Talk:Gaius Pontius

A fact from Gaius Pontius appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 25 May 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Gaius Pontius, the Samnite general and victor at the Battle of the Caudine Forks, is believed to be an ancestor of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/May.

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The first name of Pontius?[edit]

I was reading Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, specifically the most recent translation by Mansfield and Tarcov, and in Book III 12.2, Machiavelli refers to "Claudius Pontius." Claudius was a Samnite, and Machiavelli quotes a line from his speech in Livy XI 1. This Samnite general, after having given this speech, goes on, as Livy indicates, to defeat the Romans at the battle of the Caudine Forks. Now, in this article, he is referred to as "Gaius" Pontius. So, using Perseus, which is the only thing I had available, I went to look at the Latin itself to see what the name was. As Livy does, he only gives the first initial. In the text, he says, in every edition I saw on Perseus "C. Pontius." Now, I have not taken Latin in a number of years, but I think an initial with "C" should not turn out to be "Gaius (if I am wrong there, correct me).

It is also the case, though, that the name Claudius doesn't seem to be given either. In the English translations I found, which are admittedly all old, the name is similarly not translated the same throughout. The earlier of the two translations have, in order, "C. Pontius," and then "Caius Pontius." The most recent available (1926...so not too recent), does in fact say "Gaius Pontius." Another english translation I found, from 1823, also used "Caius Pontius."

Now, I really have no clue what to think here. I am inclined to think that the combination of a) the letter "C" in the Latin translations, the authority of Machiavelli, and of Mansfield and Tarcov, are sufficient to tilt the balance toward Claudius. But I really do not know. Of course, this is not a big deal, considering the guy is of little importance. But, it seems like the matter is not clear. This is especially the case because the article itself gives no specific citations to any texts. I am not confident enough to be willing to change it, so I will leave this comment instead. 2601:19B:0:9EB0:91E3:50D9:92DA:EA5E (talk) 21:36, 18 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]