30)
preserves
this feature of the [TRICIPTINUS.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
(JOSEPHUS)
A'LLIUS THEODORUS.
FLAVUS.
and fame as a teacher of rhetoric. He was re- sul B. c. 501, and again B. C. 498. In this second
garded at Rome as a youthful prodigy, and lectured consulship he took the town of Fidenae. (Dionya.
before he had assumed the dress of manhood. His v. 50, 59, 60; Liv. ii. 21. ) His deference to the
master, Cestius, said that his talents were too pre- senate is contrasted by Dionysius with the military
cocious to be permanent; and Seneca (Controo. i. arrogance of the Roman generals of his own age.
p. 79. Bip. ) remarks that Flavus always owed his In B. C. 498, ten years after the expulsion of the
renown in part to something beside his eloquence. Tarquing, the curiae found it necessary to create
At first his youth attracted wonder ; afterwards a new magistracy, the dictatorship, limited indeed
his case and carelessness. Yet he long retained a to six months, but within that period more abso-
numerous school of hearers, although his talents lute than the ancient monarchy, since there was no
were latterly spoiled by self-indulgence. Flavus appeal from its authority. (Dict. of Ant. s. o. Dio
united poetry and history or natural philosophy tutor. ) T. Lartius Flavus was the first dictator
(Plin. N. H. ix. 8. § 25, and Elench. ix. (Dionys. v. 71 ; Liv. ii. 18): he received the im-
xii. xiv. xv. ) to rhetoric. (Senec. Controv. perium from his colleague, appointed his master of
i. vii. x. xiv ; Schott, de Clar. ap. Senec. Rhet. i. the equites, held a census of the citizens, adjusted
p. 374. )
(W. B. D. ) | the differences of Rome with the Latins, and after
FLAVUS, L. CAESE'TIUS, tribune of the presiding at the next consular comitia, laid down
Plebs in B. C. 44, and deposed from his office by bis office long before its term had expired. (Dionys.
C. Julius Caesar, because, in concert with C. Epi- v. 76, 77. ) According to one account (id. vi. l;
dius Marullus, one of his colleagues in the tribunate, comp. Liv. ii. 8), Lartius Flavus dedicated the
he had removed the crowns from the statues of the temple of Saturn, or the Capitol on the Capitoline
dictator, and imprisoned a person who had saluted bill. He was one of the envoys sent by the senate,
Caesar as “ king. " After expelling him from the B. C. 493, to treat with the plebs in their secession
senate, Caesar was urgent with the father of to the Sacred Hill (Dionys. vi. 81), and in the
Flavus to disinherit him. But the elder Caesetius same year he served as legatus to the consul, Pos
replied, that he would rather be deprived of his tumus Cominius, at the siege of Corioli. (Id. 92;
three sons than brand one of them with infamy. Plut. Coriolan. 8. ) In a tumult of the plebs,
At the next consular comitia, many votes were arising from the pressure of debt, B. C. 494, Lartius
given for Flavus, who, by his bold bearing towards recommended conciliatory measures (Liv. ii. 29),
the dictator, had become highly popular at Rome. and this agrees with the character of him by Diony-
(Appian, B. C. . 108, 122, iv. 93 ; Suet. Caes. sius (1l. cc. ) as a mild and just man. (W. B. D. ]
79, 80 ; Dion Cass. xliv. 9, 10, xlvi. 49; Plut. FLAVUS or FLAVIUS, SU'BRIUS, tribune
Caes. 61, Anton. 12 ; Vell. Pat. ii. 68 ; Liv. in the Praetorian guards, and most active agent in
Epit. cxvi. ; Cic. Philipp. xiii. 15; Val. Max. the conspiracy against Nero, A. D. 66, which, from
v. 7, § 2. )
(W. B. D. ] its most distinguished member, was called Piso's
FLAVUS, C. DECI'MIUS, a tribune of the conspiracy. Flavus proposed to kill Nero while
soldiers, B. c. 209. He rescued M. Claudius Mar singing on the stage, or amidst the flames of his
cellus from defeat by repulsing a charge of Hanni- palace. He was said to have intended to make
bal's elephants. (Liv. xxvii. 14. ) Flavus was away with Piso also, and to offer the empire to
praetor urbanus, B. c. 184, and died in his year of Seneca, the philosopher, since such a choice would
office. (Liv. xxxix. 32, 38, 39. ) (W. B. D. ] justify the conspirators, and it would be to little
FLAVUS, LA'RTIUS. 1. Sp. Lartius Fla- purpose to get rid of a piper, if a player—for Piso,
vus, consul B. c. 506. Dionysius (v. 36) says that too, had appeared on the stage-were to succeed
nothing was recorded of this consulship, and him. The plot was detected. Flavus was betrayed
Liry omits it altogether. Niebuhr (Hist. of by an accomplice and arrested, and, after some
Rome, vol. i. p. 536) considers the consulship of attempts at excuse, gloried in the charge. He was
Lartius Flavus and his colleague T. Herminius beheaded, and died with firmness. Dion Cassius
Aquilinus to have been inserted to fill up the calls him Loúblos adblos, and in some MSS. of
gap of a year. Lartius Flavus belongs to the Tacitus the name is written Flavius. (Tac. Ann. xv.
heroic period of Roman history. His name is 49, 50, 58, 67 ; Dion Cass. lxii. 24. ) (W. B. D. ]
generally coupled with that of Herminius (Dionys. FLAVUS, SULPICIUS, a companion of the
v. 22, 23, 24, 36 ; Liv. ii. 10, 11), and in the emperor Claudius I. , who assisted the imperial stu-
original lays they were the two warriors who stood dent in the composition of his historical works.
beside Horatius Cocles in his defence of the bridge. (Suet. Claud. 4,41. ) [CLAUDIUS, I. ] (W. B. D. ]
[Coches. Mr. Macaulay (Lays of Anc. Rome, FLAVUS TRICIPTI'NUS, LUCRE'TIUS.
“ Horatius," st.
30) preserves this feature of the [TRICIPTINUS. ]
story, and adopts Niebuhr's reason for it (Hist. FLAVUS, VIRGI'NIUS, & rhetorician, who
Rome, i. p. 542), that one represented the tribe of lived in the first century a. D. , and was one of the
the Ramnes, and the other that of the Titienses. preceptors of A. Persius Flaccus, the poet.
It is worth notice, however, that at the battle of (Suet. Persii Vita ; Burmann, Praefat. ad Cic.
the Lake Regillus, where all the heroes meet to Herennium, ed. Schütz. p. xiv. ) (W. B. D. ]
gether for the last time, the name of Herminius FLORA, the Roman goddess of flowers and
appear, but not that of Lartius. (Dionys. v. 3, spring. The writers, whose object it was to bring
&c. ; Liv. ii. 19, &c. ) Lartius Flavus was consul the Roman religion into contempt, relate that
a second time in B. C. 490 (Dionys. vii. 68); Flora had been, like Acca Laurentia, a courtezan,
warden of the city (v. 75, viii. 64); one of the five who accumulated a large property, and bequeathed
envoys sent to the Volscian camp when Coriolanus it to the Roman people, in return for which she
besieged Rome (viii. 72); and interrex for holding was honoured with the annual festival of the Flo
the consular comitia B. C. 480 (viii. 90), in which ralia. (Lactant. i. 20. ) But her worship was
year he counselled war with Veii (ib. 91). established at Rome in the very earliest times, for
2. T. LARTIUS Flavus, brother of No. 1, con- a temple is said to have been vowed to her by king
TERNLA'NUS (MATER
ILO'STRATUS. (PALLO
SCUS. (Priscus)
I'NUS. (SABINUS)
VI'NUS. [SCEPINES]
FRIUS. (Flavus)
PICIANUS. (SCLPIKCIA
ISCUS. (Vopiscus]
FIU'S, tribune of the plebs
's consulship Flarus seranded
against Catiline (Cice
s tribunate he was a zealan
r's acts and law (Cic pro
in Sertian. p. 304, is To
i. ) This seems to hare cos
He was, however, praetely
one repulse. Flvus afies
or, or special consisine,
nius (Cic
. ad Q. Fr. lz. I.
Plancius (Cic. pro Plze
aks of Flarus as an bones
istaken man. (W. B. D. ]
S, a rhetorician who too-
gustus and Tiberius. His
78 school the elder Senec
come to Rome free
If was a pupil of Cestis
eclipsed both in practice
:
## p. 176 (#192) ############################################
176
FLORENTIUS.
FLORUS.
".
Tatius (Varro, de L. L. v. 74), and Numa ap- | fect of Illyricum, in the room of Anatolius, recently
pointed a flamen to her. The resemblance between decensed; but on the death of his patron in the
the names Flora and Chloris led the later Romans same year (361), he fled, along with his colleague
to identify the two divinities. Her temple at Taurus, from the wrath of the new emperor, during
Rome was situated near the Circus Maximus (Tac. the whole of whose reign he remained in close con-
Ann. ii. 49), and her festival was celebrated from cealment, having, while absent, been impeached
the 28th of April till the first of May, with ex- and capitally condemned. Julian is said to have
travagant merriment and lasciviousness. (Dict. of generously refused to be informed of the place where
Ant. s. v. Floralia. )
[L. S. ) his former enemy had sought shelter. (Julian,
FLORENTI'NUS, a jurist, who is named by Epist. 15; Amm. Marc. xvi. 12, 14, xvii. 3, 2,
Lampridius (Alexand. 68. ) as one of the council of xx. 4, 2. 8, 20, xxi. 6, 5, xxii. 3, 6. 7, 5; Zosim.
the emperor Severus Alexander ; and, though this ii. 10. )
[W. R. )
authority would otherwise be entitled to little FLÓRIA'NUS, M. AN'NIUS, the brother,
weight, it is supported by a rescript of the emperor by a different father, of the emperor Tacitus, upon
Alexander to A. Florentinus, which is preserved whose decease he at once assumed the supreme
in Cod. 3. tit. 28. 8. 8. He wrote Institutiones in power, as if it had been a lawful inheritance. This
12 books ; and his work, which was composed boldness was to a certain extent successful, for his
with much elegance, acuteness, and learning, wns authority, although not formally acknowledged,
not neglected by the compilers of Justinian's In- was tolerated by the senate and the armies of the
stitutes. This is the only work by which he is west. The legions in Syrin, however, were not so
known ; and there are 43 pure extracts from it submissive, but invested their own general, Probus,
preserved in the Corpus Juris. These have been with the purple, and proclaimed him Augustus.
separately commented upon by M. Schmalz, in a A civil war ensued [PROBUS), which was abruptly
dissertation entitled Florentini Institutionum Frag terminated by the death of Florianus, who perished
menta Comment. illustrata, 8vo. Regiom. 1801. at Tarsus, either by the swords of his soldiers or
The other dissertations upon Florentinus and his by his own hands, after he had enjoyed the im-
remains bear the following titles :-A. F. Rivinus, perial dignity for about two months, from April to
Florentini Jurisprudentice Testamentariae Reli- June or July, A. D. 276. (Zonar. xii. 29 ; Zosim.
quiae in Institut. imp. Justin. repertae et Notis i. 64; Aur. Vict. Caes. 36, 37, Epit. 36 ; Eutrop.
illustratae, 4to. Vitemb. 1752 ; Chr. G. Jaspis, ix. 19; Vopisc. Florian. )
(W. R. ]
De Florentino ejusque eleganti Doctrina, 4to.
Chemnic. 1753 ; C. F. Walchius, De Philosophia
Florentini, 4to Jena. 1754, et in Opusculis, vol. i.
p. 337–346 ; Jos. Th. Mathews, De Florentino
Icto, ejusque sex libris prioribus Institutionum, 4to.
Lug. Bat. 1801. Like the more celebrated writer
of Institutes, Gaius, he is not cited by any sub-
sequent jurist, or, at least, no such citation has
reached us.
[J. T. G. )
FLORENTI NUS, the author of a panegyric
in thirty-nine hexameters, on the glories of the
COIN OF FLORIANUS.
Vandal king Thrasimund and the splendour of
Carthage under his sway, must have flourished FLORUS, ANNAEUS(? ). We possess a
about the dose of the fifth century. These verses, summary of Roman history, divided into four
which are expressed in harsh and almost barbarous books, extending from the foundation of the city to
phraseology, present nothing except a cumbrous the establishment of the empire under Augustus
tissue of coarse flattery. [Felix FLAVIUS; Lux (A. D. 20), entitled Rerum Romanarum Libri IV. ,
ORIUS. ) (Antholog. Lat. vi. 85, ed. Burmann, or or Epitome de Gestis Romanorum, and composed,
n. 290, ed. Meyer. )
[W. R. ) as we learn from the prooemium, in the reign of
FLORENTI'NÚS, a Byzantine writer of un- Trajan or of Hadrian. This compendium, which
certain age, but who lived in or before the tenth must by no means be regarded as an abridgment of
century of the Christian era, is said to be the Livy, but as a compilation from various authorities,
author of the Geoponica, which are generally presents within a very moderate compass a striking
ascribed to Bassus CASSIANUS. [W. P. ] view of all the leading events comprehended by
FLORENTIUS, praetorian prefect of Gaul in the above limits. A few mistakes in chronology
the reign of Constantius II. , by the unscrupulous and geography have been detected here and there;
tyranny of his financial administration, excited the but the narrative is, for the most part, philosophic
indignation of Julian, who refused to ratify his in arrangement and accurate in detail, although it
ordinances. When the embarrassing order arrived has too much the air of a panegyric upon the
for the legions to march to the east [JULIANUS), Roman people. The style is by no means worthy
Florentius, that he might escape the responsibility of commendation. The general tone is far too
of compliance or disobedience, remained obstinately poetical and declamatory, while the sentiments fre-
at Vienna, busily engaged, as he pretended, in the quently assume the form of tumid conceits ex-
discharge of official duties ; but upon receiving pressed in violent metaphors.
intelligence of the open revolt of the troops and With regard to the author all is doubt and un.
their choice of an Augustus, he immediately re- certainty. In many MSS. he is designated as
paired to the court of Constantius, that he might L.
A'LLIUS THEODORUS.
FLAVUS.
and fame as a teacher of rhetoric. He was re- sul B. c. 501, and again B. C. 498. In this second
garded at Rome as a youthful prodigy, and lectured consulship he took the town of Fidenae. (Dionya.
before he had assumed the dress of manhood. His v. 50, 59, 60; Liv. ii. 21. ) His deference to the
master, Cestius, said that his talents were too pre- senate is contrasted by Dionysius with the military
cocious to be permanent; and Seneca (Controo. i. arrogance of the Roman generals of his own age.
p. 79. Bip. ) remarks that Flavus always owed his In B. C. 498, ten years after the expulsion of the
renown in part to something beside his eloquence. Tarquing, the curiae found it necessary to create
At first his youth attracted wonder ; afterwards a new magistracy, the dictatorship, limited indeed
his case and carelessness. Yet he long retained a to six months, but within that period more abso-
numerous school of hearers, although his talents lute than the ancient monarchy, since there was no
were latterly spoiled by self-indulgence. Flavus appeal from its authority. (Dict. of Ant. s. o. Dio
united poetry and history or natural philosophy tutor. ) T. Lartius Flavus was the first dictator
(Plin. N. H. ix. 8. § 25, and Elench. ix. (Dionys. v. 71 ; Liv. ii. 18): he received the im-
xii. xiv. xv. ) to rhetoric. (Senec. Controv. perium from his colleague, appointed his master of
i. vii. x. xiv ; Schott, de Clar. ap. Senec. Rhet. i. the equites, held a census of the citizens, adjusted
p. 374. )
(W. B. D. ) | the differences of Rome with the Latins, and after
FLAVUS, L. CAESE'TIUS, tribune of the presiding at the next consular comitia, laid down
Plebs in B. C. 44, and deposed from his office by bis office long before its term had expired. (Dionys.
C. Julius Caesar, because, in concert with C. Epi- v. 76, 77. ) According to one account (id. vi. l;
dius Marullus, one of his colleagues in the tribunate, comp. Liv. ii. 8), Lartius Flavus dedicated the
he had removed the crowns from the statues of the temple of Saturn, or the Capitol on the Capitoline
dictator, and imprisoned a person who had saluted bill. He was one of the envoys sent by the senate,
Caesar as “ king. " After expelling him from the B. C. 493, to treat with the plebs in their secession
senate, Caesar was urgent with the father of to the Sacred Hill (Dionys. vi. 81), and in the
Flavus to disinherit him. But the elder Caesetius same year he served as legatus to the consul, Pos
replied, that he would rather be deprived of his tumus Cominius, at the siege of Corioli. (Id. 92;
three sons than brand one of them with infamy. Plut. Coriolan. 8. ) In a tumult of the plebs,
At the next consular comitia, many votes were arising from the pressure of debt, B. C. 494, Lartius
given for Flavus, who, by his bold bearing towards recommended conciliatory measures (Liv. ii. 29),
the dictator, had become highly popular at Rome. and this agrees with the character of him by Diony-
(Appian, B. C. . 108, 122, iv. 93 ; Suet. Caes. sius (1l. cc. ) as a mild and just man. (W. B. D. ]
79, 80 ; Dion Cass. xliv. 9, 10, xlvi. 49; Plut. FLAVUS or FLAVIUS, SU'BRIUS, tribune
Caes. 61, Anton. 12 ; Vell. Pat. ii. 68 ; Liv. in the Praetorian guards, and most active agent in
Epit. cxvi. ; Cic. Philipp. xiii. 15; Val. Max. the conspiracy against Nero, A. D. 66, which, from
v. 7, § 2. )
(W. B. D. ] its most distinguished member, was called Piso's
FLAVUS, C. DECI'MIUS, a tribune of the conspiracy. Flavus proposed to kill Nero while
soldiers, B. c. 209. He rescued M. Claudius Mar singing on the stage, or amidst the flames of his
cellus from defeat by repulsing a charge of Hanni- palace. He was said to have intended to make
bal's elephants. (Liv. xxvii. 14. ) Flavus was away with Piso also, and to offer the empire to
praetor urbanus, B. c. 184, and died in his year of Seneca, the philosopher, since such a choice would
office. (Liv. xxxix. 32, 38, 39. ) (W. B. D. ] justify the conspirators, and it would be to little
FLAVUS, LA'RTIUS. 1. Sp. Lartius Fla- purpose to get rid of a piper, if a player—for Piso,
vus, consul B. c. 506. Dionysius (v. 36) says that too, had appeared on the stage-were to succeed
nothing was recorded of this consulship, and him. The plot was detected. Flavus was betrayed
Liry omits it altogether. Niebuhr (Hist. of by an accomplice and arrested, and, after some
Rome, vol. i. p. 536) considers the consulship of attempts at excuse, gloried in the charge. He was
Lartius Flavus and his colleague T. Herminius beheaded, and died with firmness. Dion Cassius
Aquilinus to have been inserted to fill up the calls him Loúblos adblos, and in some MSS. of
gap of a year. Lartius Flavus belongs to the Tacitus the name is written Flavius. (Tac. Ann. xv.
heroic period of Roman history. His name is 49, 50, 58, 67 ; Dion Cass. lxii. 24. ) (W. B. D. ]
generally coupled with that of Herminius (Dionys. FLAVUS, SULPICIUS, a companion of the
v. 22, 23, 24, 36 ; Liv. ii. 10, 11), and in the emperor Claudius I. , who assisted the imperial stu-
original lays they were the two warriors who stood dent in the composition of his historical works.
beside Horatius Cocles in his defence of the bridge. (Suet. Claud. 4,41. ) [CLAUDIUS, I. ] (W. B. D. ]
[Coches. Mr. Macaulay (Lays of Anc. Rome, FLAVUS TRICIPTI'NUS, LUCRE'TIUS.
“ Horatius," st.
30) preserves this feature of the [TRICIPTINUS. ]
story, and adopts Niebuhr's reason for it (Hist. FLAVUS, VIRGI'NIUS, & rhetorician, who
Rome, i. p. 542), that one represented the tribe of lived in the first century a. D. , and was one of the
the Ramnes, and the other that of the Titienses. preceptors of A. Persius Flaccus, the poet.
It is worth notice, however, that at the battle of (Suet. Persii Vita ; Burmann, Praefat. ad Cic.
the Lake Regillus, where all the heroes meet to Herennium, ed. Schütz. p. xiv. ) (W. B. D. ]
gether for the last time, the name of Herminius FLORA, the Roman goddess of flowers and
appear, but not that of Lartius. (Dionys. v. 3, spring. The writers, whose object it was to bring
&c. ; Liv. ii. 19, &c. ) Lartius Flavus was consul the Roman religion into contempt, relate that
a second time in B. C. 490 (Dionys. vii. 68); Flora had been, like Acca Laurentia, a courtezan,
warden of the city (v. 75, viii. 64); one of the five who accumulated a large property, and bequeathed
envoys sent to the Volscian camp when Coriolanus it to the Roman people, in return for which she
besieged Rome (viii. 72); and interrex for holding was honoured with the annual festival of the Flo
the consular comitia B. C. 480 (viii. 90), in which ralia. (Lactant. i. 20. ) But her worship was
year he counselled war with Veii (ib. 91). established at Rome in the very earliest times, for
2. T. LARTIUS Flavus, brother of No. 1, con- a temple is said to have been vowed to her by king
TERNLA'NUS (MATER
ILO'STRATUS. (PALLO
SCUS. (Priscus)
I'NUS. (SABINUS)
VI'NUS. [SCEPINES]
FRIUS. (Flavus)
PICIANUS. (SCLPIKCIA
ISCUS. (Vopiscus]
FIU'S, tribune of the plebs
's consulship Flarus seranded
against Catiline (Cice
s tribunate he was a zealan
r's acts and law (Cic pro
in Sertian. p. 304, is To
i. ) This seems to hare cos
He was, however, praetely
one repulse. Flvus afies
or, or special consisine,
nius (Cic
. ad Q. Fr. lz. I.
Plancius (Cic. pro Plze
aks of Flarus as an bones
istaken man. (W. B. D. ]
S, a rhetorician who too-
gustus and Tiberius. His
78 school the elder Senec
come to Rome free
If was a pupil of Cestis
eclipsed both in practice
:
## p. 176 (#192) ############################################
176
FLORENTIUS.
FLORUS.
".
Tatius (Varro, de L. L. v. 74), and Numa ap- | fect of Illyricum, in the room of Anatolius, recently
pointed a flamen to her. The resemblance between decensed; but on the death of his patron in the
the names Flora and Chloris led the later Romans same year (361), he fled, along with his colleague
to identify the two divinities. Her temple at Taurus, from the wrath of the new emperor, during
Rome was situated near the Circus Maximus (Tac. the whole of whose reign he remained in close con-
Ann. ii. 49), and her festival was celebrated from cealment, having, while absent, been impeached
the 28th of April till the first of May, with ex- and capitally condemned. Julian is said to have
travagant merriment and lasciviousness. (Dict. of generously refused to be informed of the place where
Ant. s. v. Floralia. )
[L. S. ) his former enemy had sought shelter. (Julian,
FLORENTI'NUS, a jurist, who is named by Epist. 15; Amm. Marc. xvi. 12, 14, xvii. 3, 2,
Lampridius (Alexand. 68. ) as one of the council of xx. 4, 2. 8, 20, xxi. 6, 5, xxii. 3, 6. 7, 5; Zosim.
the emperor Severus Alexander ; and, though this ii. 10. )
[W. R. )
authority would otherwise be entitled to little FLÓRIA'NUS, M. AN'NIUS, the brother,
weight, it is supported by a rescript of the emperor by a different father, of the emperor Tacitus, upon
Alexander to A. Florentinus, which is preserved whose decease he at once assumed the supreme
in Cod. 3. tit. 28. 8. 8. He wrote Institutiones in power, as if it had been a lawful inheritance. This
12 books ; and his work, which was composed boldness was to a certain extent successful, for his
with much elegance, acuteness, and learning, wns authority, although not formally acknowledged,
not neglected by the compilers of Justinian's In- was tolerated by the senate and the armies of the
stitutes. This is the only work by which he is west. The legions in Syrin, however, were not so
known ; and there are 43 pure extracts from it submissive, but invested their own general, Probus,
preserved in the Corpus Juris. These have been with the purple, and proclaimed him Augustus.
separately commented upon by M. Schmalz, in a A civil war ensued [PROBUS), which was abruptly
dissertation entitled Florentini Institutionum Frag terminated by the death of Florianus, who perished
menta Comment. illustrata, 8vo. Regiom. 1801. at Tarsus, either by the swords of his soldiers or
The other dissertations upon Florentinus and his by his own hands, after he had enjoyed the im-
remains bear the following titles :-A. F. Rivinus, perial dignity for about two months, from April to
Florentini Jurisprudentice Testamentariae Reli- June or July, A. D. 276. (Zonar. xii. 29 ; Zosim.
quiae in Institut. imp. Justin. repertae et Notis i. 64; Aur. Vict. Caes. 36, 37, Epit. 36 ; Eutrop.
illustratae, 4to. Vitemb. 1752 ; Chr. G. Jaspis, ix. 19; Vopisc. Florian. )
(W. R. ]
De Florentino ejusque eleganti Doctrina, 4to.
Chemnic. 1753 ; C. F. Walchius, De Philosophia
Florentini, 4to Jena. 1754, et in Opusculis, vol. i.
p. 337–346 ; Jos. Th. Mathews, De Florentino
Icto, ejusque sex libris prioribus Institutionum, 4to.
Lug. Bat. 1801. Like the more celebrated writer
of Institutes, Gaius, he is not cited by any sub-
sequent jurist, or, at least, no such citation has
reached us.
[J. T. G. )
FLORENTI NUS, the author of a panegyric
in thirty-nine hexameters, on the glories of the
COIN OF FLORIANUS.
Vandal king Thrasimund and the splendour of
Carthage under his sway, must have flourished FLORUS, ANNAEUS(? ). We possess a
about the dose of the fifth century. These verses, summary of Roman history, divided into four
which are expressed in harsh and almost barbarous books, extending from the foundation of the city to
phraseology, present nothing except a cumbrous the establishment of the empire under Augustus
tissue of coarse flattery. [Felix FLAVIUS; Lux (A. D. 20), entitled Rerum Romanarum Libri IV. ,
ORIUS. ) (Antholog. Lat. vi. 85, ed. Burmann, or or Epitome de Gestis Romanorum, and composed,
n. 290, ed. Meyer. )
[W. R. ) as we learn from the prooemium, in the reign of
FLORENTI'NÚS, a Byzantine writer of un- Trajan or of Hadrian. This compendium, which
certain age, but who lived in or before the tenth must by no means be regarded as an abridgment of
century of the Christian era, is said to be the Livy, but as a compilation from various authorities,
author of the Geoponica, which are generally presents within a very moderate compass a striking
ascribed to Bassus CASSIANUS. [W. P. ] view of all the leading events comprehended by
FLORENTIUS, praetorian prefect of Gaul in the above limits. A few mistakes in chronology
the reign of Constantius II. , by the unscrupulous and geography have been detected here and there;
tyranny of his financial administration, excited the but the narrative is, for the most part, philosophic
indignation of Julian, who refused to ratify his in arrangement and accurate in detail, although it
ordinances. When the embarrassing order arrived has too much the air of a panegyric upon the
for the legions to march to the east [JULIANUS), Roman people. The style is by no means worthy
Florentius, that he might escape the responsibility of commendation. The general tone is far too
of compliance or disobedience, remained obstinately poetical and declamatory, while the sentiments fre-
at Vienna, busily engaged, as he pretended, in the quently assume the form of tumid conceits ex-
discharge of official duties ; but upon receiving pressed in violent metaphors.
intelligence of the open revolt of the troops and With regard to the author all is doubt and un.
their choice of an Augustus, he immediately re- certainty. In many MSS. he is designated as
paired to the court of Constantius, that he might L.
