Figulus, Publius Nigidius

Publius Nigidius Figulus, (flourished not later than 98–45 bc), Roman savant and writer, next to Marcus Terentius Varro the most learned Roman of his age, according to the Latin writer Aulus Gellius (2nd century ad).

Figulus was a friend of Cicero, to whom he gave his support at the time of the Catilinarian conspiracy. He was praetor in 58, sided with Pompey in the civil war, was afterward banished, and died in exile. Figulus sought to revive Pythagorean doctrines. With this was included mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, and even the magic arts. Suetonius and Lucius Apuleius tell of Figulus’ supernatural powers. Saint Jerome calls him Pythagoricus et magus (“Pythagorean and magician”). The indifference of the Romans to such abstruse and mystical subjects caused his works to be eclipsed by the more accessible work of Varro.

Figulus wrote the earliest comprehensive work on Roman religion, De diis (“Concerning the Gods”), in at least 19 books, the earliest comprehensive work on Roman religion; Commentarii grammatici, in at least 29 books, a loose collection of notes concerned with, among other matters, synonyms, inflection, orthography, word formation, syntax, and etymology; De extis (“Concerning Sacrificial Meats”); Augurium privatum, a work on augury; De ventis (“Concerning Winds”), in at least four books; De animalibus, in at least four books; De hominum natura, in at least four books; Sphaera graecanica et sphaera barbarica; and a rhetorical treatise, De gestu (“Concerning Gesture”). His writings survive only in fragments quoted by other authors, especially Gellius.