person
Appius Claudius Caecus
Appius the Blind
also: Appius ille Caecus, Appius the Blind
The censor of 312 BC who built the Appian Way and the first Roman aqueduct, ancestor of the Claudii. Cicero invokes him with bitter irony, since the road he built for the people's use became the scene of Clodius's brigandage and death.
Reading notes
- First Philippic §11 that famous Appius was brought in, blind and aged
Appius Claudius Caecus, censor of 312 BC, who in old age and blindness had himself carried into the Senate to dissuade peace with Pyrrhus (280 BC). Cicero cites him as the extreme precedent for compelling a senator's attendance.
- Tusculan Disputations §4.4 the song of Appius Caecus
Appius Claudius Caecus (the Blind), censor in 312 BC, to whom a moralizing poem (a Carmen) was attributed. Cicero, citing Panaetius, finds it Pythagorean in spirit.
- Tusculan Disputations §5.112 That old Appius, too, who was blind for many years
Appius Claudius Caecus ("the Blind"), censor 312 BC, who though blind in old age continued a full public and private career. Cicero cites him as a Roman example of blindness borne without loss of usefulness.