Aulus Caecina Severus
Encyclopedia
Aulus Caecina, son of Aulus Caecina who was defended by Cicero
(69 BC
) in a speech still extant, took the side of Pompey
in the civil wars, and published a violent tirade against Caesar
, for which he was banished.
He recanted in a work called Querelae, and by the intercession of his friends, above all, of Cicero, obtained pardon from Caesar. Caecina was regarded as an important authority on the Etruscan system of divination
(Etrusca Disciplina), which he endeavoured to place on a scientific footing by harmonizing its theories with the doctrines of the Stoics.
Considerable fragments of his work (dealing with lightning) are to be found in Seneca
(Naturales Quaestiones, ii. 31-49). Caecina was on intimate terms with Cicero, who speaks of him as a gifted and eloquent man and was no doubt considerably indebted to him in his own treatise De Divinatione. Some of their correspondence is preserved in Cicero's letters (Ad Fam. vi. 5-8; see also ix. and xiii. 66).
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
(69 BC
69 BC
Year 69 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hortalus and Metellus...
) in a speech still extant, took the side of Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
in the civil wars, and published a violent tirade against Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, for which he was banished.
He recanted in a work called Querelae, and by the intercession of his friends, above all, of Cicero, obtained pardon from Caesar. Caecina was regarded as an important authority on the Etruscan system of divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
(Etrusca Disciplina), which he endeavoured to place on a scientific footing by harmonizing its theories with the doctrines of the Stoics.
Considerable fragments of his work (dealing with lightning) are to be found in Seneca
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
(Naturales Quaestiones, ii. 31-49). Caecina was on intimate terms with Cicero, who speaks of him as a gifted and eloquent man and was no doubt considerably indebted to him in his own treatise De Divinatione. Some of their correspondence is preserved in Cicero's letters (Ad Fam. vi. 5-8; see also ix. and xiii. 66).