Cicero’s "Clodiane canis" (Clodian Dog)

Marcus Tullius Cicero uses the phrase Clodiane canis (vocative case for "Clodian dog") in his political speech In Pisonem (Against Piso, section 23). [1]

1. The Latin Text & English Translation

• Latin:

  "...his tu, Clodiane canis, insignibus consulatum declarari putas? Animo consulem esse oportet..."

• English Translation:

  "...do you, you Clodian dog, think that the consulship is made manifest by such trappings? A consul ought to be a consul in spirit..."

  [1]

2. Why did Cicero say this?

Cicero was attacking Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (the consul of 58 BC). Cicero calls Piso a "Clodian dog" because Piso acted like a loyal, obedient hound to Cicero's arch-nemesis, Publius Clodius Pulcher. [1, 2, 3]

During his tribunate in 58 BC, Clodius passed a law that retroactively banished anyone who had executed Roman citizens without a trial. This targeted Cicero for his role in executing the Catilinarian conspirators. Instead of protecting Cicero, Consul Piso stood by, collaborated with Clodius, and allowed Cicero to be driven into exile. [1, 2, 3]

By calling Piso a Clodiane canis, Cicero is using biting Roman invective to state that Piso stripped himself of consular dignity to serve as Clodius's personal lapdog and attack-hound. [1, 2]

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The Author of De origine verborum et vocabulorum

The author you are thinking of is Gavius Bassus (sometimes spelled Gabius Bassus). [1]

• Who he was: Gavius Bassus was a 1st-century BC Roman grammarian, philologist, and scholarwho lived during the late Roman Republic and early Empire. [1]
• The Book: His treatise, De Origine Verborum et Vocabulorum (On the Origin of Words and Vocabularies), was an influential early work on Latin etymology and grammar. He also wrote a treatise on Roman religion called De Dis (About the Gods). [1]
• His Legacy: While his original writings are entirely lost to history, his scholarship survived because he was frequently cited as an authority by later Roman writers, most notably the essayist Aulus Gellius in his Attic Nights, as well as Macrobius and Quintilian. [1]

L'AI può commettere errori, quindi verifica le risposte 

but Cicero called Gavius also a clodiuane canis—and can I have in Latin first ascription of de v. et v. to Gavius?

Did Cicero also call Gavius a "Clodiane canis"?

No, Cicero did not call Gavius Bassus a Clodiane canis. [1]

That insult was aimed exclusively at Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus in Cicero’s speech In Pisonem. [1]

The confusion likely stems from another one of Cicero's famous legal speeches, the Verrine Orations(specifically In Verrem 2.5.160–164). In this speech, Cicero passionately defends a completely different man named Publius Gavius. This Gavius was a Roman citizen whom the corrupt governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, brutally imprisoned and crucified. [1, 2, 3]

Because Cicero fiercely defended a Gavius in one speech and used the insult Clodiane canis in another, the names and context occasionally get mixed up in historical commentary. [1]

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The First Latin Ascription of De Origine Verborum to Gavius

The earliest surviving explicit text attributing De Origine Verborum et Vocabulorum to Gavius Bassus comes from the Roman author Aulus Gellius in his work Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights, Book 2, Chapter 4, Section 3).[1, 2]

Here is the exact Latin text and its English translation:

1. The Latin Text

"Gavius Bassus in tertio librorum, quos de origine vocabulorum composuit..." [1]

2. The English Translation

"Gavius Bassus, in the third of the books which he composed On the Origin of Words..."

Gellius repeats this formulaic ascription later in Book 7 (Chapter 7, Section 1), writing: "Gavius Bassus in libris, quos De Origine Vocabulorum composuit..." Thanks to these precise citations by Gellius, modern philologists are able to accurately attribute the lost fragments of this work to Gavius Bassus. [1, 2, 3]

Would you like to examine more of the surviving Latin fragments from Gavius Bassus, or perhaps look into how Cicero defended the other Gavius in the Verrine Orations? [1, 2]