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Cornelius Nepos is known mainly as the founder of the technique of parallel biography whose innovative De viris illustribus (On Famous Men, 35-34 B.C.) launched the literary genre of political biography at Rome and paved the way for the great biographical work of Plutarch, Parallel Lives. Not much is known of Nepos except what can be extrapolated from the work of others. His birth date is given by St. Jerome's Chronicles as 100 B.C. Pliny the Elder claims that Nepos died after 31 B.C., or perhaps nearer to 27 B.C., when the reign of Augustus was known as the "principate." Nepos's praenomen is unknown. He was born and reared in the Po Valley of Cisalpine Gaul, but the exact place of birth is unclear, though Ostiglia and Pavia are mentioned. Obviously he left his home at some point and immigrated to Rome, but the date is unknown. Cicero's speech Pro Cornelio (For Cornelius) in 65 B.C.
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