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| Toynbee "Curio_1" |
Manius Curius Dentatus, favourite hero of the Roman
republic, celebrated in later times as an example of Roman
frugality and virtue. He was twice consul, 290 and 275 B.C. In his
first consulship he successfully held the Samnites in check; and in
the second he completely defeated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and
forced him to leave Italy. On this and on other occasions he
consistently declined to share in the large booty which he gained.
At the close of his military career he retired to his small farm in
the country of the Sabines, which he cultivated with his own hands.
An embassy sent to him on one occasion by the Samnites with costly
presents found him roasting turnips at his hearth. He rejected
their presents with the remark that he preferred ruling over those
who possessed gold to possessing it himself.
D. mentions C. in connexion with his rejection of the bribes of the
Samnites, his authority probably being Cicero (De senect. xvi),
Conv. IV. v. 13. [Senectute, De.]
©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee
(1968) by permission of Oxford University Press