Serenus

• I Q. Serenus Sammonicus, a physician under Septimius Severus, Spart. Get. 5, 5; Macr. 3, 16, 6.—
• II Q. Serenus Sammonicus, son of the preceding, author of a poem, De Medicina, still extant, Lampr. Alex. 30, 2; cf. Teuffel's Roem. Lit. 379, 4.—
• III Serena, the wife of Stilicho, and mother-in-law of the emperor Honorius, celebrated by Claudian in a special poem (Laus Serenae Reginae).

an Athenian grammarian of uncertain date.

wrote an epitome of the work of Philo on Cities and their illustrious men, in three books, and an epitome of the commentary of Philoxenus on Homer, in one book (Suidas, s. v. Σερῆνος; comp. Etym. M. s. vv. ʼΑρσινόη and Βονκέρας).

Serenus also wrote Ἀπομνημονεύματα, from which Stobaeus makes numerous extracts (Stobaeus, Floril. 11.15, et passim).

Photius makes mention (Bibl. Cod. 279, p. 536a., ed. Bekker) of dramas, written in different metres, by the grammarian Serenus, who is probably the same person as the preceding. (Vossius, De Hist. Graecis, p. 498, ed. Westermann.)

one of the principal centurions (primipilares) in Galba's army in Rome in A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. 1.31.)

one of the most intimate friends of the philosopher Seneca, who dedicated to him his work De Tranquillitate. He was praefectus vigilum under Nero, and died in consequence of eating a poisonous kind of fungus. (Senec. Ep. 63 ; Tac. Ann. 13.13; Plin. Nat. 22.23. s. 47.)

legatus of the emperor Hadrian in Asia, wrote to the latter, remonstrating with him upon the injustice of condemning Christians to death without any definite charge being brought against them. In consequence of this letter Hadrian ordered Minucius Fundanus, the successor of Serenus in Asia, to condemn no Christian unless convicted of some crime. (Oros. 7.13; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.8, 9.)

(or Samonicus), enjoyed a high reputation at Rome, in the early part of the third century, as a man of taste and varied knowledge. He lived upon terms of intimacy with the court, and must have been possessed of great wealth, since he accumulated a library amounting, it is said, to 62,000 volumes (Capitolin. Gordian. 18). As the friend of Geta, by whom his compositions were studied with great pleasure, he was murdered while at supper, by command of Caracalla, in the year A. D. 212 (Spartian. Caracall. 4, Get. 5), leaving behind him many learned works (cuius Libri plurimi ad doctrinam exstant, Spartian. l.c.). Sidonius Apollinaris (Carm. 13.21) celebrates his mathematical lore, and that he turned his attention to antiquarian pursuits may be gathered from Arnobius (ad v. Gentes, 6.17) and Macrobius (Macr. 2.13), of whom the latter quotes some remarks by Sammonicus upon the sumptuary Lex Fannia, while in another place (Sat. 3.9), he extracts at full length from the fifth book of his Res Reconditae, the ancient forms by which the gods of a beleaguered town were summoned forth by the besiegers, and the place itself devoted to the destroying powers. In the Saturnalia also (2.12), is preserved a letter by Sammonicus addressed to the emperor Septimius Severus, on the honours rendered at solemn banquets to the sturgeon. According to Lampridius he must have been either an orator or a poet, or perhaps both, for it is recorded by the Augustan historian in his life of Alexander Severus (100.30) that this prince was wont to read " et oratores et poetas, in queis Serenum Sammonicum, quem ipse noverat et dilexerat, et Horatium." His son, who bore the same name, was the preceptor of the younger Gordian, and bequeathed to his pupil the magnificent library which he had inherited from his sire. (Capitolin. Gordian. 18.) Works de Medicina praecepta saluberrima

A medical poem, extending to 115 hexameter lines, divided into 65 chapters or sections, and ending abruptly, has descended to us under the title Q. Sereni Sammonici de Medicina praecepta saluberrima, or, Praecepta de Medicina parvo pretio parabili, which is usually ascribed to the elder Sammonicus. It contains a considerable amount of information, extracted from the best authorities, on natural history and the healing art, mixed up with a number of puerile superstitions, such as the efficacy of the Abracadabra as an amulet in ague, the whole expressed in plain, unambitious, and almost prosaic language. Editions

The text is very corrupt, probably in consequence of the estimation in which the treatise was held during the middle ages. The most useful edition is that of Burmann, included in his Poetae Latini Minores (4to. Leid. 1731, vol. ii. pp. 187-388), containing the best notes and the Prolegomena of Kenchen. For an account of some recent contributions towards the improvement of the text, see Reuss, Lectiones Sammonicae, p. 1.4to. Wirceb. 1837. [W.R]

a Roman lyric poet (Terent. Maur. p. 2427, ed. Putsch.; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. 2.15; Hieron. Epist. ad Paulin. 7), who exercised his muse chiefly, it would appear, in depicting the charms of the country, and the delight of rural pursuits. With the exception of one or two incidental notices in Sidonius Apollinaris (Epist. ad Polem. Carm. ix. ad Fel.), and the passage in St. Jerome referred to above, he is known to us from the grammarians alone, unless, indeed, we adopt the conjecture of Gronovius that in the Ode of Statius (Stat. Silv. 4.5) addressed to Septimius Severus, we ought to substitute Serenus for Severus. The age in which he flourished is uncertain, since it depends upon the epoch which we assign to Terentianus Maurus, with whom he seems to have been nearly contemporary. (Terent. Maur. pp. 2424, 2427, ed. Putsch.)

His chief work, at least that which is most frequently mentioned, is quoted by Nonius (c. v. n. 35) under the title of Opuscula Ruralia, by Terentianus Maurus (p. 2427, ed. Putsch.), as Opuscula Raris, by others simply as Opuscula, and must have been divided into two or more books (Non. 100.14.5). Another piece, unless indeed it was included in the Opuscula, was named Falisca, from containing a description of a farm which he possessed in the country of the Falisci, and from this the author is designated as Poeta Faliseus (Terent. Maur. p. 2423, ed. Putsch.). It was composed in a peculiar measure invented by himself, consisting of three dactyls and a pyrrhichius, which is hence termed Metrum Faliscum by Servius (Centimetr. p. 1824, ed. Putsch.) and Victorinus (p. 2578 ed. Putsch.). Of this we have a specimen in the lines :--

Quando flagella jugas, ita juga, Vitis et ulmus uti simul eant, Nam nisi sint paribus fruticibus, Umbra necat teneras Amineas.

Wernsdorf has endeavoured to prove that the Moretum, found among the Catalecta Virgiliana, belongs in reality to Serenus, but the hypothesis rests upon no sure nor even plausible evidence.

The scanty remains of Serenus, of which the longest fragment, the commencement of a sort of hymn to Janus, extends to five lines only, afford examples of several uncommon metres, and will be found collected in Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. ii. p. 279. The dissertation commencing in p. 247 of the same volume contains every thing that has been ascertained or conjectured with regard to his name, his history, and his writings. See also Burmann, Anthol. Lat. 1.27, 3.57, or No. 191, 192, ed. Meyer. [W.R]

proconsul of Further Spain, was condemned of Vis public in A. D. 23, and exiled (deportatus) to the little island of Amorgus, near Naxos. The real reason of his punishment was his being an enemy of the all-powerful Sejanus, as we learn from Dio Cassius (58.8), who relates the circumstance, but without mentioning the name of Serenus. In the following year he was brought back to Rome, because he was accused by his own son, in the senate, of a plot against the emperor. The younger Serenus bocame one of the most infamous accusers in the reign of Tiberius, and was therefore held in all the higher honour by the emperor. (Tac. Ann. 4.13, 28, 36 )

A Roman lyric poet of the time of Hadrian, who wrote of the country and of rural scenes in artificial style. Only fragments of his works remain, and those are edited by Bährens in his Frag. Poët. Rom. 384 (1888).