Celer

• a Roman cognomen in the gens Caecilia, Domitia, Egnatia, etc., Cic. Brut. 89, 305; id. Att. 10, 1, 4; Sall. C. 30, 5 al.

1. A freedman of Atticus, in all probability. (Cic. ad Att. x. l, 11.4, 12.8.)

2. A Roman knight, poisoned Junius Silanus at the instigation of Agrippina, in the first year of Nero's reign, A. D. 55. (Tac. Ann. 13.1, 33.)

3. A Roman knight in the time of Domitian, was scourged to death in the comitium for having committed incest with Cornelia, a Vestal virgin, although he persisted in his innocence to the last. (Plin. Ep. 4.11; comp. Suet. Dom. 8; D. C. 67.3.)

an artist of considerable talent and renown, was, together with Severus, the principal architect of Nero's immense building, the golden house, of which only a few remains are now visible in the baths of Titus, and perhaps at the foot of the Palatine near the arch of Titus. Not satisfied with the completion of this colossal palace, both artists, whose daring and talent did not shrink from the mightiest works, undertook a still more gigantic enterprise. Since the sea-ports of Ostia and Portus were small and dangerous, so that all larger vessels entered the port of Puteoli, they got the emperor's consent to dig a canal from the lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber, and began actually by working a way through the hills near the lake, but were probably prevented from executing their intention by the death of their employer. (Tac. Ann. 15.42; Osann, Kunstblatt, 1830, No. 83.) [L.U]

lived in the reign of Caligula, and is mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 9.17. s. 31) as a man of consular rank; but when he was consul is not known. He may have been the son of C. Asinius Gallus, consul B. C. 8.

a Greek rhetorician, the teacher of M. Aurelius and L. Verus, was one of the secretaries of Hadrian, and was distinguished for his skill in the composition of the imperial letters. He wrote a work on the art of rhetoric. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. 1.22, who calls him τεχνογράφος; Capitol. Ver. 2; Aristeid. Or. Sacr. 5. vol. i. p. 335, ed. Jebb.)

an intimate friend of Piso, persuaded the latter, after the death of Germanicus, to return to Syria, and was himself previously sent by Piso into the province. (Tac. Ann. 2.77-79.)

[Barea.]

[Metellus.]

(1) The joint architect with Severus of the famous Golden House (Domus Aurea) of Nero. See palatium.

(2) See Egnatii.