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{{short description|Roman politician, historian and writer}}
{{hatnote|For the Augustan antiquarian, see [[Cincius]]. For others named Cincius, see [[Cincia (gens)]].}}

'''Lucius Cincius Alimentus''' ({{fl.|about}}{{nbsp}}200{{nbsp}}BC) was a celebrated [[ancient Rome|Roman]] [[annalists|annalist]], [[jurist]], and provincial official. He is principally remembered as one of the founders of [[Roman historiography]], although his ''Annals'' has been lost and is only known from fragments in other works.

==Life==
L. Cincius Alimentus was part of the [[Cincia (gens)|Cincia]] [[gens|clan]] of [[ancient Rome]]. He served as [[praetor]] in [[Roman Sicily|Sicily]] 210{{nbsp}}BC and as [[Promagistrate|propraetor]] in 209 BC, again in Sicily, commanding two [[Roman legion|legions]].<ref name="DGRBM">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Graves | first = John Thomas | title = Alimentus, L. Cincius | editor = William Smith | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] | volume = 1 | pages = 131–132 | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | location = Boston | year = 1867 | url =http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&idno=acl3129.0001.001&q1=demosthenes&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=146&size=100}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Frier|first=Bruce W.|title=Libri Annales Pontificum Maximorum: The Origins of the Annalistic Tradition|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-472-10915-9|pages=238}}</ref> As a [[Roman Senate|Roman senator]], his most important legislation was the Cincian Law ([[Lex Cincia]]), which forbade the acceptance of payment for [[legal services]].<ref>Will Durant, Caesar and Christ (1944). Simon & Schuster. p. 32</ref>

Alimentus was captured in one of the early battles of the [[Second Punic War]]. He spent years as a [[prisoner of war|prisoner]] of the [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] general [[Hannibal]], who{{mdash}}according to Alimentus's later account{{mdash}}confided in the Roman the details of his crossing of the [[Alps]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Prevas|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh6nsB94veIC|title=Hannibal Crosses the Alps|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|year=2001|isbn=0-306-81070-0|pages=71–72}}</ref> He is last attested as an envoy in 208 BC. Scholar Bruce W. Frier mentions that none of the envoys are heard of again in the written records, and argues that the legation may have been captured while in [[Bruttium]], Alimentus' release thus resulting from the peace treaty after Zama.<ref name=":0" />

==Works==
L. Cincius Alimentus wrote principally in [[ancient Greek language|Greek]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Breisach | first = Ernst | title = Historiography: Ancient, Medieval and Modern | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] | year = 2007 | location = Chicago | pages = 44–45 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7Juypp-VVg4C | isbn = 978-0-226-07283-8}}</ref> According to Frier, Alimentus' ''Annals'' was written no later than 202 BC.<ref name=":0" />

===Annals===
His major work was an ''Annals'' ({{langx|la|Annales}}) or ''Roman History'', following [[Q. Fabius Pictor]] in translating the [[Annales maximi|annals]] of the [[pontifex maximus]] and other Roman sources to present a year-by-year prose Greek narrative of [[Roman history]].<ref>[[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Clio's Cosmetics'' (Bristol Phoenix Press, 2003, originally published 1979 by Leicester University Press), p. 9.</ref> The work has been lost, but its objectivity was praised by [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] and [[Polybius]] and it was frequently cited by [[Festus (historian)|Festus]].<ref name="latlit">{{cite book | last = Conte | first = Gian Biagio | title = Latin Literature | publisher = [[Johns Hopkins University Press]] | year = 1999 | location = Baltimore | pages = 69–70 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NJGp_dkXnuUC | isbn = 0-8018-6253-1}}</ref> [[Barthold Georg Niebuhr|Niebuhr]], one of the major modern historians of Rome, praised Alimentus's methodology as well, describing him as a critical investigator of antiquity who threw light on the history of his country by researches among its ancient monuments.<ref>[[Barthold Georg Niebuhr|Niebuhr]], Vol. I,{{clarify|date=February 2019}} p. 272.</ref> In particular, Alimentus has a far less triumphal account of the early relations between the Romans and the early Latins than most historians.

One of the surviving fragments of Alimentus dates the [[founding of Rome]] to the 4th year of the 12th [[Olympiad]] (729/728{{nbsp}}BC). Trying to account for the discrepancy between this and the usual date of 753, Niebuhr hypothesized that Roman historians may have possessed a record placing the foundation 132 years before the reign of [[Tarquin the Elder]], who reformed the [[Roman calendar]]. Alimentus may have converted those earlier 132 ten-month years into 110 twelve-month years before calculating his date, although the ancient Roman calendar had rounded out its years with a winter period of variable length.

===Other works===
L. Cincius Alimentus's account of his imprisonment in the [[Second Punic War]] and biography of the philosopher [[Gorgias]] probably originally formed part of his annals.<ref>[[Livy]], ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|History of Rome]]'', Book XXI, 38.</ref>

Other works attributed to him include a treatise ''On the Office of Jurisconsult'' (''{{lang|la|De Officio Iurisconsulti}}''), containing at least two books; one book ''On Etymology'' (''{{lang|la|De Verbis Priscis}}''); one book ''On the Power of the Consuls'' (''{{lang|la|De Consulum Potestate}}''); one book ''On the Assemblies'' (''{{lang|la|De Comitiis}}''); one book ''On the Festivals'' (''{{lang|la|De Fastis}}''); one book ''On Initiation into the Mysteries'' (''{{lang|la|Mystagogicon}}''); and a lengthy work ''On Military Matters'' (''{{lang|la|De Re Militari}}'') spanning several books. In the last, he is known to have discussed [[conscription|military levies]] and the "[[fetial]] laws" (''{{lang|la|ius fetiale}}'') such as the religious rituals involved in [[declaration of war|declaring war]].<ref>[[Aulus Gellius]], ''Noctes Atticae'' xvi. 4.</ref><ref>Voss., ''Hist. Gr.'' iv. 13.</ref><ref>Voss. ''Hist. Lat.'' i. 4.</ref><ref>F. Lachmann, ''De Fontib. Histor. Tit. Livii Com.'' i. 17, [[4to]]. 1822</ref><ref>Zimmern, ''Röm. Rechts-gesch.'' i. § 73.</ref>

Some of these titles have been attributed to the antiquarian [[Cincius]] who supposedly wrote during the reign of [[Augustus]], around 200 years later. Some scholars propose that both figures were actually a single person confused by later writers.<ref>J.G.F. Powell, "Dialogues and Treatises," in ''A Companion to Latin Literature'', edited by Stephen Harrison (Blackwell, 2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=m6v36-zbswkC&pg=PA229 p. 229].</ref>

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30}}

===Bibliography===
* {{SmithDGRBM}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cincius, Lucius Alimentus}}
[[Category:Roman commanders of the Second Punic War]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:Latin historians]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC historians]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman antiquarians]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman jurists]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman military writers]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Sicily]]

Lucius Cincius Alimentus - Revision history

imported>Psychastes: removed Category:Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire using HotCat roman empire did not exist at this time