnius Piso, accusé de concussion par les Allobroges, défendu par Cicéron : Cic. Fl. 98 ; Sall. C. 49, 1 || pl. Pisones Hor. P. 6 || -nĭānus, a, um, de Pison : Suet. Nero 63.

Piso

the name of the most distinguished family of the plebeian Calpurnia gens. This name, like many other Roman cognomens, is connected with agriculture, the noblest and most honourable pursuit of the ancient Romans : it comes from the verb pisere or pinsere, and refers to the pounding or grinding of corn. Thus the author of the poem addressed to Piso, ascribed by Wernsdorf to Saleius Bassus [Bassus], says (16, 17) : -- Claraque Pisonis tulerit cognomina prima, Humida callosa cum pinseret hordea dextra. (Comp. Plin. Nat. 18.3.) Many of the Pisones bore this cognomen alone, but others were distinguished by the surnames of Caesoninus and Frugi respectively. The family first rose from obscurity during the second Punic war, and from that time it became one of the most distinguished families in the Roman state. It preserved its celebrity under the empire, and during the first century of the Christian era was second to the imperial family alone. The following stemma contains a list of all the Pisones mentioned in history, and will serve as an index to the following account. Of most of them it is impossible to ascertain the descent.

Piso

1. Calpurnius Piso, was taken prisoner at the battle of Cannae, B. C. 216, and is said to have been sent with two others to Rome to negotiate the release of the prisoners, which proposition the senate refused to entertain. He was praetor urbanus in B. C. 211, and on the expiration of his year of office was sent as propraetor into Etruria B. C. 210. From thence he was commanded by the dictator, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, to take the command of the army at Capua ; but next year (B. C. 209) the senate again entrusted Etruria to him. (Liv. 22.61, 25.41, 26.10, 15, 21, 28, 27.6, 7, 21.) Piso in his praetorship proposed to the senate, that the Ludi Apollinares, which had been exhibited for the first time in the preceding year (B. C. 212), should be repeated, and should be celebrated in future annually. The senate passed a decree to this effect. (Liv. 26.23; Macr. 1.13 ; Festus, p. 326, ed. Müller, where he is erroneously called Maarcus instead of Caius.) The establishment of these games by their ancestor was commemorated on coins by the Pisones in later times. Of these coins, of which a vast number is extant, a specimen is annexed. The obverse represents the head of Apollo, the reverse a horseman riding at full speed, in allusion to the equestrian games, which formed part of the festival. Who the L. Piso Frugi was that caused them to be struck, cannot be determined. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 158.)

Piso

2. C. Calpurnius Piso, C. F. C. N., son of No. 1, was praetor B. C. 186, and received Further Spain as his province. He continued in his province as propraetor in B. C. 185, and on his return to Rome in 184 obtained a triumph for a victory he had gained over the Lusitani and Celtiberi. In B. C. 181 he was one of the three commissioners for founding the colony of Graviscae in Etruria, and in B. C. 180 he was consul with A. Postumius Albinus. Piso died during his consulship; he was no doubt carried off by the pestilence which was then raging at Rome, but the people suspected that he had been poisoned by his wife Quarta Hostilia, because her son by a former marriage, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, succeeded Piso as consul suffeetus. (Liv. 39.6, 8, 21, 30, 31, 42, 40.29, 35, 37.)

Piso

3. L. Calpurnius (Piso), probably a younger son of No. 1, was sent as ambassador to the Achaeans at Sicyon. (Liv. 32.19.)

Piso

4. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus., C. F. C. N. His last name shows that he originally belonged to the Caesonia gens, and was adopted by one of the Pisones, probably by No. 3, as he is indicated in the Fasti as C. F. C. N. This Piso brought dishonour on his family by his want of ability and of energy in war. He was praetor in B. C. 154, and obtained the province of Further Spain, but was defeated by the Lusitani. He was consul in B. C. 148 with Sp. Postumius Albinus, and was sent to conduct the war against Carthage, which he carried on with such little activity that the people became greatly discontented with his conduct, and he was superseded in the following year by Scipio. (Appian, App. Hisp. 56, Punic. 110-112.)

Piso

5. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, L. F. C. N., son of No. 4, was consul B. C. 112 with M. Livius Drusus. In B. C. 107 he served as legatus to the consul, L. Cassius Longinus, who was sent into Gaul to oppose the Cimbri and their allies, and he fell together with the consul in the battle, in which the Roman army was utterly defeated by the Tigurini in the territory of the Allobroges. [Longinus, No. 5.] This Piso was the grandfather of Caesar's father-in-law, a circumstance to which Caesar himself alludes in recording his own victory over the Tigurini at a later time. (Caes. Gal. 1.7, 12; Oros. 5.15.)

Piso

6. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, son of No. 5, never rose to any of the offices of state, and is only known from the account given of him by Cicero in his violent invective against his son [No. 7]. He had the charge of the manufactory of arms at Rome during the Marsic war. He married the daughter of Calventius, a native of Cisalpine Gaul, who came from Placentia and settled at Rome and hence Cicero calls his son in contempt a semi-Placentian. (Cic. in Pis. 36, 23, 26, 27.) [Calventius.]

Piso

7. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, C. F. L. N., the son of No. 6, and father-in-law of the dictator Caesar. Asconius says (in Cic. Pis. p. 3, ed. Orelli) that this Piso belonged to the family of the Frugi; but this is a mistake, as Drumann has shown (Gesch. Roms, vol. ii. p. 62). Our principal information respecting Piso is derived from several of the orations of Cicero, who paints him in the blackest colours; but as Piso was both a political and a personal enemy of the orator, we must make great deductions from his description which is evidently exaggerated. Still, after making every deduction, we know enough of his life to convince us that he was an unprincipled debauchee and a cruel and corrupt magistrate, a fair sample of his noble contemporaries, neither better nor worse than the majority of them. He is first mentioned in B. C. 59, when he was brought to trial by P. Clodius for plundering a province, of which he had the administration after his praetorship, and he was only acquitted by throwing himself at the feet of the judges (V. Max. 8.1.6). In the same year Caesar married his daughter Calpurnia. Through his influence Piso obtained the consulship for the following year B. C. 58, having for his colleague A. Gabinius, who was indebted for the honour to Pompey. The new consuls were the mere instruments of the triumvirs, and took care that the senate should do nothing in opposition to the wishes of their patrons. When the triumvirs had resolved to sacrifice Cicero, the consuls of course threw no obstacle in their way; but Clodius, to make sure of their support, promised Piso the province of Macedonia, and Gabinius that of Syria, and brought a bill before the people to that effect, although the senate was the constitutional body to dispose of the provinces. The banishment of Cicero soon followed. Piso took an active part in the measures of Clodius, and joined him in celebrating their victory. Cicero accuses him of transferring to his own house the spoils of Cicero's dwellings. The conduct of Piso in support of Clodius produced that extreme resentment in the mind of Cicero, which he displayed against Piso on many subsequent occasions. At the expiration of his consulship Piso went to his province of Macedonia, where he remained during two years, B. C. 57 and 56, plundering the province in the most shameless manner. In the latter of these years the senate resolved that a successor should be appointed, and accordingly, to his great mortification and rage, he had to resign the government in B. C. 55 to Q. Ancharius. In the debate in the senate, which led to his recal and likewise to that of Gabinius, Cicero had an opportunity of giving vent to the wrath which had long been raging within him, and accordingly in the speech which he delivered on the occasion, and which has come down to us (De Provinciis Consularibus), he poured forth a torrent of invective against Piso, accusing him of every possible crime in the government of his province. Piso on his return, B. C. 55, complained in the senate of the attack of Cicero, and justified the administration of his province, whereupon Cicero reiterated his charges in a speech (In Pisonem), in which he portrays the whole public and private life of his enemy with the choicest words of virulence and abuse that the Latin language could supply. Cicero, however, did not venture to bring to trial the father-in-law of Caesar.

In B. C. 50 Piso was censor with Ap. Claudius Pulcher, and undertook this office at the request of Caesar. At the beginning of the following year, B. C. 49, Piso, who had not yet laid down his censorship, offered to go to Caesar to act as mediator ; but the aristocratical party would not hear of any accommodation, and hostilities accordingly commenced. Piso accompanied Pompey in his flight from the city; and although he did not go with him across the sea, he still kept aloof from Caesar. Cicero accordingly praises him. and actually writes to Atticus. "I love Piso" (Cic. Att. 7.13, a., ad Fam. 14.14). Piso subsequently returned to Rome, and though he took no part ill the civil war, was notwithstanding treated with respect by Caesar. On the murder of the latter, in B. C. 44, Piso exerted himself to obtain the preservation of the laws and institutions of his father-in-law, and was almost the only person that dared to oppose the arbitrary conduct of Antony. Afterwards, however, he appeared as one of the most zealous adherents of Antony; and when the latter went to Cisalpine Gaul, at the end of the year, to prosecute the war against Decimus Brutus, Piso remained at Rome, to defend his cause and promote his views. At the beginning of the following year, B. C. 43, he was one of the ambassadors sent to Antony at Mutina. After this time his name does not occur. (Orelli, Onom. Tall. vol. ii. p. 123, &c.; Caes. Civ. 1.3; D. C. 40.63, 41.16; Appian, App. BC 2.14, 135, 143, 3.50, 54, &c.)

Piso

8. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, L. F. L. N., the son of No. 7, must have been born during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey (B. C. 49-48), as he was eighty at the time of his death in A. D. 32 (Tac. Ann. 6.10). He was consul B. C. 15, with M. Livius Drusus Libo, and afterwards obtained the province of Pamphylia; from thence he was recalled by Augustus in B. C. 11, in order to make war upon the Thracians, who had attacked the province of Macedonia. After a struggle which lasted for three years he subdued the various Thracian tribes, and obtained in consequence the triumphal insignia. The favour which Augustus had shown to Piso, he continued to receive from his successor Tiberius, who made him praefectus urbi. He was one of the associates of Tiberius in his revels, but had nothing of the cruel and suspicious disposition of the emperor. Although he spent the greater part of the night at table, and did not rise till midday, he discharged the duties of his office with punctuality and diligence; and while retaining the favour of the emperor, without condescending to servility, he at the same time earned the good-will of his fellow-citizens by the integrity and justice with which he governed the city. Velleius Paterculus, who wrote his history while Piso held the praefecture of the city, pronounces a glowing eulogy on his virtues and merits. He died, as we have already stated, in A. D. 32, and was honoured by a decree of the senate, with a public funeral. He was a pontiff at the time of his death. The year in which he was appointed praefectus urbi has occasioned considerable dispute. Tacitus says that he held the office for twenty years, but this is opposed to the statements of Seneca and Tiberius, who place his appointment much later than Tacitus. It is impossible, however, to come to any definite conclusion on the subject (D. C. 54.21, 34, 58.19; Florus, 4.12 ; Vell. 2.98; Tac. Ann. 6.10, 11; Senec. Ep. 83; Suet. Tib. 42; Plin. Nat. 14.22. s. 28). According to Porphyrion it was to this Piso and his two sons that Horace addressed his epistle on the Art of Poetry, and there are no sufficient reasons for rejecting this statement, as has been done by some modern writers. Respecting these two sons we only know that the elder was called Lucius (Anon. ad Hor. Ar. Poet. 366), but neither of them can be identified for certain with any of the Pisones mentioned in history.

Piso

9. L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, consul B. C. 133. His descent is quite uncertain, since neither the Fasti nor coins mention the name of his father. From his integrity and conscientiousness he received the surname of Frugi, which is perhaps nearly equivalent to our "man of honour," but the exact force of which is explained at length by Cicero (Tusc. 3.18). Piso was tribune of the plebs, B. C. 149, in which year he proposed the first law for the punishment of extortion in the provinces (Lex Calpurnia de Repetundis, Cic. Brut. 27, Verr. 3.84, 4.25, de Off. 2.21). In B. C. 133 he was consul with P. Mucius Scaevola, and was sent into Italy against the slaves. He gained a victory over them, but did not subdue them, and was succeeded in the command by the consul P. Rupilius (Oros. 5.9; V. Max. 2.7.9). Piso was a staunch supporter of the aristocratical party; and though he would not look over their crimes, as his law against extortion shows, still he was as little disposed to tolerate any invasion of their rights and privileges. He therefore offered a strong opposition to the measures of C. Gracchus, and is especially mentioned as a vehement opponent of the lex frumcntaria of the latter (Cic. pro Font. 13, Tusc. 3.20). He is called Censorius by several ancient writers; and though the date of his censorship is uncertain, it may perhaps be referred to B. C. 120. Piso left behind him orations, which had disappeared in Cicero's time, and Annals, which contained the history of Rome from the earliest period to the age in which Piso himself lived. This work, which, according to Cicero's judgment (Brut. 27), was written in a meagre style, is frequently referred to by ancient writers. Piso was, in Niebuhr's opinion, the first Roman writer who introduced the practice of giving a rationalistic interpretation to the myths and legends in early Roman history. (Comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. i. pp. 235, 237, vol. ii. p. 9; Lachmann, De Fontiburs T. Livii, p. 32; Krause, Vitae et Fragm. Hist. Roman. p. 139; Liebaldt, De L. Pisone Annalium Scriptore, Naumburg, 1836.)

Piso

10. L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, the son of No. 9, and a worthy inheritor of his surname, served with distinction under his father in Sicily, in B. C. 133, and died in Spain about B. C. 111, whither he had gone as propraetor. (Cic. Ver. 4.25; V. Max. 4.3.10; Appian, App. Hisp. 99.)

Piso

11. L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, the son of No. 10, was, like his father and grandfather, a man of honour and integrity. He was a colleague of Verres in the praetorship, B. C. 74, when he thwarted many of the unrighteous schemes of the latter. (Cic. Ver. 1.46.)

Piso

12. C. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, a son of No. 11, married Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, in B. C. 63, but was betrothed to her as early as B. C. 67 (Cic. Att. 1.3). In Caesar's consulship, B. C. 59, Piso was accused by L. Vettius as one of the conspirators in the pretended plot against Pompey's, life. He was quaestor in the following year, B. C. 58, when he used every exertion to obtain the recal of his father-in-law from banishment, and for that reason would not go into the provinces of Pontus and Bithynia, which had been allotted him. He did not, however, live to see the return of Cicero, who arrived at Rome on the 4th of Septem>ber, B. C. 57. He probably died in the summer of the same year. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero in terms of gratitude on account of the zeal which he had manifested in his behalf during his banishment. (Cic. Att. 2.24, in Vatin. 11, pro Sest. 24, 31, ad Q. Fr. 1.4, ad Fam. 14.1, 2, post Red. in Sen. 15, post Red. ad Quir. 3.)

Piso

13. Cn. Calpurnius Piso, of whom we know nothing, except that he was consul B. C. 139, with M. Popillius Laenas. (V. Max. 1.3 § 2.)

Piso

14. Q. Calpurnius Piso, consul B. C. 135, with Ser. Fulvius Flaccus, was sent against Numantia. He did not, however, attack the city, but contented himself with making a plundering excursion into the territory of Pallantia. (Appian. Hisp. 83 ; Oros. 5.6; Obsequ. 85.)

Piso

15. Calpurnius Piso, of unknown descent, praetor about B. C. 135, was defeated by the slaves in Sicily. (Flor. 3.19.)

Piso

16. Calpurnius Piso, of whom we know nothing, except that he fought with success against the Thracians, about B. C. 104. (Flor. 3.4.6, 4.12.17.)

Piso

17. C. Calpurnius Piso, was consul B. C. 67, with M'. Acilius Glabrio. He belonged to the high aristocratical party, and, as consul, led the opposition to the proposed law of the tribune Gabinius, by which Pompey was to be entrusted with extraordinary powers for the purpose of conducting the war against the pirates. Piso even went so far as to threaten Pompey's life, telling him, "that if he emulated Romulus, he would not escape the end of Romulus," for which imprudent speech he was nearly torn to pieces by the people. The law, however, was carried, notwithstanding all the opposition of Piso and his party; and when shortly afterwards the orders which Pompey had issued, were not carried into execution in Narbonese Gaul, in consequence, as it was supposed, of the intrigues of Piso, Gabinius proposed to deprive the latter of his consulship, an extreme measure which Pompey's prudence would not allow to be brought forward. Piso had not an easy life in this consulship. In the same year the tribune, C. Cornelius, proposed several laws, which were directed against the shameless abuses of the aristocracy. [Cornelius, Vol. I. p. 857.] All these Piso resisted with the utmost vehemence, and none more strongly than a stringent enactment to put down bribery at elections. But as the senate could not with any decency refuse to lend their aid in suppressing this corrupt practice, they pretended that the law of Cornelius was so severe, that no accusers would come forward, and no judges would condemn a criminal; and they therefore made the consuls bring forward a less stringent law (Lex Acilia Calpurnia), imposing a fine on the offender, with exclusion from the senate and all public offices. It was with no desire to diminish corruption at elections that Piso joined his colleague in proposing the law, for an accusation had been brought against him in the preceding year of obtaining by bribery his own election to the consulship.

In B. C. 66 and 65, Piso administered the province of Narbonese Gaul as proconsul, and while there suppressed an insurrection of the Allobroges. Like the other Roman nobles, he plundered his province, and was defended by Cicero in B. C. 63, when he was accused of robbing the Allobroges, and of executing unjustly a Transpadane Gaul. The latter charge was brought against him at the instigation of Caesar; and Piso, in revenge, implored Cicero, but without success, to accuse Caesar as one of the conspirators of Catiline. Piso must have died before the breaking out of the civil war, but in what year is uncertain. Cicero ascribes (Brut. 68) to him considerable oratorical abilities. (Plut. Pomp. 25, 27; D. C. 36.7, 20-22; Ascon. in Cic. Cornel. pp. 68, 75, ed. Orelli; Cic. Att. 1.1, 13, pro Fllcc. 39; Sal. Cat. 49)

He may be the same as the L. Piso, who was judex in the case of Q. Roscius, B. C. 67 (Cic. pro Rose. Corn. 3, 6), and as the L. Piso, who defended Aebutus against Caecina in 75 (pro Cacein. 12).

Piso

18. M. Pupius Piso, consul B. C. 61, belonged originally to the Calpurnia gens, but was adopted by M. Pupius, when the latter was an old man (Cic. pro Dom. 13). He retained, however, his family-name Piso, just as Scipio, after his adoption by Metellus, was called Metellus Scipio. [Metellus, No. 22.] There was, however, no occasion for the addition of Calpurnianus to his name, as that of Piso showed sufficiently his original family. Piso had attained some importance as earls as the first civil war. On the death of L. Cinna, in B. C. 84, he married his wife Annia, and in the following year, 83, was appointed quaestor to the consul L. Scipio; but he quickly deserted this party, and went over to Sulla, who compelled him to divorce his wife on account of her previous connection with Cinna (Cic. Ver. 1.14; Vell. 2.41). He failed in obtaining the aedileship (Cic. pro Planc. 5, 21), and the year of his praetorship is uncertain. After his praetorship he received the province of Spain with the title of proconsul, and on his return to Rome in 69, enjoyed the honour of a triumph, although it was asserted by some that he had no claim to this distinction. (Cic. pro Flacc. 3, in Pison. 26; Ascon. in Pison. p. 15.) Piso served in the Mithridatic war as a legatus of Pompey, who sent him to Rome in B. C. 62, to become a candidate for the consulship, as he was anxious to obtain the ratification of his acts in Asia, anti therefore wished to have one of his friends at the head of the state. Piso was accordingly elected consul for the following year, B. C. 61, with M. Valerius Messalla Niger. In his consulship he gave great offence to Cicero, by not asking him first in the senate for his opinion, and still further increased the anger of the orator by taking P. Clodius under his protection after his violation of the mysteries of the Bona Dea. Cicero revenged himself on Piso, by preventing him from obtaining the province of Syria, which had been promised him. (D. C. 37.4; Cic. Att. 1.12_18.) Piso must have died, in all probability, before the breaking out of the second civil war, for in B. C. 47 Antony inhabited his house at Rome. (Cic. Phil. 2.25.) Piso, in his younger days, had so high a reputation as an orator, that Cicero was taken to him by his father, in order to receive instruction from him. He possessed some natural ability, but was chiefly indebted for his excellence to study, especially of Greek literature, in the knowledge of which he surpassed all previous orators. He did not, however, prosecute oratory long, partly on account of ill-health, and partly because his irritable temper would not submit to the rude encounters of the forum. He belonged to the Peripatetic school in philosophy, in which he received instructions from Staseas. (Cic. Brut. 67, 90, de Or. 1.22, de Nat. Deor. 1.7; Ascon. l.c.)

Piso

19. M. Piso, perhaps the son of No, 18, was praetor, B. C. 44, when he was praised by Cicero on account of his opposition to Antony. (Phil 3.10.)

Piso

20. Cn. Calpurnius Piso, was a young noble who had dissipated his fortune by his extravagance and profligacy, and being a man of a most daring and unscrupulous character, attempted to improve his circumstances by a revolution in the state. He therefore formed with Catiline, in B. C. 66, a conspiracy to murder the new consuls when they entered upon their office on the 1st of January in the following year. The history of this conspiracy, and the manner in which it failed, are related elsewhere. [Catilina, p. 629b.] Although no doubt was entertained of the existence of the conspiracy, still there were not sufficient proofs to convict the parties, and they were not therefore brought to trial. It had been arranged by the conspirators, that after the murder of the consuls, Piso was to be despatched, with an army, to seize the Spains; and the senate, in order to get rid of this dangerous agitator, now sent him into Nearer Spain as quaestor, but with the rank and title of propraetor. By his removal the senate hoped to weaken his faction at Rome, and they gave him an opportunity of acquiring, by the plunder of the province, the money of which he was so much in need. His exactions, however, in the province soon made him so hateful to the inhabitants, that he was nurdered by them. Some persons, however, supposed that he was murdered at the instigation of Pompey, who had possessed great influence in the country ever since the conquest of Sertorius. Crassus had been in favour of sending Piso to Spain, that he might, by Piso's means, persecute the friends of his great enemy and rival, Pompey; and it was therefore thought that the latter had revenged himself, by making away with the new governor. (D. C. 36.27; Sal. Cat. 18, 19; Cic. pro Sall. 24, pro Mur. 38 ; Ascon. in Cornel. p. 66, in Tog. Caml. pp. 83, 94.)

Piso

21. Cn. Calpurnius, Piso legatus and proquaestor of Pompey in the war against the pirates, commanded a division of the fleet at the Hellespont, B. C. 67. He afterwards followed Pompey in the Mithridatic war, and was present at the surrender of Jerusalem in 63. (Appian, App. Mith. 95, who erroneously calls him Publius; J. AJ 14.4.2.) The following coin commemorates the connection of Piso with the war against the pirates. The obverse contains the legend CN. PISO. PRO . Q., with the head of Numa (on which we find the letters NVMA), because the Calpurnia gens claimed descent from Calpus, the son of Numa [Calpurnia GENS]; the reverse represents the prow of a ship with the legend MAGN. (P)RO . COS., i. e. (Ponpeius) Magnus proconsul. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 160.)

Piso

22. CN. Calfurnius CN. F. CN. N. Piso, consul B. C. 23, was, in all probability, the son of No. 21. He belonged to the high aristocratical party, and was naturally of a proud and imperious temper. He fought against Caesar in Africa, in B. C. 46, and after the death of the dictator, joined Brutus and Cassius. He was subsequently pardoned, and returned to Rome; but he disdained to ask Augustus for any of the honours of the state, and was, without solicitation, raised to the consulship in B. C. 23. (Tac. Ann. 2.43, Bell. Afr. 18.) This Cn. Piso appears to be the same as the Cn. Piso spoken of by Valerius Maximus (6.2.4).

Piso

23. CN. Calpurnius CN. F. CN. N. Piso, son of No. 22, inherited all the pride and haughtiness of his father. He was consul B. C. 7, with Tiberius, the future emperor, and was sent by Augustus as legate into Spain, where he made himself hated by his cruelty and avarice. Tiberius after his accession was chiefly jealous of Germanicus, his brother's son, whom he had adopted, and who was idolized both by the soldiery and the people. Accordingly, when the eastern provinces were assigned to Germanicus in A. D. 18, Tiberius chose Piso as a fit instrument to thwart the plans and check the power of Germanicus, and therefore conferred upon him the command of Syria. It was believed that the emperor had given him secret instructions to that effect; and his wife Plancina, who was as proud and haughty as her husband, was urged on by Livia, the mother of the emperor, to vie with and annoy Agrippina. Piso and Plancina fulfilled their mission most completely; the former opposed all the wishes and measures of Germanicus, and the latter heaped every kind of insult upon Agrippina. Germanicus, on his return from Egypt, in A. D. 19, found that all his orders had been neglected or disobeyed. Hence arose vehement altercations between him and Piso; and when the former fell ill in the autumn of this year, he believed that he had been poisoned by Piso and Plancina. Before his death he had ordered Piso to quit Syria, and had appointed Cn. Santius as his successor. Piso now made an attempt to recover his province, but the Roman soldiers refused to obey him, and Sentius drove him out of the country. Relying on the protection of Tiberius Piso now went to Rome (A. D. 20); but he was received by the people with marks of the utmost dislike and horror. Whether Piso had poisoned Gernmanicus cannot now be determined; Tacitus candidly admits that there were no proofs of his having done so; but the popular belief in his gilt was so strong that Tiberius could not refuse an investigation into the matter, which was conducted by the senate. As it proceeded the emperor seemed to have made up his mind to sacrifice his tool to the general indignation; but before the investigation came to an end, Piso was found one morning in his room with his throat out, and his sword lying by his side. It was generally supposed that, despairing of the emperor's protection, he had put an end to his own life; but others believed that Tiberius dreaded his revealing his secrets, and had accordingly caused him to be put to death. The powerful influence of Livia secured the acquittal of Plancina for the present. [Plancina. His two sons Cneius and Marcus, the latter of whom had been with him in Syria, were involved in the accusation of their father, but were pardoned by Tiberius, who mitigated the sentence which the senate pronounced after the deth of Piso. (Tac. Ann. 2.43, 55, 57, 69, 74, 75, 80, 3.10_18; Senec. de Ira, 1.16; D. C. 57.18; Suet. Tib. 15, 52, Cal. 2.)

Piso

24. L. Calpurnius Piso, probably the eldest son of No. 23. In the judgment which the senate pronounced upon the sons of Cn. Piso [see above, No. 23], it was decreed that the eldest Cneius should change his praenomen (Tac. Ann. 3.17) ; and it would appear that he assumed the surname of Lucius, since Dio Cassius (59.20) speaks of a Liucius (not Cneius) Piso, the son of Cn. Piso and Plancina, who was governor of Africa in the reign of Caligula. This supposition is confirmed by the fact that Tacitus speaks of only two sons, Cneius and Marcus. We may therefore conclude that he is the same as the L. Piso, who was consul in A. D. 27, with M. Licinius Crassus Frugi. (Tac. Ann. 4.62.)

Piso

25. M. Calpurnius Piso, the younger son of No. 23, accompanied his father into Syria, and was accused along with him in A. D. 20. [See above, No. 23.]

Piso

26. L. Calpurnius Piso, the son of No. 24, was consul in A. D. 57 with the emperor Nero, and in A. D. 66 had the charge of the public finances entrusted to him, together with two other consulars. He was afterwards appointed proconsul of Africa, and was slain there in A. D. 76, because it was reported that he was forming a conspiracy against Vespasian, who had just obtained the empire. (Tac. Ann. 13.28, 31, 15.18, Hist. 4.38, 48-50; Plin. Ep. 3.7.)

Piso

27. L. Calpurnius Piso, coisul. B. C. 1, with Cossus Cornelius Lentulus. (Dio Cass. Index, lib. lv.)

Piso

28. L. Calpurnius Piso, was characterised by the same haughtiness and independence as the rest of his family under the empire. He is first mentioned in A. D. 16, as complaining of the corruption of the law-courts, and threatening to leave the city and spend the rest of his life in some distant retreat in the country; and he was a person of so much importance that the emperor thought it advisable to endeavour to soothe his anger and to induce his friends to prevail upon him to remain at Rome. In the same year he gave another instance of the little respect which he entertained for the imperial family. Urgulania, the favourite of the empressmother, owed Piso a certain sum of money; and when she refused to obey the summons to appear before the praetor, Piso followed her to the palace of Livia, and insisted upon being paid. Although Tiberius, at the commencement of his reign, had not thought it advisable to resent the conduct of Piso, yet he was not of a temper to forgive it, and only waited for a favourable opportunity to revenge himself upon his haughty subject. Accordingly, when he considered his power sufficiently established, Q. Granius appeared in A. D. 24, as the accuser of Piso, charging him with entertaining designs against the emperor's life; but Piso died just before the trial came on (Tac. Ann. 2.34, 4.21). He is probably the same as the L. Piso, who came forward to defend Cn. Piso [No. 23] in A. D. 20, when so many shrunk from the unpopular office. (Tac. Ann. 3.11.)

Piso

29. L. Calpurnius Piso, praetor in Nearer Spain in A. D. 25, was murdered in the province while travelling. (Tac. Ann. 4.45.)

Piso

30. C. Calpurnius Piso, the leader of the well-known conspiracy against Nero in A. D. 65. He is first mentioned in A. D. 37, when Caligula was invited to his nuptial banquet on the day of his marriage with Livia Orestilla; but the emperor took a fancy to the bride, whom he married, and shortly afterwards banished the husband. He was recalled by Claudius, and raised to the consulship, but in what year is uncertain, as his name does not occur in the Fasti. When the crimes and follies of Nero had made him both hated and despised by his subjects, a formidable conspiracy was formed against the tyrant, and the conspirators destined Piso as his successor. Piso himself did not form the plot; but as soon as he had joined it, his great popularity gained him many partizans. He possessed most of the qualities which the Romans prized, high birth, an eloquent address, liberality and affability; and he also displayed a sufficient love of magnificence and luxury to suit the taste of the day, which would not have tolerated austerity of manner or character. The conspiracy was discovered by Milichus, a freedman of Flavius Scevinus, one of the conspirators. Piso thereupon opened his veins, and thus died. (Schol. ad juv. 5.109; D. C. 59.8 : Tac. Ann. 14.65, 15.48_59; D. C. 62.24, &c.; Suet. Nero 36.) Panagyric on Calpurnius Piso

There is extant a poem in 261 lines, containing a panegyric on a certain Calpurnius Piso, whom Wernsdorf supposes with considerable probability to be the same as the leader of the conspiracy against Nero.

Piso left a son, whom Tacitus calls Calpurnius Galerianus, and who would appear from his surname to have been adopted by Piso. The ambition of the father caused the death of the son; for Mucianus, the praefect of Vespasian, fearing lest Galerianus might follow in his father's steps, put him to death, when he obtained possession of the city in A. D. 70. (Tac. Hist. 4.11.) Editions

The poem is printed in the fourth volume of Wernsdorf's Poetae Latini Minores, where it is attributed to Saleius Bassus

Piso

31. L. Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, was the son of M. Licinius Crassus Frugi, who was consul with L. Piso in A. D. 27, and of Scribonia, a grand-daughter of Sex. Pompeius. His brothers were Cn. Pompeius Magnus, who was killed by Claudius, M. Licinius Crassus, slain by Nero, and Licinius Crassus Scribonianus, who was offered the empire by Antonius Primus, but refused to accept it. By which of the Pisones Licinianus was adopted, is uncertain. On the accession of the aged Galba to the throne on the death of Nero, he adopted as his son and successor Piso Licinianus ; but the latter only enjoyed the distinction four days, for Otho, who had hoped to receive this honour, induced the praetorians to rise against the emperor. Piso fled for refuge into the temple of Vesta, but was dragged out by the soldiers, and despatched at the threshold of the temple, A. D. 69. His head was cut off and carried to Otho, who feasted his eves with the sight, but afterwards surrendered it for a large sum of money to Verania, the wife of Piso, who buried it with his body. Piso was thirty-one at the time of his death, and enjoyed a reputation for the strictest integrity, uprightness, and morality. (Tac. Hist. 1.14, 15, 34, 43, 48; D. C. 64.5, 6; Suet. Galb. 17; Plut. Galb. 23, 28; Plin. Ep. 2.20.)

Piso

32. Piso, consul with Julianus A. D. 175 in the reign of Commodus (Lamprid. Commod. 12).

Piso

33. Piso, one of the Thirty Tyrants, who assumed the imperial purple after the capture of Valerian, A. D. 260. He traced his descent from the ancient family of the same name, and was a man of unblemished character. After the capture of Valerian, he was sent by Macrianus with orders for the death of Valens, proconsul of Achaia; but upon learning that the latter in anticipation of the danger had assumed the purple, he withdrew into Thessaly, and was there himself saluted emperor by a small body of supporters, who bestowed on him the title of Thessalicus. His career was soon, however, brought to a close by Valens, who, in giving orders for his death, did not scruple to pay a tribute to his conspicuous merit. The proceedings in the senate, when intelligence arrived of the death of both Piso and Valens, as chronicled by Pollio, are scarce credible, although he professes to give the very words of the first speaker. (Trebell. Pollio, Trig. Tyr. 20.)

The two following coins of the republican period cannot be referred with certainty to any of the Pisones that have been mentioned above. The former bears on the obverse the head of Terminus, and on the reverse a patera, with the legend M. PISO M. (F.) FRUGI : the latter has on the obverse a bearded head with the legend PISO CAEPIO Q., and on the reverse two men seated, with an ear of corn on each side of them, and the legend AD FRV. EMV. EX S. C., that is, Piso, Caepio, Quaestores ad frumentum emundum ex scnatusconsulto. (Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 159, 160.)

Piso

Calpurnius. The name of a distinguished plebeian family at Rome. The name of Piso, like many other Roman cognomens, is connected with agriculture, the noblest and most honourable pursuit of the ancient Romans: it comes from the verb pisere or pinsere, and refers to the pounding or grinding of corn. (1) A Roman who was taken prisoner at the battle of Cannae, B.C. 216; was praetor urbanus 211, and afterward commanded as propraetor in Etruria 210. Piso, in his praetorship, proposed to the Senate that the Ludi Apollinares, which had been exhibited for the first time in the preceding year (212), should be repeated, and should be celebrated in future annually. The Senate passed a decree to this effect. The establishment of these games by their ancestor was commemorated on coins by the Pisones in later times.

(2) C., son of No. 1, was praetor 186, and received Further Spain as his province. He returned to Rome in 184, and obtained a triumph for a victory he had gained over the Lusitani and Celtiberi. He was consul in 180, and died during his consulship.

Pisones with the agnomen Caesonīnus.

(3) L., received the agnomen Caesoninus because he originally belonged to the Caesonia gens. He was praetor in 154, and obtained the province of Further Spain, but was defeated by the Lusitani. He was consul in 148, and was sent to conduct the war against Carthage; he was succeeded in the command in the following year by Scipio.

(4) L., son of No. 3, was consul 112 with M. Livius Drusus. In 107 he served as legatus to the consul, L. Cassius Longinus, who was sent into Gaul to oppose the Cimbri and their allies, and he fell together with the consul in the battle, in which the Roman army was utterly defeated by the Tigurini in the territory of the Allobroges. This Piso was the grandfather of Caesar's father-in-law, a circumstance to which Caesar himself alludes in recording his own victory over the Tigurini at a later time ( B. G. i. 7, 12).

(5) L., son of No. 4, never rose to any of the offices of State, and is only known from the account given of him by Cicero in his violent invective against his son. He married the daughter of Calventius, a native of Cisalpine Gaul, who came from Placentia and settled at Rome; and hence Cicero calls his son, in contempt, a semi-Placentian.

(6) Lucius, son of No. 5, was an unprincipled debauchee, and a cruel and corrupt magistrate. He is first mentioned in 59, when he was brought to trial by P. Clodius for plundering a province, of which he had the administration after his praetorship, and he was only acquitted by throwing himself at the feet of the judges. In the same year Caesar married his daughter Calpurnia; and through his influence Piso obtained the consulship for 58, having for his colleague A. Gabinius, who was indebted for the honour to Pompey. Both consuls supported Clodius in his measures against Cicero, which resulted in the banishment of the orator. The conduct of Piso in support of Clodius produced that extreme resentment in the mind of Cicero which he displayed against Piso on many subsequent occasions. At the expiration of his consulship Piso went to his province of Macedonia, where he remained during two years (57 and 56), plundering the province in the most shameless manner. In the latter of these years the Senate resolved that a successor should be appointed, and in the debate in the Senate which led to his recall Cicero attacked him in the most unmeasured terms in an oration which has come down to us (De Provinciis Consularibus). Piso, on his return (55), complained in the Senate of the attack of Cicero, and justified the administration of his province, whereupon Cicero reiterated his charges in a speech which is likewise extant (In Pisonem). Cicero, however, did not venture to bring to trial the father-in-law of Caesar. In 50 Piso was censor with Appius Claudius Pulcher. On the breaking out of the Civil War (49) Piso accompanied Pompey in his flight from the city; and although he did not go with him across the sea, he still kept aloof from Caesar. He subsequently returned to Rome, and remained neutral during the remainder of the Civil War. After Caesar's death (44) Piso at first opposed Antony, but is afterwards mentioned as one of his partisans.

(7) Lucius, son of No. 6, was consul B.C. 15, and afterwards obtained the province of Pamphylia; from thence he was recalled by Augustus in 11, in order to make war upon the Thracians, who had attacked the province of Macedonia. He was appointed by Tiberius praefectus urbi. While retaining the favour of the emperor, without condescending to servility, he at the same time earned the good-will of his fellow-citizens by the integrity and justice with which he governed the city. He died in A.D. 32, at the age of eighty, and was honoured by a decree of the Senate with a public funeral. It was to this Piso and his two sons that Horace addressed his epistle on the art of poetry (Ars Poetica).

Pisones with the agnomen Frugi.

(8) Lucius, received from his integrity and conscientiousness the surname of Frugi, which is perhaps nearly equivalent to our “man of honour.” He was tribune of the plebs B.C. 149, in which year he proposed the first law for the punishment of extortion in the provinces. He was consul in 133, and carried on war against the slaves in Sicily. He was a staunch supporter of the aristocratic party, and offered a strong opposition to the measures of C. Gracchus. Piso was censor, but it is uncertain in what year. He wrote annals, which contained the history of Rome from the earliest period to the age in which Piso himself lived.

(9) Lucius, son of No. 8, served with distinction under his father in Sicily in 133, and died in Spain about 111, whither he had gone as propraetor.

(10) C., married Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, in 63, but was betrothed to her as early as 67. He was quaestor in 58, when he used every exertion to obtain the recall of his father-inlaw from banishment; but he died in 57 before Cicero's return to Rome. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero in terms of gratitude on account of the zeal which he had manifested in his behalf during his banishment.

Pisones without an agnomen.

(11) C., consul B.C. 67, belonged to the high aristocratic party; and in his consulship opposed with the utmost vehemence the law of the tribune Gabinius, for giving Pompey the command of the war against the pirates. In 66 and 65, Piso administered the province of Narbonese Gaul as proconsul, and while there suppressed an insurrection of the Allobroges. In 63 he was accused of plundering the province, and was defended by Cicero. The latter charge was brought against Piso at the instigation of Caesar; and Piso, in revenge, implored Cicero, but without success, to accuse Caesar as one of the conspirators of Catiline.

(12) M., usually called M. Pupius Piso, because he was adopted by M. Pupius, when the latter was an old man. He retained, however, his family-name Piso, just as Scipio, after his adoption by Metellus, was called Metellus Scipio. On the death of L. Cinna, in 84, Piso married his wife Annia. In 83 he was appointed quaestor to the consul L. Scipio; but he quickly deserted this party, and went over to Sulla , who compelled him to divorce his wife on account of her previous connection with Cinna. After his praetorship, the year of which is uncertain, he received the province of Spain with the title of proconsul, and on his return to Rome in 69, enjoyed the honour of a triumph. He served in the Mithridatic War as a legatus of Pompey. He was elected consul for 61 through the influence of Pompey. In his consulship Piso gave great offence to Cicero, by not asking the orator first in the Senate for his opinion, and by taking P. Clodius under his protection after his violation of the mysteries of the Bona Dea. Cicero revenged himself on Piso, by preventing him from obtaining the province of Syria, which had been promised him. Piso, in his younger days, had so high a reputation as an orator, that Cicero was taken to him by his father, in order to receive instruction from him. He belonged to the Peripatetic School in philosophy, in which he received instruction from Staseas.

(13) Cn., a young noble who had dissipated his fortune by his extravagance and profligacy, and therefore joined Catiline in what is usually called his first conspiracy (66). (See Catilina.) The Senate, anxious to get rid of Piso, sent him into Nearer Spain as quaestor, but with the rank and title of propraetor. His exactions in the province soon made him so hateful to the inhabitants that he was murdered by them. It was, however, supposed by some that he was murdered at the instigation of Pompey or of Crassus.

(14) Cn., fought against Caesar in Africa (B.C. 46), and after the death of the dictator, joined Brutus and Cassius. He was subsequently pardoned, and returned to Rome; but he disdained to ask Augustus for any of the honours of the State, and was, without solicitation, raised to the consulship in 23.

(15) Cn., son of No. 14, inherited all the pride and haughtiness of his father. He was consul B.C. 7, and was sent by Augustus as legate into Spain, where he made himself hated by his cruelty and avarice. Tiberius after his accession was chiefly jealous of Germanicus, his brother's son; and accordingly, when the eastern provinces were assigned to Germanicus in A.D. 18, Tiberius conferred upon Piso the command of Syria, in order that the latter might do everything in his power to thwart and oppose Germanicus. Plancina, the wife of Piso, was also urged on by Livia, the mother of the emperor, to vie with and annoy Agrippina. Germanicus and Agrippina were thus exposed to every species of insult and opposition from Piso and Plancina; and when Germanicus fell ill in the autumn of 19, he believed that he had been poisoned by them. Piso on his return to Rome (20) was accused of murdering Germanicus; the matter was investigated by the Senate; but before the investigation came to an end, Piso was found one morning in his room with his throat cut, and his sword lying by his side. It was generally supposed that, despairing of the emperor's protection, he had put an end to his own life, but others believed that Tiberius dreaded his revealing his secrets, and accordingly caused him to be put to death. The powerful influence of Livia secured the acquittal of Plancina. (See Germanicus.)

(16) C., the leader of the wellknown conspiracy against Nero in A.D. 65. Piso himself did not form the plot; but as soon as he had joined it, his great popularity gained him many partisans. He possessed most of the qualities which the Romans prized—high birth, an eloquent address, liberality, and affability; and he also displayed a sufficient love of magnificence and luxury to suit the taste of the day, which would not have tolerated austerity of manner or character. The conspiracy was discovered by Milichus, a freedman of Flavius Scevinus, one of the conspirators. Piso thereupon opened his veins, and thus died. There is extant a poem in 261 lines, containing a panegyric on a certain Calpurnius Piso, who is probably the same person as the leader of the conspiracy against Nero.

(17) L., surnamed Liciniānus, was the son of M. Licinius Crassus Frugi, and was adopted by one of the Pisones. On the accession of Galba to the throne, he adopted as his son and successor Piso Licinianus; but the latter only enjoyed the distinction four days, for Otho, who had hoped to receive this honour, induced the Praetorians to rise against the emperor. Piso fled for refuge into the Temple of Vesta, but was dragged out by soldiers, and despatched at the threshold of the temple, A.D. 69.