Cornēlius Nēpos (c.99–c.24 BCE) was a Roman historian. He was the earliest biographer to write in Latin.
A native of Pavia or Hostilia, Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy,) he was a contemporary and a close friend of the Roman Philosophers Cicero and Atticus. Nēpos was also a friend of and the patron to whom Catullus dedicated his poems.
Nēpos is noted for De viris illustribus (“On Famous Men,”) of which only some 25 (mainly on Greek warriors and statesmen) survive. Written in a clear, straightforward style, they form a historical point of view marked by many inaccuracies and omissions.
In writing biographies, Nēpos looked for ethical lessons and was uncritically praised for his subjects. He was the first to adopt the pairing of Greek and Roman soldiers and statesmen, a form later followed by the Greek historian Plutarch.
Nēpos also wrote Chronica, which introduced to the Roman reader a Greek invention of the universal comparative chronology, and Exempla (in at least five books,) which consisted of anecdotes.
Nēpos wrote biographies of Cicero and the Roman statesman and orator Cato the Elder.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Cornelius Nepos
Hateful is the power, and pitiable is the life, of those who wish to be feared rather than to be loved.
—Cornelius Nepos
Topics: Tyranny
No government is safe unless fortified by goodwill.
—Cornelius Nepos
Topics: Government
So that he seemed not to relinquish life, but to leave one home for another.
—Cornelius Nepos
Topics: Dying, Death
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) Roman Comic Playwright
Virgil Roman Poet
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) Roman Poet
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) Roman Poet
Julius Caesar Roman Ruler
Cicero Roman Philosopher
Ennius Roman Poet
Publilius Syrus Syrian-born Latin Writer
Catullus Roman Latin Poet
Lucretius Roman Epicurean Philosopher