Lucius Coelius Antipater

:"See Antipater (disambiguation) for others of this name."

Lucius Coelius Antipater was a Roman jurist and historian. He is not to be confused with Coelius Sabinus, the Coelius of the Digest. He was a contemporary of C. Gracchus (b. c. 123); L. Crassus, the orator, was his pupil.

tyle

He was the first who endeavoured to impart to Roman his­tory the ornaments of style, and to make it more than a mere chronicle of events, but his dic­tion was rather vehement and high-sounding than elegant and polished. Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 40) considers him more an orator than a jurist; Cicero, on the other hand, prizes him more as a jurist than as an orator or historian. (De Or. ii. 12; de Legg. 1, 2; Brut. c. 26.)

Writings

None of his juridical writings have been preserved. He wrote a history of the Second Punic War, and composed Annales, which were epitomized by Brutus. (Cic. ad Ait. xiii. 8.) - indeed, that history may be an extract from the Annals itself.

Antipater followed the Greek history of Silenus Calatinus (Cic. de Div. i.,24, 49), and oc­casionally borrowed from the "Origines" of Cato the Elder. (Gell. x. 24; Macrob. Saturn, i. 4, extr.). He is occasionally quoted by Livy, who sometimes, with respectful consideration, dissents from his authority. It is manifest, however, from Cicero and Valerius Maximus that he was fond of relating dreams and portents.

Editions

Orelli (Onomast. Cio.) refers to the dissertations on Antipater by Bavius Antius Nanta and G. Groen van Prinsterer, inserted in the Annals of the Academy of Leyderi for 1821. His fragments, several of which are preserved in Nonius, are to be found appended to the editions of Sallust by Wasse, Corte, and Havercamp ; and also in Krause's Vitae et Fragmenta vet. Histor, Mom. p. 182, &c.

Reception

Hadrian is reported to have preferred him as an historian to Sallust (Spartianus, Hadrian, c. 16) ; by Valerius Maximus (i. 7) he is designated "certus Romanae historiae auctor" (a certain author of Roman history).

References

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