Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius

Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius was a Roman historian. Little is known of Q. Claudius Quadrigarius's life, but he probably lived in the 1st century BC.

Work

Quadrigarius's annals spanned at least 23 books. They began with the conquest of Rome by the Gauls (c.390 BC) and ended with the age of Sulla, c.84 or 82 BC.

Its surviving fragments were collected by Peter.[1] The largest is preserved in Aulus Gellius,[2] concerning a single combat between T. Manlius Torquatus and a Gaul.

Legacy

Quadrigarius's work was considered very important, especially for the contemporary history he narrates. From its sixth book onward, Livy's History of Rome used Quadrigarius and Valerius Antias as his major sources. He is cited by Aulus Gellius, and he was probably the "Clodius" mentioned in Plutarch's Life of Numa.[3]

The judgment of his prose varied. Some disparaged his language as antiquated and dry, while its archaisms were appreciated by writers in the 2nd century.

References

Citations

  1. H. Peter, Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae, I, 205-237.
  2. Aulus Gellius, IX, 13.
  3. Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Life of Numa, I, 2.

Bibliography

  • W. Kierdorf in Brill's New Pauly s.v. Claudius [I 30]
  • A. Klotz, "Der Annalist Q. Claudius Quadrigarius." Rheinische Museum 91 (1942) 268–285.
  • E. Badian, "The Early Historians" in T. Dorey (ed.) Latin Historians (1966) 1-38.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Annalists". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 60.
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