Scrofa
- a Roman surname, taken from swine-breeding, Varr. R. R. 2, 4, 1 sq. (a less probable derivation is given by Macr. S. 1, 6 fin.); Cic. Att. 5, 4, 2; 6, 1, 13 al.
literally " a sow that has had pigs," was the name of a family of the Tremellia gens.
1. L. Trkemellius Scrofa, quaestor of A. Licinius Nerva, who governed Macedonia as propraetor in B. C. 142. During the absence of i Nerva, he defeated a Pseudo-Perseus or a Pseudo-Philippus, for there is some uncertainty about the name, and a body of 16,000 men. When attacked by the enemy, he said that he would scatter them straightway like a sow does her pigs (" dixit celeriter se illos, ut scrofa porcos, disjecturum"); and from this saying he obtained the cognomen of Scrofa, which became hereditary in his family. His grandson told Varro that this was the origin of their family name; but Macrobius relates another tale respecting its introduction. (Liv. Epit. 53 ; Eutrop. 4.15; Varr. R. R. 2.4; Macr. 1.6.)
2. (Tremellius) Scrofa, was quaestor of Crassus in the war against Spartacus, B. C. 71, and was wounded while pursuing the latter. (Plut. Crass. 11.)
3. Cn. Tremellius Scrofa, the grandson of No. ], was a friend of M. Varro, and a writer on agriculture. He is probably the same as the Cn. Tremellius, who was one of the judices at the trial of Verres in B. C. 70, and had been appointed military tribune for the following year (Cic. Verr. Act. 1.10). Scrofa was one of the twenty commissioners for dividing the Campanian land under the agrarian law of Julius Caesar, B. C. 59, and he must afterwards have served under Julius Caesar in Gaul, as he is said to have commanded an army near the Rhine. He is introduced as one of the speakers in Varro's treatise De Re Rustica, where his knowledge of agriculture is praised in the highest terms. He there speaks of himself as practorius, but in what year he was praetor is unknown (Varr. R. R. 1.2.10, 1.7.8, 2.4 ; Plin. Nat. 17.21. s. 35.22). He is mentioned in Cicero's correspondence as one of the friends of Atticus. (Cic. Att. 5.4.2, 6.1.13, 7.1.8.)
4. (Tremellius) Scrofa, the son apparently of the preceding, spoken of by Cicero in B. C. 45. (Cic. Att. 13.21.7.)