Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

e (or traditionally were)? We may at any rate savour the nomenclature
(with the help of observations supplied by John Henderson): what are
we are dealing with in the case of Thrasea Paetus are two cognomina.
To appreciate this point calls for a brief excursion on Roman naming
conventions. The cognomen was the third element in a Roman name,
coming after the praenomen (‘given name’) and the nomen gentile (‘family
name’). It was often a nickname, but could, like the nomen gentile, become
hereditary. Here are some (famous) examples:
praenomen nomen gentile cognomen English meaning
cognomen
Marcus Tullius Cicero Mr. Chickpea
Publius Ovidius Naso Mr. Conk
Quintus Horatius Flaccus Mr. Flabby or Flap-eared
Gaius Julius Caesar Mr. Hairy
And here is John Henderson on the role of the cognomen in Roman
(invective) rhetoric: ‘Now equating a fellow-citizen of some distinction
with his cognomen was the most cliché topos in all Roman civic discourse
(sermo), and their wonderfully rustic mos of cultivating peasant gibes at
features of the body had even defined Roman liberty as levelling obloquy.
Hung with glee, and worn with pride, round the necks of highest and
lowest in society, this habitual “standing epithet” was there ready to be
trotted out, at any instant, in whatever context. The “informal” pet name
picking out a self, there to hug or to hurt its bearer, picked on a blunt and
crude archaic image-repertoire of deformity and dysfunction to stamp
them, stomp on them, stamp them into the ground.’ 77
As it happens, both Paetus and Thrasea are cognomina, the former
Latin, the latter Graecizing, each highly appropriate to the character
in question: paetus thrasus) means ‘reckless.’
They compound to make our philosophizing senator Mr. Squinty-Bold:
a Roman politician with a Greek philosophical mindset, who just so
happens to ‘spot’ (askance) and ‘boldly’ seize an opportunity to pull
off... a ‘reverse’ (cf. vertens). Put differently, Tacitus’ inversion of his
77 Henderson (2004) 77. Another good example is Cicero’s punning on Verres, which is also
the Latin term for ‘boar’ – hence ‘Mr. Porker’.