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PISO

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 652 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PISO , the name of a distinguished See also:

Roman plebeian See also:family of the Calpurnian gens which continued in existence till the end of the 2nd See also:century A.D. Nearly fifty of its members were prominent in Roman See also:history, but the following deserve particular mention.See also:LUCIUS See also:CALPURNIUS PISO CAESONINUS, Roman statesman, was the See also:father-in-See also:law of See also:Julius See also:Caesar. In 58 B.C., when See also:consul, he and his colleague Aulus See also:Gabinius entered into a compact with P. See also:Clodius, with the See also:object of getting See also:Cicero out of the way. Psio's See also:reward was the See also:province of See also:Macedonia, which he administered from 57 to the beginning of 55, when he was recalled, perhaps in consequence of the violent attack made upon him by Cicero in the See also:senate in his speech De provinciis consularibus. On his return Piso addressed the senate in his See also:defence, and Cicero replied with the coarse and exaggerated invective known as In Pisonem. Piso issued a pamphlet by way of rejoinder, and there the See also:matter dropped, Cicero being afraid to bring the father-in-law of Caesar to trial. At the outbreak of the See also:civil See also:war Piso offered his services as mediator, but when Caesar marched upon See also:Rome he See also:left the See also:city by way of protest. He did not, however, definitely declare for See also:Pompey, but remained neutral, without forfeiting the respect of Caesar. After the See also:murder of the See also:dictator he insisted on the provisions of his will being strictly carried out, and for a See also:time opposed Antony. Subsequently, however, he became one of his supporters, and is mentioned as taking See also:part in an See also:embassy to Antony's See also:camp at Mutina with the object of bringing about a reconciliation. 1.

Lucius CALPURNIUS Piso, surnamed Frugi (the worthy), Roman statesman and historian, was See also:

tribune in 149 B.C. He is known chiefly for his lex Calpurnia repetundarum, which brought about the See also:system of quaestiones per petuae and a new phase of criminal See also:procedure. As See also:praetor (136) and consul (133) Piso fought against the slaves in See also:Sicily. He energetically opposed Gains See also:Gracchus,especially inconnexion'withhis See also:corn law. See See also:ANNALISTS; C. Cichorius in Pauly-Wissowa's Real encyclopadie (1897), vol. iii., pt. 1; H. See also:Peter, Historicorum romanorum reliquiae (187o), vol. i.; See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit. (Eng. trans.), § 132, 4. On the lex Calpurnia, Corpus inscr. latinarum, i., No. 198, with See also:Mommsen's commentary; A. H.

J. Greenidge, Hist. of Rome, 133–104 B.C. (1904). 2. GNAEUS CALPURNIUS Piso, Roman statesman, was consul in 7 B.C., and subsequently See also:

governor of See also:Spain and proconsul of See also:Africa. In A.D. 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of See also:Syria, with See also:secret instructions to thwart Germanicus, to whom the eastern provinces had been assigned. The indignation of the See also:people at the See also:death of Germanicus, and the suspicion that Piso had poisoned him, forced Tiberius to See also:order an investigation. Piso committed See also:suicide, though it was rumoured that Tiberius, fearing incriminating disclosures, had put him to death. See H. See also:Schiller, Geschichle der romischen Kaiserzeit (1883), vol. i. 3.

See also:

GAIUS CALPURNIUS Piso, Roman statesman, orator and See also:patron of literature in the 1st century A.D., is known chiefly for his See also:share in the See also:conspiracy of A.D. 65 against See also:Nero (q.v.). He was one of the most popular men in Rome, partly for his skill in See also:poetry and See also:music, partly for his love of luxury and generosity. It is probably the last-named who is referred to by Ca4purnius Siculus under the name of Meliboeus, and he is the subject of the See also:panegyric De laude Pisonis.

End of Article: PISO

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