Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius was aRomanhistorian. Little is known of his life, but he probably lived in the1st century BCE.
Quadrigarius's annals spanned at least 23 books. They began with the conquest ofRome by theGauls (c. 390 BCE), reachedCannae by Book 5,[1] and ended with the age ofSulla,c. 84 or 82 BCE.
The surviving fragments of his work were collected byHermann Peter.[2] The largest fragment is preserved inAulus Gellius,[3] and concerns a single combat betweenT. Manlius Torquatus and aGaul.[4]
Quadrigarius's work was considered very important, especially for the contemporary history he narrates. From its sixth book onward,Livy'sHistory of Rome used Quadrigarius andValerius Antias as major sources, (if not uncritically),[5] and it seems Livy especially drew on Quadrigarius for trophies placed in theCapitoline temple and lost before Livy's time in the fire of 83 BCE.[6] He is cited by Aulus Gellius, and he was probably the "Clodius" mentioned inPlutarch'sLife of Numa.[7]
The judgment of his prose has varied. Some considered that it was his lively style which ensured his survival in various extracts;[8] but more perhaps would agree withFronto that his language was pure and colloquial (“puri ac prope cotidiani sermonis”),[9] and that it benefited from its straightforwardness, and absence of archaisms.[10]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Annalists".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 60.| International | |
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