Mānīlius

1. Gaius Manilius, tribune for 67/6 BC, who carried a law conferring on Pompey the command against Mithridates, with imperium over all the provinces of Asia Minor.

2. Marcus Manilius (flourished at the beginning of the first century AD), author of a Latin didactic poem in hexameters in five books entitled Astronomica, dealing with astrology. The work as it stands appears unfinished, the fifth book breaking off abruptly. Unlike Lucretius the author sees design and ‘heavenly reason’ in the organization of the universe. The subject-matter is not universally appealing, but the non-technical parts of book 1, describing the creation and the arrangement of the stars in the heavens, and of book 5, describing the risings of signs, other than those of the zodiac, and their effect on children born on each occasion, contain interesting and eloquent passages.