person
Gaius Avianius Flaccus
Avianius Flaccus
also: Flacco Avianio, Flaccus Avianius, C. Avianio Flacco, C. Avianius Flaccus, Avianius
Wealthy businessman and one of Cicero's most intimate friends. Cicero wrote several letters to provincial governors on his behalf (Fam. 13.75, c. 52 BC, and by reference in 13.35, 46 BC). He was the patron after whom C. Avianius Philoxenus took the nomen Avianius upon receiving Roman citizenship.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 13.35 §1 he took the name of Avianius because no one stood him in better stead than Flaccus Avianius
When a non-citizen obtained Roman citizenship, he normally adopted as his nomen gentilicium the family name of his patron. Philoxenus took the name Avianius because C. Avianius Flaccus, a wealthy businessman and one of Cicero's closest intimates, had championed his interests. Flaccus Avianius appears again as the main subject of Cicero's recommendation letter 13.75 (c. 52 BC).
- Ad Familiares 13.75 §2 both in the place to which he is to convey the grain and in the matter of the timing
C. Avianius Flaccus was a grain-contractor (negotiator in the corn trade); the two concessions Cicero seeks for him are the delivery-point and the schedule for handing over the grain, both points of leverage in fulfilling a state grain contract.