Lucius Cornificius
Roman politician
Lucius Cornificius, a member of the plebeian gens Cornificia, was a Roman politician and consul in 35 BC.
Cornificius served as the accuser of Marcus Junius Brutus in the court which tried the murderers of Julius Caesar. In 38 BC Octavian gave him the command of a fleet in the war against Sextus Pompeius during which he distinguished himself in battle in the waters around Sicily. In 36 BC he was given part of the army and managed to extricate his troops from a dangerous situation and unite them with Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa at Mylae. For these services he was rewarded with the consulship in 35 BC.
It is said of Cornificius that he afterwards accustomed himself in Rome to ride home upon an elephant whenever he supped out. As part of the embellishing program that Augustus started, Cornificius rebuilt a temple of Diana.
To him is sometimes erroneously attributed the Rhetorica ad Herennium.
Primary sources
Plutarch Brut. 27
Appian, B. C. v. 80, 86, 111—115
Dion Cassius xlix. 5—7; Velleius Paterculus ii.
The public source identifies “Lucius Cornificius” as roman politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lucius, Cornificius and Roman.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q773808. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lucius Cornificius” 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.