Publilius Syrus

Publilius Syrus

Publilius (less correctly Publius) Syrus, a Latin writer of maxims, flourished in the 1st century BC. He was an Assyrian who was brought as a slave to Italy, but by his wit and talent he won the favor of his master, who freed and educated him.

His mimes, in which he acted himself, had a great success in the provincial towns of Italy and at the games given by Caesar in 46 BC. Publilius was perhaps even more famous as an improviser, and received from Caesar himself the prize in a contest in which he vanquished all his competitors, including the celebrated Decimus Laberius.

All that remains of his works is a collection of "Sentences" ("Sententiae"), a series of moral maxims in iambic and trochaic verse. This collection must have been made at a very early date, since it was known to Aulus Gellius in the 2nd century AD. Each maxim is comprised of a single verse, and the verses are arranged in alphabetical order according to their initial letters. In the course of time the collection was interpolated with sentences drawn from other writers, especially from apocryphal writings of Seneca; the number of genuine verses is about 700. They include many pithy sayings, such as the famous "judex damnatur ubi nocens absolvitur" ("The judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted") adopted as its motto by the "Edinburgh Review".

As of 1911, the best texts of the "Sentences" are those of Eduard Wölfflin (1869), A. Spengel (1874), and Wilhelm Meyer (1880), with complete critical apparatus and index verborum; editions with notes by O. Friedrich (1880), R. A. H. Bickford-Smith (1895), with full bibliography; see also W. Meyer, "Die Sammlungen der Spruchverse des Publilius Syrus" (1877), an important work.

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/syrus.html Publilius Syrus in Latin] at The Latin Library
* [http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lsante01/Publilius/pub_intr.html Publilius Syrus in Latin] at Bibliotheca Augustana
* [http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Publilius_Syrus English translations] of 63 quotations at the Quotations Page


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Publilius Syrus — (falsch auch Publius Syrius; Vorname und Lebensdaten unbekannt) war ein römischer Mimen Autor im 1. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Nach Plinius dem Älteren stammte Publilius Syrus aus Antiochia und kam als Sklave nach Rom. Sein eigentlicher Name ist… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Publīlius Syrus — Publīlius Syrus, röm. Mimendichter, von Geburt ein syrischer Sklave, dichtete um 43 v. Chr. als Zeitgenosse und Nebenbuhler des Laberius für die römische Possenbühne, berühmt auch als Schauspieler und Improvisator. Aus seinen an Sprüchen tiefer… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Publilius Syrus — Publilĭus Syrus, röm. Mimendichter unter Cäsar und Augustus; erhalten nur eine Spruchsammlung aus seinen sentenzenreichen Stücken, hg. von Wölfflin (1869), Bickford Smith (1897) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Publilius Syrus — Publilius Syrus,   römischer Mimendichter des 1. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.; freigelassener Sklave, erlangte durch seine Mimen die Gunst des Volkes und Caesars. Besonderes Aufsehen erregte der Wettkampf, den er 46 v. Chr. gegen seinen Rivalen Laberius… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Publilius Syrus — Publius Syrus Publius Syrus (ou plus exactement Publilius Syrus) (né en Syrie en 85 Av. J. C., décédé à Rome en 43 Av. J. C.), est un poète latin. Amené esclave à Rome, il est éduqué puis affranchi par son maître en raison de ses qualités… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Publilius Syrus — ▪ Latin writer flourished 1st century BC       Latin mime writer contemporary with Cicero, chiefly remembered for a collection of versified aphorisms that were extracted by scholars from his mimes, probably in the 1st century AD.       Early… …   Universalium

  • Syrus — Syrus,   Publilius, römischer Mimendichter, Publilius Syrus.   …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Syrus — steht für Publilius Syrus (1. Jh.) römischer Autor Syrus (Heiliger) (San Siro) († 4. Jh.) Bischof von Pavia Michael Syrus (1126–1199) syrisch orthodoxer Patriarch Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklä …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Syrus — Syrus, röm. Dichter, s. Publilius Syrus …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Syrus — Syrus, röm. Mimendichter, s. Publilius Syrus …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”