Cincius

{{Short description|Antiquarian writer probably during the time of Augustus}} {{about||the annalist from the time of the Second Punic War|Lucius Cincius Alimentus|other people|Cincia gens}}

'''Cincius''' was a Roman [[antiquarian]] writer probably of the time of [[Augustus]].<ref>Gian Biagio Conte, ''Latin Literature: A History'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, originally published 1987 in Italian), p. 70.</ref> His ''[[praenomen]]'' was perhaps Lucius,<ref>[[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Clio's Cosmetics'' (Bristol Phoenix Press, 2003, originally published 1979 by Leicester University Press), p. 45; but this is based on a reference in [[Macrobius]] (''Saturnalia'' 1.12.12) to a L. Cincius (''Cingius'' in some editions) who wrote a book ''De fastis'' (Eng. "On the [[Fasti]]") also sometimes attributed to the annalist [[Lucius Cincius Alimentus]], particularly since [[John Lydus]] gives the title in [[ancient Greek language|Greek]] and Alimentus wrote in Greek.</ref> but his ''[[cognomen]]'' goes unrecorded. He is frequently confused with the annalist [[Lucius Cincius Alimentus]], who fought in the [[Second Punic War]],<ref>In his classic history of [[Latin literature]], [[Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel|Teuffel]] distinguishes the two, as in the [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIurL9qdkHYC&dq=%22cincius+the+antiquarian%22+inauthor%3ATeuffel&pg=PA172 1891 English translation.] So too Wiseman, ''Clio's Cosmetics'', p. 15, note 39.</ref> although some scholars still maintain that Cincius Alimentus was also the antiquarian.<ref>J.G.F. Powell, "Dialogues and Treatises," in ''A Companion to Latin Literature'', edited by Stephen Harrison (Blackwell, 2005), p. 229 [https://books.google.com/books?id=m6v36-zbswkC&dq=cincius+%22perhaps+identical+with%22+intitle%3Alatin+intitle%3Aliterature&pg=PA229 online.]</ref>

==Works== Cincius' work survives only in citations by later authors, including [[Livy]] and [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]]. For example, Festus cites a work "On the power of the consuls" (Lat. ''de consulum potestate'', p. 276 L). The several works attributed to "Cincius" have been assigned to one or the other of the two writers by scholars whose criteria for distinguishing them produce varying results. The authorship of the book ''De fastis'' ("On the Fasti"), for instance, has been attributed to either one. [[T.P. Wiseman]] finds it likely that Cincius wrote "a [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]-like guide to the antiquities of the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitol]] (if not the whole city)," including a collection of old [[epigraphy|inscriptions]], and makes a [[jurist]] of him as well with a work ''De officio iurisconsulti''.<ref>Wiseman, ''Clio's Cosmetics'', pp. 45–46.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman antiquarians]] [[Category:Golden Age Latin writers]] [[Category:Latin writers known only from secondary sources]]