Lucius Orbilius Pupillus

Lucius Orbilius Pupillus, mostly just Orbilius (* 113 BC in Benevento, † 13 BC in Rome ), was a Latin grammarian and educator.

After his parents died, impoverished, according to Suetonius, he served as executive officer and soldier before he in his home town of Benevento its own school system opened, the BC he shifted in his 50 years of age 63 to Rome. There he earned while professional recognition, but could not bring prosperity and lived in modest circumstances. With increasing age, his being hardened.

In Rome, Horace was among the pupils of about sixty years old. He recorded later in a letter ( Epist. 2, 1) a tight, unflattering portrait of his teacher, became proverbial by the Orbilius for posterity. So he received from his students the epithet plagosus ( " rich in bats "), which is attested to by Suetonius ( gramm. 9, 2). Since then, his name stands for the type of petty, irascible and punitive teacher.

Orbilius died at an old age at the age of nearly 100 years. He left a son of the same name, who also taught grammar. Suetonius reports that the Capitol of Benevento, a statue of Lucius Orbilius Pupillus was erected, which showed him sitting in the pallium.

Swell

• Suetonius: De grammaticis 9 (online)
• Horace Epistulae 2, 1 (online)