He
the more to be regretted that none of his own writ- had still further increased the emperor's hatred by
ings have come down to us.
the more to be regretted that none of his own writ- had still further increased the emperor's hatred by
ings have come down to us.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
143 the emperor Antoninus Pius raised him that on one occasion, in his early life, when he bad
to the consulship, together with C. Bellicius Tor- delivered an oration before the emperor Hadrian,
quatus; but as Atticus cared more for his fame as who was then in Pannonia, he was on the point of
a rhetorician than for high offices, he afterwards throwing himself into the Danube because his at-
returned to Athens, whither he was followed by a tempt at speaking had been unsuccessful. This
great number of young men, and whither L. Verus failure, however, appears to have proved a stimulus
also was sent as his pupil by the emperor M. Aure to liim, and he became the greatest rhetorician of
lius. For a time Atticus was entrusted with the his century. His success as a teacher is sufficiently
administration of the free towns in Asia ; the exact attested by the great number of his pupils, most of
period of his life when he held this office is not known, whom attained some degree of eminence. His own
though it is believed that it was A. D. 125 when he orations, which were delivered extempore and with-
hiinself was little more than twenty years of age. At out preparation, are said to bare excelled those of
a later time he performed the functions of high all his contenporaries by the dignity, fulness, and
priest at the festivals celebrated at Athens in elegance of the style. (Gell. i. 2, ix. 2, xix. 12. )
honour of M. Aurelius and L. Verus. The wealth Philostratus praises his oratory for its pleasing and
and influence of Atticus Herodes did not fail to harmonious flow, as well as for its simplicity and
## p. 414 (#434) ############################################
414
ATTICUS.
ATTICUS.
power. The loss of the works of Atticus renders | but they may have been written by Herodes
it impossible for us to form an independent opinion, Atticus.
and even if they had come down to us, it is doubt- A'TTICUS, T. POMPOʻNIUS, was born at
ful whether we could judge of them as favourably Rome, B. C. 109, three years before Cicero,
as the ancients did; for we know, that although he and was descended from one of the most an-
did not neglect the study of the best Attic orators, cient equestrian families in the state. His
yet he took Critias as his great model. Among his proper name after his adoption by Q. Caecilius,
numerous works the following only are specified by the brother of his mother, was Q. Caecilius Q. F.
the ancients: 1. Nóyou avtorxédion, or speeches Pomponianus Atticus, by which name Cicero ad-
which he had delivered extempore. 2. Alaréters, dressed him when he congratulated him on his acces-
treatises or dialogues, one of which was probably sion to the inheritance of his uncle. (Ad Att. ij.
the one mentioned in the Etymologicum Magnum 20. ) His surname, Atticus, was probably given
(s. τ. άρσης) περί γάμου συμβιώσεως. 3. Εφημερίδες, hirn on account of his long residence in Athens
or diaries. 4. ʼETLOTOAal. All these works are now ard his intimnte acquaintance with the Greek lan-
lost. There exists an oration repl politeias, in quage and literature.
which the Thebans are called upon to join the Pe- His father, T. Pomponius, was a man of culti-
loponnesians in preparing for war against Archelaus, vated mind; and as he possessed considerable pro-
king of Macedonia, and which has come down to perty, he gave his son a liberal education. He was
us under the name of Atticus Herodes. But the educated along with L. Torquatus, the younger C.
genuineness of this declamation is very doubtful; Marius, and M. Cicero, and was distinguished
at any rate it has very little of the character which above all his school-fellows by the rapid progress
the ancients attribute to the oratory of Atticus. which he made in his studies. His father died
The “ Defensio Palamedis," a declamation usually when he was still young; and shortly after his
ascribed to Gorgias the Sophist, has lately been at- father's death the first civil war broke out. Atticus
tributed to Atticus Herodes by H. E. Foss in his was connected by ties both of affinity and friend-
dissertation De Gorgia Leontino, &c. Halae, 1828, ship with the Marian party; for his cousin Anicia
8vo. p. 100, &c. ; but his arguments are not satis- had married the brother of the tribune, P. Sulpicius
factory. The declamation repl Tuletelas is printed Rufus, one of the chief opponents of Sulla, and
in the collections of the Greek orators, and also by Atticus himself was a personal friend of his old
R. Fiorillo in his Herodis Attici quae supersunt, school-fellow, the younger Marius. He resolved,
almonitionibus illustr. , Leipzig, 1801, 8vo. , which however, to take no part in the contest, and ac-
work contains a good account of the life Atticus cordingly withdrew to Athens in B. C. 85, with
Herodes. (Compare Philostratus, Vit. Soph. ii. 1; the greater part of his moveable property, under
Suid. s. v. 'Hpuans; Westermann, Gesch. der Griech. the pretext of prosecuting his studies. The de-
Beredtsamk. $ 90. )
termination which he came to on this occasion, he
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, 1607, steadily adhered to for the rest of his life. Con-
two small columns with inscriptions, and two others tented with his equestrian rank, he abstained
of Pentelic marble with Greek inscriptions, were from suing for public honours, and would not
discovered on the site of the ancient Triopium, the mix bimself up with any of the political parties
country seat of Atticus, about three miles from into which all classes were divided for the next
Rome. The two former are not of much importance, fifty years. But notwithstanding this, he lived on
but the two latter are of considerable interest. They the most intimate terms with the most distinguish-
are written in hexameter verse, the one consisting ed men of all parties; and there seems to have
of thirty-nine and the other of fifty-nine lines. been a certain charm in his manners and conver-
Some have thought, that Atticus bimself was the sation which captivated all who had intercourse
author of these versified inscriptions; but at the with him. Though he had assisted the younger
head of one of them there appears the name Marius with money in his flight, Sulla was so
Mapkémlov, and, as the style and diction of the much pleased with him on his visit to Athens in
other closely resemble that of the former, it bas B. c. 84, after the Mithridatic war, that he wished
been inferred, that both are the productions of to take him with him to Rome ; and on Atticus
Marcellus of Sida, a poet and physician who lived desiring to remain in Athens, Sulla presented him
in the reign of M. Aurelius. These inscriptions, with all the presents he had received during his
which are known by the name of the Triopian in- stay in that city. Atticus enjoyed also the friend-
scriptions, have often been printed and discussed, ship of Caesar and Pompey, Brutus and Cassius,
as by Visconti (Inscrizioni grecche Triopee, con Antony and Octavianus. But the most intimate
versioni ed osservazioni, Rome, 1794, fol. ), Fiorillo of all his friends was Cicero, whose correspondence
(l. c. ), in Brunck's Analecta (ii
. 302), and in the with him, beginning in the year B. c. 68 and con-
Greek Anthology. (Append. 50 and 51, ed. Tauch- tinued down to Cicero's death, supplies us with
nitz. )
[L. S. ] various particulars respecting the life of Atticus,
A'TTICUS, NUME'RIUS, a senator and a the most important of which are given in the article
man of praetorian rank, who swore that after the CICERO. Atticus did not return to Rome till B. C.
death of Augustus he saw the emperor ascending 65, when political affairs had become more settled;
up to heaven. (Dion Cass. lvi. 46 ; Suet. Aug. 100. ) and the day of his departure was one of general
A'TTICUS, a PLATONIC philosopher, lived in mourning among the Athenians, whom he had
the second century of the Christian era, under the assisted with loans of money, and benefited in
emperor M. Aurelius. (Syncell. vol. i. p. 666, ed. various ways. During his residence at Athens, he
Dindorf. ) Eusebius has preserved (Praep. Ev. purchased an estate at Buthrotum in Epeirus, in
xv. 4—9, &c. ) some extracts from his works, in which place, as well as at Athens and afterwards
which he defends the Platonic philosophy against at Rome, he spent the greater part of his time,
Aristotle. Porphyry (Vit. Plotin. c. 14) makes engaged in literary pursuits and commercial under-
mention of the úrouinuata of a Platonic Atticus, takings. He died in B. c. 32, at the age of 77, of
## p. 415 (#435) ############################################
ATTICUS.
415
ATTILA.
;
voluntary starvation, when he found that he was Being a member of the equestrian order, he was
attacked by an incurable illness. His wiſe Pilia, able to invest large sums of money in the various
to whom he was married on the 12th of February, corporations which farmed the public revenues; and
B. C. 56, when he was fifty-three years of age, he also derived great profits from advancing his
bore him only one child, a daughter, Pomponia or money upon interest. In addition to this, he was
Caecilia, whom Cicero sometimes calls Attica and economical in all his habits ; his monthly expendi-
Atticula (Ad Att. vi. 5, xii. ), xiii. 5, &c. ) ture was small, and his slaves brought him in
Through the influence of Antony, Pomponia was a considerable sum of money.
He had a large
married in the life-time of her father, probably in number carefully educated in his own house, whom
B. C. 36, to M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the minister of he employed in transcribing books. He was thus
Augustus; and the issue of this marriage, Vipsania enabled to procure a library for himself at a compa-
Agrippina, was married to Tiberius, afterwards ratively small cost, and to supply the public with
emperor, by whom she became the mother of books at a profit. Atticus, in fact, neglected no
Drusus. The sister of Atticus, Pomponia, was means of making money. We read, for instance,
married to Q. Cicero, the brother of the orator ; but of his purchasing a set of gladiators, in order to let
the marriage was not a happy one, and the quarrels them out to magistrates and others who wished to
of Pomponia and her husband gave considerable exhibit games. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 4, b. )
trouble and vexation to Atticus and M. Cicero. (Hüllemann, Diatribe in T. Pomponium Atticum,
The life of Atticus by Cornelius Nepos, of wbich Traj. ad Rhen. 1838; Drumann's Rom, vol. v. )
the greater part was composed while Atticus was A'TTICUS, C. QUI'NCTIUS, consul suifectus
still alive (Nepos, 19), is to be regarded rather as from the first of November, a. D. 69, declared in
a panegyric upon an intimate friend (Nepos, 13, favour of Vespasian at Rome, and with the other
&c. ; comp. Cic. ad Att. xvi. 5, 14), than strictly partisans of Vespasian seized the Capitol. Here
speaking a biography. According to Nepos, the they were attacked by the soldiers of Vitellius
personal character of Atticus was faultless ; and the Capitol was burnt down, and Atticus, with
though we cannot trust implicitly to the partial most of the other leaders of his party, taken
statements of his panegyrist, yet Atticus could not prisoner. Atticus was not put to death by Vitel-
have gained and preserved the affection of so many lius; and probably in order to obtain the pardon
of his contemporaries without possessing amiable of the emperor, he admitted that he had set fire to
qualities of no ordinary kind.
the Capitol, as Vitellius was anxious that his party
In philosophy Atticus belonged to the Epicurean should not bear the odium of this deed. (Tac.
sect, and had studied it under Phaedrus, Zenon, Hist. ii. 73—75; Dion Cass. lxv. 17. )
and Patron, in Athens, and Saufeius, in Rome. A'TTICUS, M. VESTI'NUS, was consul in
His studies, however, were by no means confined the year (A. D. 65) in which the conspiracy of
to philosophy. He was thoroughly acquainted with Piso was formed against Nero. Atticus was a
the whole circle of Greek and Roman literature ; man of firm character, and possessed great natural
he spoke and wrote Greek like a native, and was a talents; Piso was afraid lest he might restore
thorough master of his own language. So high an liberty or proclaim some one emperor. Although
opinion was entertained of his taste and critical innocent he was put to death by Nero on the
acumen, that many of his friends, especially Cicero, detection of the conspiracy. Atticus had been
were accustomed to send him their works for revi- very intimate with the emperor, but had incurred
sion and correction, and were most anxious to se- his hatred, as he had taken no pains to disguise
cure his approbation and favour. It is therefore the contempt in which he held the emperor.
He
the more to be regretted that none of his own writ- had still further increased the emperor's hatred by
ings have come down to us. Of these the most marrying Statilia Messallina, although he knew
important was one in a single book, entitled An- that Nero was among ber lovers. (Tac. Ann. xv.
nalis, which contained an epitome of Roman his- 48, 52, 68, 69. )
tory from the earliest period to his own time, ar- A'TTICUS, VIPSA'NIUS, a disciple of Apol-
ranged according to years. (Cic. ad Att. xii
. 23, lodorus of Pergamus. (Senec. Controv. ii. 13. p.
Orat. 34 ; A scon. in Pison. p. 13, in Cornel. p. 76, 184. ) As he is mentioned only in this passage of
ed. Orelli; Nepos, Hannib. 13, Attic. 8. ) This Seneca, his name has given rise to considerable
work was particularly valuable for the history of dispute. Spalding (ad Quintil
. iii
. 1. $ 18) conjec-
the ancient Roman families; and he had such an tures that he was the son of M. Vipsanius Agrippa,
intimate acquaintance with this subject, that he who married the daughter of T. Pomponius Atticus,
was requested by many of his contemporaries to and that he had the surname of Atticus in honour
draw up genealogical tables of their families, speci- of his grandfather. Frandsen (11. Vipsanius
fying with dates the various public offices which Agrippa, p. 228), on the other hand, supposes him
each had held. He accordingly drew up such ta- to bave been the father of Vipsanius Agrippa. But
bles for the Junii, Marcelli, Fabii, Aemilii, and both of these conjectures are unsupported by any
others ; and he also wrote inscriptions in verse to be evidence, and are in themselves improbable. We
placed under the statues of distinguished men, in are more inclined to adopt Weichert's opinion
which he, happily described in four or five lines (Caes. Augusti, fc. Reliquae, p. 83), that, consider-
their achievements and public offices. In addition ing the imperfect state of Seneca's text, we ought
to these, we have frequent mention of his letters, to read Dionysius in this passage instead of Vip-
and of a history of Cicero's consulship, in Greek, sanius. [Atticus, Dionysius. ) (Comp. Piderit,
written in a plain and inartificial style. (Cic. ad. De Apollodoro Pergameno, gic. p. 16, &c. )
Att. ii. 1. )
ATTILA ('Αττήλας or 'Αττίλας, German, Etzel,
Atticus was very wealthy. His father left him Hungarian, Eihele)," king of the Huns, remarkable
two millions of sesterces, and his uncle Caecilius
about ten (Nepos, 5, 14); and this property he * Luden ( 7'eutsch. Gesch. ii. p. 568) conjectures that
grently increased by his mercantile speculations. these were all German titles of honour given to him
## p. 416 (#436) ############################################
416
ATTILA.
ATTILA.
as being the most formidable of the invaders of the defeated in the last great battle ever fought by the
Roman empire, and (except Radagaisus) the only Romans, and in which there fell 252,000 (Jornan.
one of them who was not only a barbarian, but a des, Rel. Get. 42) or 300,000 men. (Idatius and
savage and a heathen, and as the only conqueror Isidore. ) He retired by way of Troyes, Cologne,
of ancient or modern times who has united under and Thuringia, to one of his cities on the Danube,
his rule the German and Sclavonic nations. He and having there recruited his forces, crossed the
was the son of Mundzuk, descended from the an- Alps in A. D. 451, laid siege to Aquileia, then the
cient kings of the Huns, and with his brother second city in Italy, and at length took and ut-
Bleda, in German Blödel (who died, according terly destroyed it. After ravaging the whole of
to Jornandes, by his hand, in A. D. 445), at- Lombardy, he was then preparing to march upon
tained in A. D. 434 to the sovereignty of all the Rome, when he was suddenly diverted from his
northern tribes between the frontier of Gaul and purpose, partly perhaps by the diseases which had
the frontier of China (see Desguignes, Hist. des begun to waste his army, partly by the fear in-
Huns, vol. ii. pp. 295–301), and to the command stilled into his mind that he, like Alaric, could not
of an army of at least 500,000 barbarians. (Jor- survive an attack upon the city, but ostensibly and
nandes, Rel. Get. cc. 35, 37, 49. ) In this position, chiefly by his celebrated interview with Pope Leo
partly from the real terror which it inspired, partly the Great and the senator Avienus at Peschiera or
from his own endeavours to invest himself in the Governolo on the banks of the Mincius. (Jornandes,
eyes of Christendom with the dreadful character of Reb. Get. 42. ) The story of the apparition of St.
the predicted Antichrist (see Herbert, Attila, p. Peter and St. Paul rests on the authority of an
360), and in the eyes of his own countrymen with ancient MS. record of it in the Roman church, and
the invincible attributes attendant on the possessor on Paulus Diaconus, who wrote in the eighth cen-
of the miraculous sword of the Scythian god of war tury, and who mentions only St. Peter. (Baronius,
(Jornandes, Reb. Get. 35), he gradually concentrated Ann. Eccl. A. D. 452. )
upon himself the awe and fear of the whole an- He accordingly returned to his palace beyond
cient world, which ultimately expressed itself by the Danube, and (if we except the doubtful story
affixing to his name the well-known epithet of in Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 43, of his invasion of the
“the Scourge of God. ” The word seems to have Alani and repulse by Thorismund) there remained
been used generally at the time to denote the bar- till on the night of his marriage with a beau-
barian invaders, but it is not applied directly to tiful girl, variously named Hilda, Ildico, Mycolth,
Attila in any author prior to the Hungarian Chro- the last of his innumerable wives, possibly by her
nicles, which first relate the story of his receiving hand (Marcellin. Chronicon), but probably by the
the name from a hermit in Gaul. The earliest bursting of a blood vessel, he suddenly expired,
contemporary approaches to it are in a passage in and was buried according to the ancient and savage
Isidore's Chronicle, speaking of the Huns as “virga customs of his nation. (A. D. 454. ) The instan-
Dei,” and in an inscription at Aquileia, written a taneous fall of his empire is well symbolized in the
short time before the siege in 451 (see Herbert, story that, on that same night, the emperor
Attila, p. 486), in which they are described as Marcian at Constantinople dreamed that he saw
"imminentia peccatorum flagella. ”
the bow of Attila broken asunder. (Jornandes,
His career divides itself into two parts. The Reb. Get. 49. )
first (A. D. 445–450) consists of the ravage of In person Attila was, like the Mongolian race in
the Eastern empire between the Euxine and general, a short thickset man, of stately gait, with
the Adriatic and the negotiations with Theo a large head, dark complexion, filat nose, thin beard,
dosius II. , which followed upon it, and which and bald with the exception of a few white hairs,
were rendered remarkable by the resistance of his eyes small, but of great brilliancy and quick-
Azimus (Priscus, cc. 35, 36), by the embassy ness. (Jornandes, Reb. Get. 1]; Priscus, 55. ) He
from Constantinople to the royal village beyond is distinguished from the general character of sa-
the Danube, and the discovery of the treacherous vage conquerors only by the gigantic nature of his
design of the emperor against his life. (Ib. 37–72. ) designs, and the critical era at which he appeared,
They were ended by a treaty which ceded to Attila --unless we add also the magnanimity which he
a large territory south of the Danube, an annual shewed to the innocent ambassador of Theodosius II.
tribute, and the claims which he made for the sur- on discovering the emperor's plot against his life,
render of the deserters from his army. (Ib. 34-37. ) and the awe with which he was inspired by the
The invasion of the Western empire (A. D. 450- majesty of Pope Leo and of Rome. " Among the
453) was grounded on various pretexts, of which few personal traits recorded of him may be men-
the chief were the refusal of the Eastern emperor, tioned the humorous order to invert the picture
Marcian, the successor of Theodosius II. , to pay at Milan which represented the subjugation of the
the above-mentioned tribute (Priscus, 39, 72), and Scythians to the Caesars (Suidas, s. v. Kópuros); the
the rejection by the Western emperor Valentinian command to burn the poem of Marullus at Padua,
III. of his proposals of marriage to his sister Ho- who had referred his origin to the gods of Greece
noria. (Jornandes, Regn. Succ. 97, Reb. Get. 42. ) and Rome (Hungarian Chronicles, as quoted by
Its particular direction was determined by his alli- Herbert, Attila, p. 500); the readiness with which
ance with the Vandals and Franks, whose domi- he saw in the flight of the storks from Aquileia a
nion in Spain and Gaul was threatened by Aëtius favourable omen for the approaching end of the
and Theodoric. With an immense army composed siege (Jornandes, Reb. Get. 42; Procop. Bell. Vand.
of various nations, he crossed the Rhine at Stras- i. 4); the stern simplicity of his diet, and the im-
burg, which is said to have derived its name from moveable gravity which he alone maintained amidst
his having made it a place of thoroughfare (Klemm, the uproar of his wild court, unbending only to
Attila, p. 175), and marched upon Orleans. From caress and pinch the cheek of his favourite boy,
hence he was driven, by the arrival of Aëtius, to Irnac (Priscus, 49–70); the preparation of the
the plains of Chalons on the Marne, where he was funeral pile on which to burn himself, had the
## p. 417 (#437) ############################################
ATYMNIUS.
417
ATYS.
.
torum.
Romans forced his camp at Chalons (Jornandes, | i. p. 105. ) Two other mythical personages of this
Rob. Get. 40); the saying, that no fortress could name occur in Quint. Smyr. iii. 300, and llom. Il.
exist in the empire, if he wished to raze it; and xvi. 317, &c.
(L. S. )
the speech at Chalons, recorded by Jornandes (Reb. ATYS, ATTYS, ATTES, ATTIS, or ATTIN
Get. 39), which contains parts too characteristic to ('Atus, "ATTUS
, 'ATTNs, "ATTIS or 'ATTIV). 1. A
have been forged.
son of Nana, and a beautiful shepherd of the Phry-
The only permanent monuments of his career, be- gian town, Celaenae. (Theocr. xx. 40; Philostr.
sides its destructiveness, are to be found in the great Epist. 39; Tertul. de Nat. 1. ) His story is reinted
mound which be raised for the defence of his army in different ways. According to Ovid (Fust. iv.
during the siege of Aquileia, and which still re- 221), Cybele loved the beautiful shepherd, and
mains at Udine (Herbert, Attila, p. 489); and in- made him her own priest on condition that he
directly in the foundation of Venice by the Italian should preserve his chastity in violate. Atys broke
nobles who fled from his ravages in A. D. 451. The the covenant with a nymph, the daughter of the
partial descent of the Hungarians from the rem- river-god Sangarius, and was thrown by the god-
nant of his army, though maintained strenuously dess into a state of madness, in which he unmanned
by Hungarian historians, has been generally doubt himself. When in consequence he wanted to put
ed by later writers, as resting on insufficient evi- an end to his life, Cybele changed him into a fir-
dence.
tree, which henceforth became sacred to her, and
The chief historical authority for his life is Pris- she commanded that, in future, her priests should
cus, either as preserved in Excerpt. de Legat.
to the consulship, together with C. Bellicius Tor- delivered an oration before the emperor Hadrian,
quatus; but as Atticus cared more for his fame as who was then in Pannonia, he was on the point of
a rhetorician than for high offices, he afterwards throwing himself into the Danube because his at-
returned to Athens, whither he was followed by a tempt at speaking had been unsuccessful. This
great number of young men, and whither L. Verus failure, however, appears to have proved a stimulus
also was sent as his pupil by the emperor M. Aure to liim, and he became the greatest rhetorician of
lius. For a time Atticus was entrusted with the his century. His success as a teacher is sufficiently
administration of the free towns in Asia ; the exact attested by the great number of his pupils, most of
period of his life when he held this office is not known, whom attained some degree of eminence. His own
though it is believed that it was A. D. 125 when he orations, which were delivered extempore and with-
hiinself was little more than twenty years of age. At out preparation, are said to bare excelled those of
a later time he performed the functions of high all his contenporaries by the dignity, fulness, and
priest at the festivals celebrated at Athens in elegance of the style. (Gell. i. 2, ix. 2, xix. 12. )
honour of M. Aurelius and L. Verus. The wealth Philostratus praises his oratory for its pleasing and
and influence of Atticus Herodes did not fail to harmonious flow, as well as for its simplicity and
## p. 414 (#434) ############################################
414
ATTICUS.
ATTICUS.
power. The loss of the works of Atticus renders | but they may have been written by Herodes
it impossible for us to form an independent opinion, Atticus.
and even if they had come down to us, it is doubt- A'TTICUS, T. POMPOʻNIUS, was born at
ful whether we could judge of them as favourably Rome, B. C. 109, three years before Cicero,
as the ancients did; for we know, that although he and was descended from one of the most an-
did not neglect the study of the best Attic orators, cient equestrian families in the state. His
yet he took Critias as his great model. Among his proper name after his adoption by Q. Caecilius,
numerous works the following only are specified by the brother of his mother, was Q. Caecilius Q. F.
the ancients: 1. Nóyou avtorxédion, or speeches Pomponianus Atticus, by which name Cicero ad-
which he had delivered extempore. 2. Alaréters, dressed him when he congratulated him on his acces-
treatises or dialogues, one of which was probably sion to the inheritance of his uncle. (Ad Att. ij.
the one mentioned in the Etymologicum Magnum 20. ) His surname, Atticus, was probably given
(s. τ. άρσης) περί γάμου συμβιώσεως. 3. Εφημερίδες, hirn on account of his long residence in Athens
or diaries. 4. ʼETLOTOAal. All these works are now ard his intimnte acquaintance with the Greek lan-
lost. There exists an oration repl politeias, in quage and literature.
which the Thebans are called upon to join the Pe- His father, T. Pomponius, was a man of culti-
loponnesians in preparing for war against Archelaus, vated mind; and as he possessed considerable pro-
king of Macedonia, and which has come down to perty, he gave his son a liberal education. He was
us under the name of Atticus Herodes. But the educated along with L. Torquatus, the younger C.
genuineness of this declamation is very doubtful; Marius, and M. Cicero, and was distinguished
at any rate it has very little of the character which above all his school-fellows by the rapid progress
the ancients attribute to the oratory of Atticus. which he made in his studies. His father died
The “ Defensio Palamedis," a declamation usually when he was still young; and shortly after his
ascribed to Gorgias the Sophist, has lately been at- father's death the first civil war broke out. Atticus
tributed to Atticus Herodes by H. E. Foss in his was connected by ties both of affinity and friend-
dissertation De Gorgia Leontino, &c. Halae, 1828, ship with the Marian party; for his cousin Anicia
8vo. p. 100, &c. ; but his arguments are not satis- had married the brother of the tribune, P. Sulpicius
factory. The declamation repl Tuletelas is printed Rufus, one of the chief opponents of Sulla, and
in the collections of the Greek orators, and also by Atticus himself was a personal friend of his old
R. Fiorillo in his Herodis Attici quae supersunt, school-fellow, the younger Marius. He resolved,
almonitionibus illustr. , Leipzig, 1801, 8vo. , which however, to take no part in the contest, and ac-
work contains a good account of the life Atticus cordingly withdrew to Athens in B. C. 85, with
Herodes. (Compare Philostratus, Vit. Soph. ii. 1; the greater part of his moveable property, under
Suid. s. v. 'Hpuans; Westermann, Gesch. der Griech. the pretext of prosecuting his studies. The de-
Beredtsamk. $ 90. )
termination which he came to on this occasion, he
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, 1607, steadily adhered to for the rest of his life. Con-
two small columns with inscriptions, and two others tented with his equestrian rank, he abstained
of Pentelic marble with Greek inscriptions, were from suing for public honours, and would not
discovered on the site of the ancient Triopium, the mix bimself up with any of the political parties
country seat of Atticus, about three miles from into which all classes were divided for the next
Rome. The two former are not of much importance, fifty years. But notwithstanding this, he lived on
but the two latter are of considerable interest. They the most intimate terms with the most distinguish-
are written in hexameter verse, the one consisting ed men of all parties; and there seems to have
of thirty-nine and the other of fifty-nine lines. been a certain charm in his manners and conver-
Some have thought, that Atticus bimself was the sation which captivated all who had intercourse
author of these versified inscriptions; but at the with him. Though he had assisted the younger
head of one of them there appears the name Marius with money in his flight, Sulla was so
Mapkémlov, and, as the style and diction of the much pleased with him on his visit to Athens in
other closely resemble that of the former, it bas B. c. 84, after the Mithridatic war, that he wished
been inferred, that both are the productions of to take him with him to Rome ; and on Atticus
Marcellus of Sida, a poet and physician who lived desiring to remain in Athens, Sulla presented him
in the reign of M. Aurelius. These inscriptions, with all the presents he had received during his
which are known by the name of the Triopian in- stay in that city. Atticus enjoyed also the friend-
scriptions, have often been printed and discussed, ship of Caesar and Pompey, Brutus and Cassius,
as by Visconti (Inscrizioni grecche Triopee, con Antony and Octavianus. But the most intimate
versioni ed osservazioni, Rome, 1794, fol. ), Fiorillo of all his friends was Cicero, whose correspondence
(l. c. ), in Brunck's Analecta (ii
. 302), and in the with him, beginning in the year B. c. 68 and con-
Greek Anthology. (Append. 50 and 51, ed. Tauch- tinued down to Cicero's death, supplies us with
nitz. )
[L. S. ] various particulars respecting the life of Atticus,
A'TTICUS, NUME'RIUS, a senator and a the most important of which are given in the article
man of praetorian rank, who swore that after the CICERO. Atticus did not return to Rome till B. C.
death of Augustus he saw the emperor ascending 65, when political affairs had become more settled;
up to heaven. (Dion Cass. lvi. 46 ; Suet. Aug. 100. ) and the day of his departure was one of general
A'TTICUS, a PLATONIC philosopher, lived in mourning among the Athenians, whom he had
the second century of the Christian era, under the assisted with loans of money, and benefited in
emperor M. Aurelius. (Syncell. vol. i. p. 666, ed. various ways. During his residence at Athens, he
Dindorf. ) Eusebius has preserved (Praep. Ev. purchased an estate at Buthrotum in Epeirus, in
xv. 4—9, &c. ) some extracts from his works, in which place, as well as at Athens and afterwards
which he defends the Platonic philosophy against at Rome, he spent the greater part of his time,
Aristotle. Porphyry (Vit. Plotin. c. 14) makes engaged in literary pursuits and commercial under-
mention of the úrouinuata of a Platonic Atticus, takings. He died in B. c. 32, at the age of 77, of
## p. 415 (#435) ############################################
ATTICUS.
415
ATTILA.
;
voluntary starvation, when he found that he was Being a member of the equestrian order, he was
attacked by an incurable illness. His wiſe Pilia, able to invest large sums of money in the various
to whom he was married on the 12th of February, corporations which farmed the public revenues; and
B. C. 56, when he was fifty-three years of age, he also derived great profits from advancing his
bore him only one child, a daughter, Pomponia or money upon interest. In addition to this, he was
Caecilia, whom Cicero sometimes calls Attica and economical in all his habits ; his monthly expendi-
Atticula (Ad Att. vi. 5, xii. ), xiii. 5, &c. ) ture was small, and his slaves brought him in
Through the influence of Antony, Pomponia was a considerable sum of money.
He had a large
married in the life-time of her father, probably in number carefully educated in his own house, whom
B. C. 36, to M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the minister of he employed in transcribing books. He was thus
Augustus; and the issue of this marriage, Vipsania enabled to procure a library for himself at a compa-
Agrippina, was married to Tiberius, afterwards ratively small cost, and to supply the public with
emperor, by whom she became the mother of books at a profit. Atticus, in fact, neglected no
Drusus. The sister of Atticus, Pomponia, was means of making money. We read, for instance,
married to Q. Cicero, the brother of the orator ; but of his purchasing a set of gladiators, in order to let
the marriage was not a happy one, and the quarrels them out to magistrates and others who wished to
of Pomponia and her husband gave considerable exhibit games. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 4, b. )
trouble and vexation to Atticus and M. Cicero. (Hüllemann, Diatribe in T. Pomponium Atticum,
The life of Atticus by Cornelius Nepos, of wbich Traj. ad Rhen. 1838; Drumann's Rom, vol. v. )
the greater part was composed while Atticus was A'TTICUS, C. QUI'NCTIUS, consul suifectus
still alive (Nepos, 19), is to be regarded rather as from the first of November, a. D. 69, declared in
a panegyric upon an intimate friend (Nepos, 13, favour of Vespasian at Rome, and with the other
&c. ; comp. Cic. ad Att. xvi. 5, 14), than strictly partisans of Vespasian seized the Capitol. Here
speaking a biography. According to Nepos, the they were attacked by the soldiers of Vitellius
personal character of Atticus was faultless ; and the Capitol was burnt down, and Atticus, with
though we cannot trust implicitly to the partial most of the other leaders of his party, taken
statements of his panegyrist, yet Atticus could not prisoner. Atticus was not put to death by Vitel-
have gained and preserved the affection of so many lius; and probably in order to obtain the pardon
of his contemporaries without possessing amiable of the emperor, he admitted that he had set fire to
qualities of no ordinary kind.
the Capitol, as Vitellius was anxious that his party
In philosophy Atticus belonged to the Epicurean should not bear the odium of this deed. (Tac.
sect, and had studied it under Phaedrus, Zenon, Hist. ii. 73—75; Dion Cass. lxv. 17. )
and Patron, in Athens, and Saufeius, in Rome. A'TTICUS, M. VESTI'NUS, was consul in
His studies, however, were by no means confined the year (A. D. 65) in which the conspiracy of
to philosophy. He was thoroughly acquainted with Piso was formed against Nero. Atticus was a
the whole circle of Greek and Roman literature ; man of firm character, and possessed great natural
he spoke and wrote Greek like a native, and was a talents; Piso was afraid lest he might restore
thorough master of his own language. So high an liberty or proclaim some one emperor. Although
opinion was entertained of his taste and critical innocent he was put to death by Nero on the
acumen, that many of his friends, especially Cicero, detection of the conspiracy. Atticus had been
were accustomed to send him their works for revi- very intimate with the emperor, but had incurred
sion and correction, and were most anxious to se- his hatred, as he had taken no pains to disguise
cure his approbation and favour. It is therefore the contempt in which he held the emperor.
He
the more to be regretted that none of his own writ- had still further increased the emperor's hatred by
ings have come down to us. Of these the most marrying Statilia Messallina, although he knew
important was one in a single book, entitled An- that Nero was among ber lovers. (Tac. Ann. xv.
nalis, which contained an epitome of Roman his- 48, 52, 68, 69. )
tory from the earliest period to his own time, ar- A'TTICUS, VIPSA'NIUS, a disciple of Apol-
ranged according to years. (Cic. ad Att. xii
. 23, lodorus of Pergamus. (Senec. Controv. ii. 13. p.
Orat. 34 ; A scon. in Pison. p. 13, in Cornel. p. 76, 184. ) As he is mentioned only in this passage of
ed. Orelli; Nepos, Hannib. 13, Attic. 8. ) This Seneca, his name has given rise to considerable
work was particularly valuable for the history of dispute. Spalding (ad Quintil
. iii
. 1. $ 18) conjec-
the ancient Roman families; and he had such an tures that he was the son of M. Vipsanius Agrippa,
intimate acquaintance with this subject, that he who married the daughter of T. Pomponius Atticus,
was requested by many of his contemporaries to and that he had the surname of Atticus in honour
draw up genealogical tables of their families, speci- of his grandfather. Frandsen (11. Vipsanius
fying with dates the various public offices which Agrippa, p. 228), on the other hand, supposes him
each had held. He accordingly drew up such ta- to bave been the father of Vipsanius Agrippa. But
bles for the Junii, Marcelli, Fabii, Aemilii, and both of these conjectures are unsupported by any
others ; and he also wrote inscriptions in verse to be evidence, and are in themselves improbable. We
placed under the statues of distinguished men, in are more inclined to adopt Weichert's opinion
which he, happily described in four or five lines (Caes. Augusti, fc. Reliquae, p. 83), that, consider-
their achievements and public offices. In addition ing the imperfect state of Seneca's text, we ought
to these, we have frequent mention of his letters, to read Dionysius in this passage instead of Vip-
and of a history of Cicero's consulship, in Greek, sanius. [Atticus, Dionysius. ) (Comp. Piderit,
written in a plain and inartificial style. (Cic. ad. De Apollodoro Pergameno, gic. p. 16, &c. )
Att. ii. 1. )
ATTILA ('Αττήλας or 'Αττίλας, German, Etzel,
Atticus was very wealthy. His father left him Hungarian, Eihele)," king of the Huns, remarkable
two millions of sesterces, and his uncle Caecilius
about ten (Nepos, 5, 14); and this property he * Luden ( 7'eutsch. Gesch. ii. p. 568) conjectures that
grently increased by his mercantile speculations. these were all German titles of honour given to him
## p. 416 (#436) ############################################
416
ATTILA.
ATTILA.
as being the most formidable of the invaders of the defeated in the last great battle ever fought by the
Roman empire, and (except Radagaisus) the only Romans, and in which there fell 252,000 (Jornan.
one of them who was not only a barbarian, but a des, Rel. Get. 42) or 300,000 men. (Idatius and
savage and a heathen, and as the only conqueror Isidore. ) He retired by way of Troyes, Cologne,
of ancient or modern times who has united under and Thuringia, to one of his cities on the Danube,
his rule the German and Sclavonic nations. He and having there recruited his forces, crossed the
was the son of Mundzuk, descended from the an- Alps in A. D. 451, laid siege to Aquileia, then the
cient kings of the Huns, and with his brother second city in Italy, and at length took and ut-
Bleda, in German Blödel (who died, according terly destroyed it. After ravaging the whole of
to Jornandes, by his hand, in A. D. 445), at- Lombardy, he was then preparing to march upon
tained in A. D. 434 to the sovereignty of all the Rome, when he was suddenly diverted from his
northern tribes between the frontier of Gaul and purpose, partly perhaps by the diseases which had
the frontier of China (see Desguignes, Hist. des begun to waste his army, partly by the fear in-
Huns, vol. ii. pp. 295–301), and to the command stilled into his mind that he, like Alaric, could not
of an army of at least 500,000 barbarians. (Jor- survive an attack upon the city, but ostensibly and
nandes, Rel. Get. cc. 35, 37, 49. ) In this position, chiefly by his celebrated interview with Pope Leo
partly from the real terror which it inspired, partly the Great and the senator Avienus at Peschiera or
from his own endeavours to invest himself in the Governolo on the banks of the Mincius. (Jornandes,
eyes of Christendom with the dreadful character of Reb. Get. 42. ) The story of the apparition of St.
the predicted Antichrist (see Herbert, Attila, p. Peter and St. Paul rests on the authority of an
360), and in the eyes of his own countrymen with ancient MS. record of it in the Roman church, and
the invincible attributes attendant on the possessor on Paulus Diaconus, who wrote in the eighth cen-
of the miraculous sword of the Scythian god of war tury, and who mentions only St. Peter. (Baronius,
(Jornandes, Reb. Get. 35), he gradually concentrated Ann. Eccl. A. D. 452. )
upon himself the awe and fear of the whole an- He accordingly returned to his palace beyond
cient world, which ultimately expressed itself by the Danube, and (if we except the doubtful story
affixing to his name the well-known epithet of in Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 43, of his invasion of the
“the Scourge of God. ” The word seems to have Alani and repulse by Thorismund) there remained
been used generally at the time to denote the bar- till on the night of his marriage with a beau-
barian invaders, but it is not applied directly to tiful girl, variously named Hilda, Ildico, Mycolth,
Attila in any author prior to the Hungarian Chro- the last of his innumerable wives, possibly by her
nicles, which first relate the story of his receiving hand (Marcellin. Chronicon), but probably by the
the name from a hermit in Gaul. The earliest bursting of a blood vessel, he suddenly expired,
contemporary approaches to it are in a passage in and was buried according to the ancient and savage
Isidore's Chronicle, speaking of the Huns as “virga customs of his nation. (A. D. 454. ) The instan-
Dei,” and in an inscription at Aquileia, written a taneous fall of his empire is well symbolized in the
short time before the siege in 451 (see Herbert, story that, on that same night, the emperor
Attila, p. 486), in which they are described as Marcian at Constantinople dreamed that he saw
"imminentia peccatorum flagella. ”
the bow of Attila broken asunder. (Jornandes,
His career divides itself into two parts. The Reb. Get. 49. )
first (A. D. 445–450) consists of the ravage of In person Attila was, like the Mongolian race in
the Eastern empire between the Euxine and general, a short thickset man, of stately gait, with
the Adriatic and the negotiations with Theo a large head, dark complexion, filat nose, thin beard,
dosius II. , which followed upon it, and which and bald with the exception of a few white hairs,
were rendered remarkable by the resistance of his eyes small, but of great brilliancy and quick-
Azimus (Priscus, cc. 35, 36), by the embassy ness. (Jornandes, Reb. Get. 1]; Priscus, 55. ) He
from Constantinople to the royal village beyond is distinguished from the general character of sa-
the Danube, and the discovery of the treacherous vage conquerors only by the gigantic nature of his
design of the emperor against his life. (Ib. 37–72. ) designs, and the critical era at which he appeared,
They were ended by a treaty which ceded to Attila --unless we add also the magnanimity which he
a large territory south of the Danube, an annual shewed to the innocent ambassador of Theodosius II.
tribute, and the claims which he made for the sur- on discovering the emperor's plot against his life,
render of the deserters from his army. (Ib. 34-37. ) and the awe with which he was inspired by the
The invasion of the Western empire (A. D. 450- majesty of Pope Leo and of Rome. " Among the
453) was grounded on various pretexts, of which few personal traits recorded of him may be men-
the chief were the refusal of the Eastern emperor, tioned the humorous order to invert the picture
Marcian, the successor of Theodosius II. , to pay at Milan which represented the subjugation of the
the above-mentioned tribute (Priscus, 39, 72), and Scythians to the Caesars (Suidas, s. v. Kópuros); the
the rejection by the Western emperor Valentinian command to burn the poem of Marullus at Padua,
III. of his proposals of marriage to his sister Ho- who had referred his origin to the gods of Greece
noria. (Jornandes, Regn. Succ. 97, Reb. Get. 42. ) and Rome (Hungarian Chronicles, as quoted by
Its particular direction was determined by his alli- Herbert, Attila, p. 500); the readiness with which
ance with the Vandals and Franks, whose domi- he saw in the flight of the storks from Aquileia a
nion in Spain and Gaul was threatened by Aëtius favourable omen for the approaching end of the
and Theodoric. With an immense army composed siege (Jornandes, Reb. Get. 42; Procop. Bell. Vand.
of various nations, he crossed the Rhine at Stras- i. 4); the stern simplicity of his diet, and the im-
burg, which is said to have derived its name from moveable gravity which he alone maintained amidst
his having made it a place of thoroughfare (Klemm, the uproar of his wild court, unbending only to
Attila, p. 175), and marched upon Orleans. From caress and pinch the cheek of his favourite boy,
hence he was driven, by the arrival of Aëtius, to Irnac (Priscus, 49–70); the preparation of the
the plains of Chalons on the Marne, where he was funeral pile on which to burn himself, had the
## p. 417 (#437) ############################################
ATYMNIUS.
417
ATYS.
.
torum.
Romans forced his camp at Chalons (Jornandes, | i. p. 105. ) Two other mythical personages of this
Rob. Get. 40); the saying, that no fortress could name occur in Quint. Smyr. iii. 300, and llom. Il.
exist in the empire, if he wished to raze it; and xvi. 317, &c.
(L. S. )
the speech at Chalons, recorded by Jornandes (Reb. ATYS, ATTYS, ATTES, ATTIS, or ATTIN
Get. 39), which contains parts too characteristic to ('Atus, "ATTUS
, 'ATTNs, "ATTIS or 'ATTIV). 1. A
have been forged.
son of Nana, and a beautiful shepherd of the Phry-
The only permanent monuments of his career, be- gian town, Celaenae. (Theocr. xx. 40; Philostr.
sides its destructiveness, are to be found in the great Epist. 39; Tertul. de Nat. 1. ) His story is reinted
mound which be raised for the defence of his army in different ways. According to Ovid (Fust. iv.
during the siege of Aquileia, and which still re- 221), Cybele loved the beautiful shepherd, and
mains at Udine (Herbert, Attila, p. 489); and in- made him her own priest on condition that he
directly in the foundation of Venice by the Italian should preserve his chastity in violate. Atys broke
nobles who fled from his ravages in A. D. 451. The the covenant with a nymph, the daughter of the
partial descent of the Hungarians from the rem- river-god Sangarius, and was thrown by the god-
nant of his army, though maintained strenuously dess into a state of madness, in which he unmanned
by Hungarian historians, has been generally doubt himself. When in consequence he wanted to put
ed by later writers, as resting on insufficient evi- an end to his life, Cybele changed him into a fir-
dence.
tree, which henceforth became sacred to her, and
The chief historical authority for his life is Pris- she commanded that, in future, her priests should
cus, either as preserved in Excerpt. de Legat.
