Commentarii
1.
Roman collections of historical documents, such as treaties, decrees, and short notices of
important events. These became the sources from which many of the Roman historians drew their
materials in treating of the early period. Of these collections may be noted (
a) the Commentarii Regum, professing to be the work of the
kings themselves, and in reality containing very ancient records; (
b）
the Commentarii Augŭrum, kept by the college of augurs;
(
c) the Commentarii Pontifĭcum,
also called
Annāles
Maxĭmi, containing the names of the magistrates for each year and a record
of all memorable events from the days of the kings down to the pontificate of P. Mucius
Scaevola (B.C. 133); (
d) the Commentarii
Magistratuum (i.e.
consulum, quaestorum, censorum, etc.), records
of the transactions of individual magistrates. The greatest part of these records perished
when Rome was destroyed by the Gauls (B.C. 388), though in some cases copies of them
remained. See
Annales;
Fasti;
Libri Lintei.
2.
The title of a number of historical and legal works by various Roman writers, the best
known being those of Cicero (written in Greek with the title
ὑπομνήματα), now lost, but largely used by Plutarch in his life of Cicero; the
Commentarii de Bello Gallico and the
Commentarii de Bello
Civili of Iulius
Caesar (q.v.); and the
Commentarii de Iure Civili of the jurist
Gaius (q.v.).
