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 (B.C. 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 (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 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 (B.C. 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 (B.C. 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 (B.C. 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 (A.D. 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.
