Licinius
1.
C. Licinius Calvus, surnamed Stolo, a
name said to be derived from the care with which he dug up the shoots (
stolones) from the roots of his vines. He brought the contest between the patricians
and plebeians to a happy termination, and thus became the founder of Rome's greatness.
He was tribune of the people from B.C. 376 to 367, and was faithfully supported in his
exertions by his colleague, L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were: (
a) That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls
should be elected, one of whom should always be a plebeian. (
b) That no
one should possess more than 500
iugera of the public land, or keep upon
it more than 100 head of large, and 500 of small cattle. (
c) A law
regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor. (
d) That the
Sibylline Books should be intrusted to a college of ten men (
decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians. These rogations were passed after a
vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who
obtained the consulship, 366. Licinius himself was elected twice to the consulship, 364 and
361. Some years later he was accused by M. Popilius Laenas of having transgressed his own law
respecting the amount of public land which a person might possess. He was condemned and
sentenced to pay a heavy fine (
Livy, vi. 35;
vii. 1, 9, 16; Val. Max. viii. 6, 3).
2.
C. Licinius Macer , an annalist and orator, who was impeached of
extortion by Cicero, and, finding that the verdict was against him, committed suicide, B.C.
66.
3.
C. Licinius Macer Calvus, son of C. Licinius Macer, a
distinguished orator and poet, was born B.C. 82, and died about 47 or 46, in his thirty-fifth
or thirty-sixth year. His most celebrated oration was delivered against Vatinius, who was
defended by Cicero, when he was only twenty-seven years of age. His elegies were very warmly
extolled by Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid. All his works are lost. He was very short of
stature, so that Catullus calls him (
53)
Salaputium
disertum, “the eloquent Tom Thumb.” (Cf. Quint. x. 1, 115.)
4.
A Roman emperor, ruling A.D. 307-324. He was a Dacian peasant by birth, and was raised to
the rank of Augustus by the emperor Galerius. He afterwards had the dominion of the East. He
carried on war first with Maximinus II., whom he defeated A.D. 314, and subsequently with
Constantine, by whom he was in his turn defeated, 315. A second war broke out between
Licinius and Constantine in 323, in which Licinius was not only defeated, but deprived of his
throne. In the following year he was put to death by Constantine, 324. See
Constantinus.
