person
Lucius Piso Frugi
also: L. Piso Frugi
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, tribune of the plebs 149 BC (carrier of the first lex Calpurnia de repetundis), consul 133, annalist, and the moral standard-bearer who acquired the cognomen Frugi by general acclaim. Cicero recurs to him as the model of upright Roman conduct (Verr. 2.3.195; Pro Fonteio 39; De off. 2.75).
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 9.22 §2 But Piso Frugi, in his \textit{Annals}
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi (cos. 133 BC) wrote the Annales, an early Latin prose history. Cicero's point is that a word Piso used with old-fashioned propriety has, through later usage, slid into the realm of the obscene -- proving that decency is a matter of convention, not of words or things in themselves.
- Against Verres, Second Hearing, Book III §195 Lucius Piso Frugi
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, tribune 149 BC, brought the lex Calpurnia repetundis: the first standing-court statute on extortion, the seed-law of the very procedure under which Verres now stood trial.
- Tusculan Disputations §3.16 the surname of Lucius Piso
Lucius Calpurnius Piso, consul 133 BC and annalist, bore the honorific cognomen Frugi ('the Thrifty/Worthy'). Cicero uses the high praise the name won as proof that frugalitas embraces all the virtues.
- Tusculan Disputations §3.48 That famous Lucius Piso Frugi had always spoken against the grain law
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi (cos. 133 BC) opposed the Gracchan grain dole but, once it passed, claimed his own share, telling Gracchus he would not have his property distributed but would take what the law gave. The anecdote skewers inconsistency between principle and practice.