writer had found
any trace of more than one poet | to be a spurious interpolation.
any trace of more than one poet | to be a spurious interpolation.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
17, ed.
Orelli ; plains of the cruelty shown towards a man who
Vell. Pat, ji. 6 ; Plut. C. Gracch. 3. ) Opimius be had conferred such signal services upon his country,
longed to the high aristocratical party, and pos- as the conquest of Fregellae and the destruction of
sessed great influence in the senate. He was one Gracchus. He calls him the saviour of the com-
of the most violent and, at the same time, one of monwealth, and characterises his condemnation as
VOL. III.
a
D
## p. 34 (#50) ##############################################
34
OPPIA.
OPPIANUS.
a blot upon the Roman dominion, and a disgrace 2. Vestia Oppia, a woman of Atella in Cam
to the Roman people. (Sall. Jug. 16, 40 ; Vell. pania, resided at Capua during the second Punic
Pat. ii. 7 ; Plut. C. Gracch. 18 ; Cic. pro Planc. 28, war, and is said to have daily offered up sacrifices
Brut. 34, in Pison. 39, pro Sest. 67 ; Schol. Bob. for the success of the Romans, while Capua was in
pro Sest. p. 311, ed. Orelli. )
the hands of the Carthaginians. She was accord-
The year in which Opimius was consul (B. c. ingly rewarded by the Romans in B. c. 210, when
12]) was remarkable for the extraordinary heat the city fell into their power. (Liv. xxvi. 33,
of the antumn, and thus the vintage of this year 34. )
was of an unprecedented quality. This wine long 3. The wife of L. Minidius or Mindius. (Cic.
remained celebrated as the Vinum Opimianum, and ad Fam. xiii. 28. ) (MINIDIUS. )
was preserved for an almost incredible space of OʻPPIA GENS, plebeian. This gens belonged
time. Cicero speaks of it as in existence when he to the tribus Terentina, and was one of considerable
wrote his Brutus, eighty-five years after the con- antiquity, and some importance even in early times,
sulship of Opimius (Brut. 83). Velleius Pater- since a member of it, Sp. Oppius Cornicen, was one
culus, who wrote in the reign of Tiberius, says of the second decemvirate, B. C. 450. We even
(ii. 7) that none of the wine was then in exist-read of a Vestal virgin of the name of Oppia as
ence ; but Pliny, who published his work in the early as B. C. 483 (Liv. ii. 43), but it is difficult to
reign of Vespasian, makes mention of its existence believe that a plebeian could have filled this dig-
even in his day, two hundred years afterwards. nity at so early a period. None of the Oppii, how-
It was reduced, he says, to the consistence of ever, ever obtained the consulship, although the
rough honey; and, like other very old wines, was name occurs at intervals in Roman history from
60 strong, and harsh, and bitter, as to be undrink the time of the second decemvirate to that of the
able until lar diluted with water. (Plin. H. N. early emperors. (Compare however OPPIUS, No.
xiv. 4. 8. 6; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Vinum. )
19. ] The principal cognomens in this gens are Ca-
4. L. OPImius, served in the army of L. Lu- PITO, CORNICEN or CORNICINUS, and SALINATOR;
tatius Catulus, consul B. C. 102, and obtained but most of the Oppii had no surname. Those of
great credit by killing a Cimbrian, who had chal- the name of Capito and Salinator are given below.
lenged him (Ampelius, c. 22).
(Oppius. ] On coins we find the surnames Capito
5. Q. OPIMIUS L. P. Q. N. was brought to trial and Salinator.
before Verres in his praetorship (B. C. 74), on the OPPIANICUS, the name of three persons,
plea that he had interceded against the Lex two of whom play a prominent part in the oration
Cornelia, when he was tribune in the preceding of Cicero for Cluentius. 1. STATIUS ALBIUS Op.
year (B. C. 75); but, in reality, because he had in PIANICUS, was accused by his step-son A. Cluen-
his tribunate opposed the wishes of some Roman tius of having attempted to procure his death by
noble. He was condemned by Verres, and de- poisoning, B. c. 74, and was condemned. 2. Oppi-
prived of all his property. It appears from the Anicus, the son of the preceding, accused Cluentius
Pseudo-Asconius that Opimius had in his tribunate himself in B. C. 66, of three distinct acts of poison-
supported the law of the consul C. Aurelius Cotta, ing. 3. C. OPPIANICUS, the brother of No. 1, said
which restored to the tribunes the right of being to have been poisoned by him (Cic. pro Cluent. Il).
elected to the other magistracies of the state after a full account of the two trials is given under
the tribunate, of which privilege they had been CLUENTIUS.
deprived by a Lex Cornelia of the dictator Sulla. OPPIANUS, a person to whom M. Varro
(Cic. Verr. i. 60 ; Pseudo-Ascon. in Verr. p. 200, wrote a letter, which is referred to by A. Gellius
ed. Orelli. )
(xiv, 7).
6. Opimius, is mentioned as one of the judices OPPIA’NUS ('Orriavós). Under this name
by Cicero (ad Att. iv. 16. § 6) in B. c. 54. The there are extant two Greek hexameter poems, one
word which follows Opimius, being either his cog- on fishing, 'AMIEUTIRÓ, and the other on hunting,
nomen or the name of his tribe, is corrupt. (See Kunyetind; as also a prose paraphrase of a third
Orelli, ad loc. ) This Opimius may be the sanie poem on hawking, 'l{eutiká. These were, till
as the following.
towards the end of the last century, universally
7. M. OPIMIUS, praefect of the cavalry in the attributed to the same person ; an opinion which
army of Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of not only made it impossible to reconcile with each
Pompey, was taken prisoner by Cn. Domitius other all the passages relating to Oppian that are
Calvinus, B. C. 48. (Caes. B. C. iii. 38. )
to be found in ancient writers, but also rendered
8. OPIMIUS, a poor man mentioned by Horace contradictory the evidence derived from the perusal
(Sat. ii. 3. 124), of whom nothing is known. of the poems themselves. At length, in the year
OPIS. [Upis. ]
1776, J. G. Schneider in his first edition of these
OʻPITER, an old Roman praenomen, given to poems threw out the conjecture that they were
a person born after the death of his father, but in not written by the same individual, but by two
the lifetime of his grandfather. (Festus, p. 184, persons of the same name, who have been con-
ed. Müller ; Val. Max. de Nom. Rut. 12; Pla- stantly confounded together; an hypothesis, which,
cidus, p. 491. ) We find this praenomen in the if not absolutely free from objection, certainly
Virginia Gens, for instance.
removes so many difficulties, and moreorer affords
L. OPITE'RNIUS, a Faliscan, a priest of 80 convenient a mode of introducing various facts
Bacchus, and one of the prime movers in the intro- and remarks which would otherwise be incon-
duction of the worship of this god into Rome sistent and contradictory, that it will be adopted
Bc. 186. (Liv. xxxix. 17. )
on this occasion. The chief (if not the only)
OPLACUS. (OBSIDIUS. ]
objection to Schneider's conjecture arises from its
OʻPPIA. 1. A Vestal virgin, put to death in novelty, from its positively contradicting some
B. C. 483 for violation of her vow of chastity. ancient authorities, and from the strong negative
(Liv. ii. 42. )
fact that for nearly sixteen hundred years no
## p. 35 (#51) ##############################################
1
35
*
OPPIANUS.
OPPIANUS.
writer had found
any trace of more than one poet | to be a spurious interpolation. It is also confirmed
of the name of Oppian. But the weight of this by Eusebius (Chron. ap. S. Hieron. vol. viii.
antecedent difficulty is probably more than counter. p. 722, ed. Veron. 1736) and Syncellus (Chronogr.
balanced by the internal evidence in favour of pp. 352, 353, ed. Paris. 1652), who place Oppian
Schneider's Lypothesis ; and with respect to the in the year 171 (or 173), and by Suidas, who
ancient testimonies to be adduced on either side, says he lived in the reign of “Marcus Antoninus,"
it will be seen that he pays at least as much i. e. not Caracalla, as Kuster and others suppose,
deference to them as do those who embrace the but M. Aurelius Antoninus, A. D. 161-180. If
opposite opinion. The chief reason in favour of the date here assigned to Oppian be correct, the
his opinion is the fact that the author of the emperor to whom the “ Halieutica " are dedicated,
* Halieutica was not born at the same place as and who is called (i. 3) galns ÜHATOV Kpátus,
the author of the “Cynegetica," an argument 'Avrwvive, will be M. Aurelius; the allusions to
which some persons have vainly attempted to his son (i. 66, 78, ii. 683, iv. 5, v. 45) will refer
overthrow by altering the text of the latter poem. to Commodus ; and the poem may be supposed to
The other, which is scarcely less convincing, have been written after a. D. 177, which is the year
though not so evident to everybody's compre. when the latter was admitted to a participation of
hension, arises from the difference of style and the imperial dignity. If the writer of the “ Halieu-
language observable in the two poems, which is so tica” be supposed to have lived under Caracalla,
great as to render it morally impossible that they the name * Antoninus " will certainly suit that
could have been written by the same person : for, emperor perfectly well, as the appellation “ Au-
though it may be said that this difference only relius Antoninus" was conferred upon him when
shows that the author improved in writing by he was appointed Caesar by his father, A. D. 196.
practice, this answer will not bear examination, as (Clinton's Fasti Rom. ) But if we examine the
in the first place the inferior poem (viz. the other passages abore referred to, the difficulty of
" Cynegetica ") was written after, not before, the applying them to Caracalla will be at once ap-
other ; and secondly, the author is commonly said parent, as that emperor (as far as we learn from
to have died at the early age of thirty, which history) bad no son, - though some persons have
scarcely affords sufficient time for so great an even gone so far as to conjecture that he must
alteration and improvement to have taken place. I have had one, because Oppian alludes to him!
The points relating to each poem separately will | (Schneider's first ed. p. 346. )
therefore be first mentioned, and afterwards some The “ Halieutica " consist of about 3500 hex-
historical facts commonly related concerning one of ameter lines, divided into five books, of which the
the authors, though it is difficult to determine which. first two treat of the natural history of fishes, and
1. The writer of the “ Halieutica," 'AMEUTIKÁ, the other three of the art of fishing. The author
is said by (probably) all authorities to have been displays in parts considerable zoological know-
born in Cilicia, though they are not so well agreed ledge, but inserts also several fables and absur-
as to the name of his native city. The author of dities, — and that not merely as so much poetical
an anonymous Greek Life of Oppian says it was ornament, but as grave matter of fact. In this
either Corycus or Anazarba, Suidas says Corycus, respect, however, he was not more credulous than
and this is probably confirmed by Oppian himself, most of his contemporaries, and many of his
in the following passage :
stories are copied by Aelian and later writers.
The following zoological points in the poem are
'Ανθιέων δε πρώτα περίφρονα πεύθεο θήρων,
perhaps the most worthy of notice. He mentions
Οίην ημετέρης έρικυδέος εντύνονται
(i. 217, &c. ) the story of the remora, or sucker
Πάτρης ένναετήρες υπέρ Σαρπηδόνος άκρης,
(exeunts) being able to stop a ship when under
“Οσσοι 9' Ερμείαο πόλιν, ναυσίκλυτον άστυ
full sail by sticking to the keel, and reproves the
Κωρύκιον, ναίoυσι και αμφιρύτην Ελεούσαν.
incredulity of those who doubt its truth (cf. Plut.
(iii. 205, &c. )
Sympos. ii. 7); he was aware of the peculiarity of
This passage, however, can hardly be fairly said to the cancellus, or hermit crab (napkivás), which is
determine the point, for (as if to show the uncer- provided with no shell of its own, but seizes upon
tainty of almost everything relating to Oppian) the first empty one that it can find (i. 320, &c. );
while Schneider considers that it proves that the he gives a beautiful and correct description of the
poet was born at Corycus, Fabricius and others nautilus (i. 338, &c. ); he says that the murena,
have adduced it as evidence to show that he was or lamprey, copulates with land-serpents, which,
not. Respecting his date there has been equal for the time, lay aside their venom (i. 554, &c. );
difference of opinion. Athenaeus says (i. p. 13) | he notices (ii. 56, &c. and iii. 149, &c. ) the numb-
he lived shortly before his own time, and Athe- ness caused by the touch of the torpedo (vápkn);
naeus flourished, according to Mr. Clinton (Fasti and the black fluid emitted by the sepia, or cuttle-
Rom. A. D. 191), about the end of the second fish, by means of which it escapes its pursuers (iii.
century. This testimony may be considered as 156, &c. ); he says that a fish called " sargus
almost conclusive with respect to Oppian's date, copulates with goats, and that it is caught by the
though it has been attempted to evade it, either fisherman's dressing himself up in a goat's skin, and
by placing Athenaeus more than thirty years so enticing it on shore (iv. 308, &c. ); he several
later, or by considering the passage in question times mentions the dolphin, calls it, for its swift-
ness and beauty, the king among fishes, as the
Fabricius, Schweighaeuser, and others, have eagle among birds, the lion among beasts, and the
first confounded the author of the “ Halieutica" serpent among reptiles (ii. 533, &c. ), and relates
with the author of the Cynegetica," and (v. 448, &c. ) anº anecdote, somewhat similar to
have then made use of the date of the second those mentioned by Pliny (H. N. ix. 8), and
Oppian in order to determine the date of Athen which he says happened about his own time, of a
naeus. (ATHENAEUS).
dolphin that was so fond of a little boy that it
D 2
## p. 36 (#52) ##############################################
36
OPPIANUS.
OPPIANUS.
used to come to him whenever he called it by its four. There is probably an allusion in this poem
name, and suffered him to ride upon its back, and to the “ Halieutica" (i: 77-80), which has been
at last was supposed to have pined away with thought to imply that both poems were written by
grief on account of his death. (Penny Cyclop. s. v. ) the same person ; but this is not the necessary ex-
In point of style and language, as well as poctical planation of the passage in question, which may
embellishment, the “ Halieutica" are so much su- merely mean (as Schneider suggests) that the
perior to the “ Cynegetica,” that Schneider (as we writer of the “ Cynegetica" was acquainted with
have seen) considers this fact to furnish one of the the other poem, and meant his own to be a sort of
strongest proofs in favour of his hypothesis ; and it continuation of it. It has also been supposed that
is probable that the greater part of the praise that in two other passages (i. 27,31) the author alludes
has been bestowed upon Oppian in a poetical point to some of his own earlier poems. There are cer
of view should be considered as referring to this tainly several points of similitude between this
poem only. A paraphrase of the “Halieutica” in poem and the “ Halieutica" ; for here, too, the
Greek probe, bearing the name of Eutecnius, is still author's knowledge of natural history appears to
in existence in several European libraries, but has have been quite equal to that of his contemporaries
never been published. (See Lambec. Bibl. Vindob. (though not without numerous fables), while the
vol. ii. p. 260, &c. vii. 488, &c. ed. Kollar. ) The accuracy of some of his descriptions has been often
two poems attributed to Oppian have generally been noticed. The following zoological points are
published together. The only separate edition of perhaps the most interesting. He says expressly
the Greek text of the “ Halieutica” is the “ editio that the tusks of the elephant are not teeth, but
princeps,” by Phil. Junta, Florent. 1515, 8vo. , a horns (ii. 491, &c. ), and mentions a report that
book that is valuable not only for its rarity, but these animals are able to speak (ii. 540); he states
also for the correctness of the text. A Latin trans- that there is no such thing as a female rhinoceros,
lation in hexameter verse by Laur. Lippius was but that all these animals are of the male sex (ii.
published in 1478, 4to. Florent. (of which not un- 560); that the lioness when pregnant for the first
common volume a particular account is given by time brings forth five whelps at a birth, the second
Dibdin in his Biblioth. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 183), and time four, the next three, then two, and lastly only
several times reprinted. It was translated into one (iii, 58); that the bear brings forth her cubs
English verse by Diaper and J. Jones, Oxford, half-formed and licks them into shape (iii. 159);
8vo. 1722 ; into French by J. M. Limes, Paris, that so great is the enmity between the wolf and
8vo. 1817, and into Italian by A. M. Salvini, the lamb, that even after death if iwo drums be
Firenze, 8vo. 1728.
made of their hides, the wolf's hide will put to
II. The author of the “ Cynegetica,” Kurnyetird, silence the lamb's (iii. 282); that the hyaenas an-
was a native of Apameia or Pella in Syria, as he nually change their sex (ii. 288); that the boar's
himself plainly tells us in the following passage, teeth contain fire inside them (iii. 379); that the
where, speaking of the river Orontes, he says: ichneumon leaps down the throat of the crocodile,
Αυτός δ' εν μεσάτοισιν έπαιγίζων πεδίοισιν,
while lying asleep with its mouth wide open, and
Αιέν αεξόμενος και τείχεος εγγύς οδεύων,
devours its viscera (iii. 407). He thinks it neces-
Χέρσον όμου και νήσον, έμήν πόλιν, ύδατι χεύων. | sary to state expressly that it is not true that there
(ii. 125, &c. )
are no male tigers (m. 357). He gives a very
spirited description of the giraffe (iii. 461), " the
And again, after speaking of the temple of Mem- exactness of which," says Mr. Holme (Trans. of
non in the neighbourhood of A pameia, he pro- the Ashmolean Society, vol. ii. ), “is in some points
ceeds:-
remarkable ; particularly in the observation that
'Αλλά τα μεν κατά κόσμον αείσομεν ευρέα | the so-called horns do not consist of horny sub-
κάλλη,
stance (ούτι κέρας κερόεν), and in the allusion to the
Πάτρης ημετέρης έρατή Πιμπληΐδι μολπη. pencils of hair (dban xpai kepalai) with which they
(ii. 156. ) are tipped. ” He adds, “ That the animal must hare
In order to avoid the conclusion to which these mark on the brilliancy of the eyes and the halting
been seen alive by Oppian is evident from his re-
passages lead respecting the birth-place of their motion of the hinder limbs” (Penny Cyclop. ). In
author, it has been proposed to alter in the former,
durv into čen, and, in the latter, riuetépns into style, language, and poetical merit, the "Cynege-
juetépns ; but these emendations, which are purely indeed, calls the poem “ durum, inconcinnum, forma
tica" are far inferior to the “ Halieutica. ” Schneider,
conjectural, have not been received into the text
tota incompositum, et saepissime ab ingenio, usu,
by any one but the proposer. The anthor ad-
et analogia Graeci sermonis abhorrens" (Pref. to
dresses his poem to the emperor Caracalla, whom second ed. p. xiv. ), and thinks that when Dan.
he calls (i. 3)
'Artwvive,
Heinsins spoke of the Latinisms that deformed
Τον μεγάλη μεγάλη φιτύσατο Δόμνα Σεβήρω:
Oppian's style (Dissert. de Nonni " Dionys. " ap.
P. Cunaei Animadvers. p. 196), he was alluding
and the tenth and eleventh lines have been brought especially to the “ Cynegetica. " The earliest edition
forward as a presumptive evidence that he wrote of the Greek text of this poem, apart from the
it after Caracalla had been associated with his “ Halieutica," appeared in 1549, 4to. Paris, ap.
father in the empire, A. D. 198, and before the Vascosanum. Ii was also published by Belin de
death of the latter, A. D. 211.
Ballu, Argentor. 1786, large 8vo, Gr. et Lat. , with
The “ Cynegetica” consist of about 2100 hexa- learned notes, too often deformed by personal con-
meter lines, divided into four books. The last of troversy with Schneider. The editor intended to
these is imperfect, and perhaps a fifth book may publish the ** Halieutica" in a second volume, but
also have been lost, as the anonymous author of of this only forty pages were printed, which are
the Life of Oppian says the poem consisted of that rarely to be met with. It was translated into
number of books, though Suidas mentions only | Latin verse by Joannes Bodinus, Paris, 1555, 4ta
## p. 37 (#53) ##############################################
OPPIANUS.
37
OPPIUS.
and also by David Peifer, whose translation was was then about thirty years of age. llere Oppian
made in 1555, but first published in Schneider's wrote (or perhaps rather finished) his poems, whicb
second edition, Lips.
Vell. Pat, ji. 6 ; Plut. C. Gracch. 3. ) Opimius be had conferred such signal services upon his country,
longed to the high aristocratical party, and pos- as the conquest of Fregellae and the destruction of
sessed great influence in the senate. He was one Gracchus. He calls him the saviour of the com-
of the most violent and, at the same time, one of monwealth, and characterises his condemnation as
VOL. III.
a
D
## p. 34 (#50) ##############################################
34
OPPIA.
OPPIANUS.
a blot upon the Roman dominion, and a disgrace 2. Vestia Oppia, a woman of Atella in Cam
to the Roman people. (Sall. Jug. 16, 40 ; Vell. pania, resided at Capua during the second Punic
Pat. ii. 7 ; Plut. C. Gracch. 18 ; Cic. pro Planc. 28, war, and is said to have daily offered up sacrifices
Brut. 34, in Pison. 39, pro Sest. 67 ; Schol. Bob. for the success of the Romans, while Capua was in
pro Sest. p. 311, ed. Orelli. )
the hands of the Carthaginians. She was accord-
The year in which Opimius was consul (B. c. ingly rewarded by the Romans in B. c. 210, when
12]) was remarkable for the extraordinary heat the city fell into their power. (Liv. xxvi. 33,
of the antumn, and thus the vintage of this year 34. )
was of an unprecedented quality. This wine long 3. The wife of L. Minidius or Mindius. (Cic.
remained celebrated as the Vinum Opimianum, and ad Fam. xiii. 28. ) (MINIDIUS. )
was preserved for an almost incredible space of OʻPPIA GENS, plebeian. This gens belonged
time. Cicero speaks of it as in existence when he to the tribus Terentina, and was one of considerable
wrote his Brutus, eighty-five years after the con- antiquity, and some importance even in early times,
sulship of Opimius (Brut. 83). Velleius Pater- since a member of it, Sp. Oppius Cornicen, was one
culus, who wrote in the reign of Tiberius, says of the second decemvirate, B. C. 450. We even
(ii. 7) that none of the wine was then in exist-read of a Vestal virgin of the name of Oppia as
ence ; but Pliny, who published his work in the early as B. C. 483 (Liv. ii. 43), but it is difficult to
reign of Vespasian, makes mention of its existence believe that a plebeian could have filled this dig-
even in his day, two hundred years afterwards. nity at so early a period. None of the Oppii, how-
It was reduced, he says, to the consistence of ever, ever obtained the consulship, although the
rough honey; and, like other very old wines, was name occurs at intervals in Roman history from
60 strong, and harsh, and bitter, as to be undrink the time of the second decemvirate to that of the
able until lar diluted with water. (Plin. H. N. early emperors. (Compare however OPPIUS, No.
xiv. 4. 8. 6; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Vinum. )
19. ] The principal cognomens in this gens are Ca-
4. L. OPImius, served in the army of L. Lu- PITO, CORNICEN or CORNICINUS, and SALINATOR;
tatius Catulus, consul B. C. 102, and obtained but most of the Oppii had no surname. Those of
great credit by killing a Cimbrian, who had chal- the name of Capito and Salinator are given below.
lenged him (Ampelius, c. 22).
(Oppius. ] On coins we find the surnames Capito
5. Q. OPIMIUS L. P. Q. N. was brought to trial and Salinator.
before Verres in his praetorship (B. C. 74), on the OPPIANICUS, the name of three persons,
plea that he had interceded against the Lex two of whom play a prominent part in the oration
Cornelia, when he was tribune in the preceding of Cicero for Cluentius. 1. STATIUS ALBIUS Op.
year (B. C. 75); but, in reality, because he had in PIANICUS, was accused by his step-son A. Cluen-
his tribunate opposed the wishes of some Roman tius of having attempted to procure his death by
noble. He was condemned by Verres, and de- poisoning, B. c. 74, and was condemned. 2. Oppi-
prived of all his property. It appears from the Anicus, the son of the preceding, accused Cluentius
Pseudo-Asconius that Opimius had in his tribunate himself in B. C. 66, of three distinct acts of poison-
supported the law of the consul C. Aurelius Cotta, ing. 3. C. OPPIANICUS, the brother of No. 1, said
which restored to the tribunes the right of being to have been poisoned by him (Cic. pro Cluent. Il).
elected to the other magistracies of the state after a full account of the two trials is given under
the tribunate, of which privilege they had been CLUENTIUS.
deprived by a Lex Cornelia of the dictator Sulla. OPPIANUS, a person to whom M. Varro
(Cic. Verr. i. 60 ; Pseudo-Ascon. in Verr. p. 200, wrote a letter, which is referred to by A. Gellius
ed. Orelli. )
(xiv, 7).
6. Opimius, is mentioned as one of the judices OPPIA’NUS ('Orriavós). Under this name
by Cicero (ad Att. iv. 16. § 6) in B. c. 54. The there are extant two Greek hexameter poems, one
word which follows Opimius, being either his cog- on fishing, 'AMIEUTIRÓ, and the other on hunting,
nomen or the name of his tribe, is corrupt. (See Kunyetind; as also a prose paraphrase of a third
Orelli, ad loc. ) This Opimius may be the sanie poem on hawking, 'l{eutiká. These were, till
as the following.
towards the end of the last century, universally
7. M. OPIMIUS, praefect of the cavalry in the attributed to the same person ; an opinion which
army of Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of not only made it impossible to reconcile with each
Pompey, was taken prisoner by Cn. Domitius other all the passages relating to Oppian that are
Calvinus, B. C. 48. (Caes. B. C. iii. 38. )
to be found in ancient writers, but also rendered
8. OPIMIUS, a poor man mentioned by Horace contradictory the evidence derived from the perusal
(Sat. ii. 3. 124), of whom nothing is known. of the poems themselves. At length, in the year
OPIS. [Upis. ]
1776, J. G. Schneider in his first edition of these
OʻPITER, an old Roman praenomen, given to poems threw out the conjecture that they were
a person born after the death of his father, but in not written by the same individual, but by two
the lifetime of his grandfather. (Festus, p. 184, persons of the same name, who have been con-
ed. Müller ; Val. Max. de Nom. Rut. 12; Pla- stantly confounded together; an hypothesis, which,
cidus, p. 491. ) We find this praenomen in the if not absolutely free from objection, certainly
Virginia Gens, for instance.
removes so many difficulties, and moreorer affords
L. OPITE'RNIUS, a Faliscan, a priest of 80 convenient a mode of introducing various facts
Bacchus, and one of the prime movers in the intro- and remarks which would otherwise be incon-
duction of the worship of this god into Rome sistent and contradictory, that it will be adopted
Bc. 186. (Liv. xxxix. 17. )
on this occasion. The chief (if not the only)
OPLACUS. (OBSIDIUS. ]
objection to Schneider's conjecture arises from its
OʻPPIA. 1. A Vestal virgin, put to death in novelty, from its positively contradicting some
B. C. 483 for violation of her vow of chastity. ancient authorities, and from the strong negative
(Liv. ii. 42. )
fact that for nearly sixteen hundred years no
## p. 35 (#51) ##############################################
1
35
*
OPPIANUS.
OPPIANUS.
writer had found
any trace of more than one poet | to be a spurious interpolation. It is also confirmed
of the name of Oppian. But the weight of this by Eusebius (Chron. ap. S. Hieron. vol. viii.
antecedent difficulty is probably more than counter. p. 722, ed. Veron. 1736) and Syncellus (Chronogr.
balanced by the internal evidence in favour of pp. 352, 353, ed. Paris. 1652), who place Oppian
Schneider's Lypothesis ; and with respect to the in the year 171 (or 173), and by Suidas, who
ancient testimonies to be adduced on either side, says he lived in the reign of “Marcus Antoninus,"
it will be seen that he pays at least as much i. e. not Caracalla, as Kuster and others suppose,
deference to them as do those who embrace the but M. Aurelius Antoninus, A. D. 161-180. If
opposite opinion. The chief reason in favour of the date here assigned to Oppian be correct, the
his opinion is the fact that the author of the emperor to whom the “ Halieutica " are dedicated,
* Halieutica was not born at the same place as and who is called (i. 3) galns ÜHATOV Kpátus,
the author of the “Cynegetica," an argument 'Avrwvive, will be M. Aurelius; the allusions to
which some persons have vainly attempted to his son (i. 66, 78, ii. 683, iv. 5, v. 45) will refer
overthrow by altering the text of the latter poem. to Commodus ; and the poem may be supposed to
The other, which is scarcely less convincing, have been written after a. D. 177, which is the year
though not so evident to everybody's compre. when the latter was admitted to a participation of
hension, arises from the difference of style and the imperial dignity. If the writer of the “ Halieu-
language observable in the two poems, which is so tica” be supposed to have lived under Caracalla,
great as to render it morally impossible that they the name * Antoninus " will certainly suit that
could have been written by the same person : for, emperor perfectly well, as the appellation “ Au-
though it may be said that this difference only relius Antoninus" was conferred upon him when
shows that the author improved in writing by he was appointed Caesar by his father, A. D. 196.
practice, this answer will not bear examination, as (Clinton's Fasti Rom. ) But if we examine the
in the first place the inferior poem (viz. the other passages abore referred to, the difficulty of
" Cynegetica ") was written after, not before, the applying them to Caracalla will be at once ap-
other ; and secondly, the author is commonly said parent, as that emperor (as far as we learn from
to have died at the early age of thirty, which history) bad no son, - though some persons have
scarcely affords sufficient time for so great an even gone so far as to conjecture that he must
alteration and improvement to have taken place. I have had one, because Oppian alludes to him!
The points relating to each poem separately will | (Schneider's first ed. p. 346. )
therefore be first mentioned, and afterwards some The “ Halieutica " consist of about 3500 hex-
historical facts commonly related concerning one of ameter lines, divided into five books, of which the
the authors, though it is difficult to determine which. first two treat of the natural history of fishes, and
1. The writer of the “ Halieutica," 'AMEUTIKÁ, the other three of the art of fishing. The author
is said by (probably) all authorities to have been displays in parts considerable zoological know-
born in Cilicia, though they are not so well agreed ledge, but inserts also several fables and absur-
as to the name of his native city. The author of dities, — and that not merely as so much poetical
an anonymous Greek Life of Oppian says it was ornament, but as grave matter of fact. In this
either Corycus or Anazarba, Suidas says Corycus, respect, however, he was not more credulous than
and this is probably confirmed by Oppian himself, most of his contemporaries, and many of his
in the following passage :
stories are copied by Aelian and later writers.
The following zoological points in the poem are
'Ανθιέων δε πρώτα περίφρονα πεύθεο θήρων,
perhaps the most worthy of notice. He mentions
Οίην ημετέρης έρικυδέος εντύνονται
(i. 217, &c. ) the story of the remora, or sucker
Πάτρης ένναετήρες υπέρ Σαρπηδόνος άκρης,
(exeunts) being able to stop a ship when under
“Οσσοι 9' Ερμείαο πόλιν, ναυσίκλυτον άστυ
full sail by sticking to the keel, and reproves the
Κωρύκιον, ναίoυσι και αμφιρύτην Ελεούσαν.
incredulity of those who doubt its truth (cf. Plut.
(iii. 205, &c. )
Sympos. ii. 7); he was aware of the peculiarity of
This passage, however, can hardly be fairly said to the cancellus, or hermit crab (napkivás), which is
determine the point, for (as if to show the uncer- provided with no shell of its own, but seizes upon
tainty of almost everything relating to Oppian) the first empty one that it can find (i. 320, &c. );
while Schneider considers that it proves that the he gives a beautiful and correct description of the
poet was born at Corycus, Fabricius and others nautilus (i. 338, &c. ); he says that the murena,
have adduced it as evidence to show that he was or lamprey, copulates with land-serpents, which,
not. Respecting his date there has been equal for the time, lay aside their venom (i. 554, &c. );
difference of opinion. Athenaeus says (i. p. 13) | he notices (ii. 56, &c. and iii. 149, &c. ) the numb-
he lived shortly before his own time, and Athe- ness caused by the touch of the torpedo (vápkn);
naeus flourished, according to Mr. Clinton (Fasti and the black fluid emitted by the sepia, or cuttle-
Rom. A. D. 191), about the end of the second fish, by means of which it escapes its pursuers (iii.
century. This testimony may be considered as 156, &c. ); he says that a fish called " sargus
almost conclusive with respect to Oppian's date, copulates with goats, and that it is caught by the
though it has been attempted to evade it, either fisherman's dressing himself up in a goat's skin, and
by placing Athenaeus more than thirty years so enticing it on shore (iv. 308, &c. ); he several
later, or by considering the passage in question times mentions the dolphin, calls it, for its swift-
ness and beauty, the king among fishes, as the
Fabricius, Schweighaeuser, and others, have eagle among birds, the lion among beasts, and the
first confounded the author of the “ Halieutica" serpent among reptiles (ii. 533, &c. ), and relates
with the author of the Cynegetica," and (v. 448, &c. ) anº anecdote, somewhat similar to
have then made use of the date of the second those mentioned by Pliny (H. N. ix. 8), and
Oppian in order to determine the date of Athen which he says happened about his own time, of a
naeus. (ATHENAEUS).
dolphin that was so fond of a little boy that it
D 2
## p. 36 (#52) ##############################################
36
OPPIANUS.
OPPIANUS.
used to come to him whenever he called it by its four. There is probably an allusion in this poem
name, and suffered him to ride upon its back, and to the “ Halieutica" (i: 77-80), which has been
at last was supposed to have pined away with thought to imply that both poems were written by
grief on account of his death. (Penny Cyclop. s. v. ) the same person ; but this is not the necessary ex-
In point of style and language, as well as poctical planation of the passage in question, which may
embellishment, the “ Halieutica" are so much su- merely mean (as Schneider suggests) that the
perior to the “ Cynegetica,” that Schneider (as we writer of the “ Cynegetica" was acquainted with
have seen) considers this fact to furnish one of the the other poem, and meant his own to be a sort of
strongest proofs in favour of his hypothesis ; and it continuation of it. It has also been supposed that
is probable that the greater part of the praise that in two other passages (i. 27,31) the author alludes
has been bestowed upon Oppian in a poetical point to some of his own earlier poems. There are cer
of view should be considered as referring to this tainly several points of similitude between this
poem only. A paraphrase of the “Halieutica” in poem and the “ Halieutica" ; for here, too, the
Greek probe, bearing the name of Eutecnius, is still author's knowledge of natural history appears to
in existence in several European libraries, but has have been quite equal to that of his contemporaries
never been published. (See Lambec. Bibl. Vindob. (though not without numerous fables), while the
vol. ii. p. 260, &c. vii. 488, &c. ed. Kollar. ) The accuracy of some of his descriptions has been often
two poems attributed to Oppian have generally been noticed. The following zoological points are
published together. The only separate edition of perhaps the most interesting. He says expressly
the Greek text of the “ Halieutica” is the “ editio that the tusks of the elephant are not teeth, but
princeps,” by Phil. Junta, Florent. 1515, 8vo. , a horns (ii. 491, &c. ), and mentions a report that
book that is valuable not only for its rarity, but these animals are able to speak (ii. 540); he states
also for the correctness of the text. A Latin trans- that there is no such thing as a female rhinoceros,
lation in hexameter verse by Laur. Lippius was but that all these animals are of the male sex (ii.
published in 1478, 4to. Florent. (of which not un- 560); that the lioness when pregnant for the first
common volume a particular account is given by time brings forth five whelps at a birth, the second
Dibdin in his Biblioth. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 183), and time four, the next three, then two, and lastly only
several times reprinted. It was translated into one (iii, 58); that the bear brings forth her cubs
English verse by Diaper and J. Jones, Oxford, half-formed and licks them into shape (iii. 159);
8vo. 1722 ; into French by J. M. Limes, Paris, that so great is the enmity between the wolf and
8vo. 1817, and into Italian by A. M. Salvini, the lamb, that even after death if iwo drums be
Firenze, 8vo. 1728.
made of their hides, the wolf's hide will put to
II. The author of the “ Cynegetica,” Kurnyetird, silence the lamb's (iii. 282); that the hyaenas an-
was a native of Apameia or Pella in Syria, as he nually change their sex (ii. 288); that the boar's
himself plainly tells us in the following passage, teeth contain fire inside them (iii. 379); that the
where, speaking of the river Orontes, he says: ichneumon leaps down the throat of the crocodile,
Αυτός δ' εν μεσάτοισιν έπαιγίζων πεδίοισιν,
while lying asleep with its mouth wide open, and
Αιέν αεξόμενος και τείχεος εγγύς οδεύων,
devours its viscera (iii. 407). He thinks it neces-
Χέρσον όμου και νήσον, έμήν πόλιν, ύδατι χεύων. | sary to state expressly that it is not true that there
(ii. 125, &c. )
are no male tigers (m. 357). He gives a very
spirited description of the giraffe (iii. 461), " the
And again, after speaking of the temple of Mem- exactness of which," says Mr. Holme (Trans. of
non in the neighbourhood of A pameia, he pro- the Ashmolean Society, vol. ii. ), “is in some points
ceeds:-
remarkable ; particularly in the observation that
'Αλλά τα μεν κατά κόσμον αείσομεν ευρέα | the so-called horns do not consist of horny sub-
κάλλη,
stance (ούτι κέρας κερόεν), and in the allusion to the
Πάτρης ημετέρης έρατή Πιμπληΐδι μολπη. pencils of hair (dban xpai kepalai) with which they
(ii. 156. ) are tipped. ” He adds, “ That the animal must hare
In order to avoid the conclusion to which these mark on the brilliancy of the eyes and the halting
been seen alive by Oppian is evident from his re-
passages lead respecting the birth-place of their motion of the hinder limbs” (Penny Cyclop. ). In
author, it has been proposed to alter in the former,
durv into čen, and, in the latter, riuetépns into style, language, and poetical merit, the "Cynege-
juetépns ; but these emendations, which are purely indeed, calls the poem “ durum, inconcinnum, forma
tica" are far inferior to the “ Halieutica. ” Schneider,
conjectural, have not been received into the text
tota incompositum, et saepissime ab ingenio, usu,
by any one but the proposer. The anthor ad-
et analogia Graeci sermonis abhorrens" (Pref. to
dresses his poem to the emperor Caracalla, whom second ed. p. xiv. ), and thinks that when Dan.
he calls (i. 3)
'Artwvive,
Heinsins spoke of the Latinisms that deformed
Τον μεγάλη μεγάλη φιτύσατο Δόμνα Σεβήρω:
Oppian's style (Dissert. de Nonni " Dionys. " ap.
P. Cunaei Animadvers. p. 196), he was alluding
and the tenth and eleventh lines have been brought especially to the “ Cynegetica. " The earliest edition
forward as a presumptive evidence that he wrote of the Greek text of this poem, apart from the
it after Caracalla had been associated with his “ Halieutica," appeared in 1549, 4to. Paris, ap.
father in the empire, A. D. 198, and before the Vascosanum. Ii was also published by Belin de
death of the latter, A. D. 211.
Ballu, Argentor. 1786, large 8vo, Gr. et Lat. , with
The “ Cynegetica” consist of about 2100 hexa- learned notes, too often deformed by personal con-
meter lines, divided into four books. The last of troversy with Schneider. The editor intended to
these is imperfect, and perhaps a fifth book may publish the ** Halieutica" in a second volume, but
also have been lost, as the anonymous author of of this only forty pages were printed, which are
the Life of Oppian says the poem consisted of that rarely to be met with. It was translated into
number of books, though Suidas mentions only | Latin verse by Joannes Bodinus, Paris, 1555, 4ta
## p. 37 (#53) ##############################################
OPPIANUS.
37
OPPIUS.
and also by David Peifer, whose translation was was then about thirty years of age. llere Oppian
made in 1555, but first published in Schneider's wrote (or perhaps rather finished) his poems, whicb
second edition, Lips.
