Guy Cornelius Gall

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	Bust of Guy Cornelia Gall (inaccessible link)

He came from a noble family, the place of birth was the city of Forum Julius in Gaul, was brought up in Rome, became a companion of Octavian Augustus and was elevated by him to the dignity of a Roman horseman . Among contemporaries was considered a highly educated person ( Ovid . Tristia, IV). In 42 BC e. He was a member of the commission involved in the division of land in Upper Italy to distribute it to veterans, while in this position, Gall saved the state of the poet Virgil with whom he had been friends since his youth — he helped return his father’s estate near Mantua ^[1] . Also his friend was the poet Catullus ^[2] . Later, Gall participated in the last civil war of the Roman Republic on the side of Octavian (opponents: Mark Anthony in alliance with Cleopatra VII ) - was a military leader in the Egyptian theater of war ^[3] .

In 31 BC e. Guy Cornelius Gall at the head of the army was sent from the province of Proconsular Africa to Egypt. Lucius Pinarius Scarp (grandson of Julia the Elder ) should have been his opponent in this direction, but the latter, having received news of the defeat of Mark Anthony in a naval battle at Cape Aktsium (northwestern Greece ), surrendered his troops, which Antony had counted on to help. Further successful military operations against the port city of Paratonia in Marmarik , where Marc Anthony tried to escape, as well as the capture of Cleopatra VII, brought Guy Cornelius Gallus the favor of Octavian Augustus, who appointed him the prefect of the newly conquered Egypt ^[3] .

The magistracy of the prefect of Egypt, newly introduced by Octavian Augustus, differed from the rest of the viceroyal posts in the Roman provinces - the appointed Guy Cornelius Gall subordinated only to Augustus and was not accountable to the Senate . Having suppressed the centers of resistance, he took control of all Egypt and established good-neighborly relations with the kingdom of Kush ^[1] . In addition, it is known that statues of Gall were erected throughout the Egyptian province; inscriptions describing his actions were found on the Nile island of Fila , on the pyramids in Giza and on the obelisk, now standing on St. Petra in Rome.

Gaius Cornelius Gallus, son of Gnei, Roman horseman, first prefect of Alexandria and Egypt after the deposition of kings by Caesar , son of the divine . When Thebaid was deposited, he defeated the enemy in 15 days, during which he won two battles, took five cities: Boresu, Koptos , Keramik, the Great City of Zeus , Ofiesess. Capturing the leaders of these rebellions, he led an army over the threshold of the Nile; before this place the armed forces of neither the Roman people nor the kings reached. Having conquered Thebaid, a community that terrified all the kings, giving Philia an audience with the ambassadors of the king of Ethiopians and taking this king under his protection, appointing a tyrant to Triakontashen, one of the regions of Ethiopia , dedicated to the paternal gods and assistant Nile.

- The Greek version of the trilingual inscription from the island of Phila (OGIS. II, 654.) ^[4]

Probably, his severity and arrogance, incriminated him and, despite the rather successful actions to establish Roman authority in Egypt, aroused the suspicions of Octavian Augustus in Rome. In 26 BC e. he fell out of favor, was exiled and his property was confiscated. At the age of about 43, to avoid trial, Guy Cornelius Gall committed suicide ^[3] . In the 4th century, Ammianus Marcellinus mentions these events in his “Acts in Thirty-One Books”: first, Ammianus tells of Gall’s actions in Thebes , how he “deprived this city of his many robberies,” then he reports that upon his return to Rome, when Gall was brought to justice, “then, in fear of the indignant nobility, to whom the emperor submitted this case for investigation, he rushed to his sword” ^[5] .

He was considered a talented speaker; two of his speeches have survived to this day: “In pollionem” and “In Alfenum Varum” ^[3] . He is more famous as a poet - he was one of the first Roman creators of the genre of love elegies, belonged to the younger generation, the so-called “Neoterics” or “new poets,” some literary scholars define his work as something between the Neoterics and poets of the Augustan era. Perhaps composed and epilia - epic forms on a mythological plot. His works are close to Hellenistic examples, especially the Alexandrian love lyrics and Euphorion Halkidsky (translated by his "learned" poems), as well as the Roman poets Catullus and Calvus , who less labored in this poetic field. Around 40 BC e. four books of elegiac song verses dedicated by Gall to his beloved Licorida (pseudonym of the mimic actress Kiferida ) were published, very popular in antiquity ^[6] . The songs were interconnected in the manner of the poem Procyra "Kinfiya". Gall is also considered the author of the work "Kiris", erroneously attributed to Virgil. Thanks to the rigid syllable, Quintilian characterizes Gall with the nickname Durior - “solid”, the other poets of that era speak of his work with praise ( Martial , Ovid , Propertius). Parthenius, collecting mythological love stories, dedicated to Gall his prose collection of erotic stories - “Erotika pathemata”. Many conclusions about the content of Gall’s verses are made on the basis of the work of his friend Virgil, who mentions him in the 6th eclogue and dedicated the X eclogue “Bucolic” to him, as well as in the last part of the fourth “Georgika” (which, according to one version, he redid after the fall of Gall ^[2] ). Modern scholars know only one verse, possibly belonging to Gall (the epilium is preserved in Appendix Vergiliana), therefore the volume and content of his poetry are sometimes the subject of controversy ^[7] .

• Gall, Cornelius // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Antique writers .