Cipus
legendary Roman praetor
Cipus was a legendary Roman praetor famous for his pietas. After receiving a prophecy that he would become king of Rome, he chose voluntary exile instead of the throne. He is mentioned by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Pliny the Elder in Natural History, and Valerius Maximus.
In literature
Ovid's treatment of Cipus in Book 15 of Metamorphoses is the most thorough. According to Ovid, Cipus notices that he has grown horns on his head after seeing his reflection in a stream. He declares that if the omen is good it should benefit his lands and the inhabitants of Quirinus (i.e., Rome), but if the omen is ill it should fall solely on his shoulders. Cipus then builds new altars and makes sacrifices to the gods. A seer who examined the entrails spilled during the sacrifice prophesies that Cipus would enter Rome and be chosen its king.
Cipus decides that living in exile is preferable to being made king and devises a plan. He hides his horns with a garland of laurel and calls a meeting of the citizens and the Roman Senate.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cipus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.