Artemiz was
considered
as the goddess of the 5; Dion Chrys.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
Brut.
25.
)
to the date of the birth of Britannicus. The state-
BRITANNICUS, son of Claudius and Messa- ment of Suetonius (Claud. 27), that he was born in
lina, appears to have been born in the early part of the second consulship of Claudius and on the twen-
the year a. D. 42, during the second consulship of tieth day of his reign, is inconsistent with itself ;
his father, and was originally named Claudius Tile for Claudius became emperor on the 24th of Janu-
rius Germanicus. In consequence of victories, or ary, A. D. 41, and did not enter upon his second
pretended victories, in Britain, the senate bestowed consulship until the 1st of January, A. D. 42. Ta-
on the emperor the title of Britannicus, which was citus also has committed a blunder upon the point,
shared by the infant prince and retained by him for he tells us, in one place (Ann. xii. 25), that
during the remainder of his life as his proper and Britannicus was two years younger than Nero;
distinguishing appellation. He was cherished as and we learn from another (Ann. xiii. 15), that he
the heir apparent to the throne until the disgraceful was murdered at the beginning of A. D. 55, a few
termination of his mother's scandalous career (A. D. days before he had completed his fourteenth year.
48); but Claudius, soon after his marriage with But we can prove, from Tacitus himself (Ann. xii.
the ambitious and unscrupulons Agrippina, was 58, xiii. 6), that Nero was born a. D. 37, and from
prevailed upon by her wiles and the intrigues of Suetonius that the event took place upon the 15th
the freedman Pallas, her paramour, to adopt L. Do- of December; therefore, according to this last as-
mitius, her son by a former husband, to grant him sertion, Britannicus must have been born in the
Octavia, sister of Britannicus, in marriage, and to year 39 or at the beginning of 40 at latest ; but
give him precedence over his own offspring. This this would bring him to the conipletion of his
preference was publicly manifested the year fol- fifteenth year in 55. If Britannicus was born on
lowing (51), for young Nero was prematurely in the twentieth day after his father's accession, then
vested with the manly gown, and received various he would be on the eve of completing his fourteenth
marks of favour, while Britannicus still wore the year in January, 55; if he was born in the second
simple dress of a boy. Indications of jealousy consulship of Claudius, and this seems to be the
were upon this occasion openly displayed by Brit- opinion of Dion Cassius (lx. 12), he was only about
annicus towards his adopted brother, and Agrip- to enter upon his fourteenth year. Under the first
pina seized upon his conduct as a pretext for re-supposition, he was somewhat more than three
moving by banishment or death the most worthy years younger than Nero ; under the second, some-
of his preceptors, and substituting creatures of her what more than four. (Tacit. Ann. xi. 4, 26, 32,
own in their place. Claudius is said before his xii. 2, 25, 41, xiii. 15, 16; Suet. Claud. 27, 43,
death to have given tokens of remorse for his con- Nero, 6, 7, 33; Dion Cass. lx. 12, 22, 34, lxi. 7. )
duct, and to have bastened his own fate by incau-
(W. R. ]
tiously dropping some expressions which seemed to
denote a change of purpose. After the accession of
Nero, Britannicus might perhaps have been per-
mitted to live on in harmless insignificance, had
he not been employed as an instrument by Agrip-
pina for working upon the fears of her rebellious
son. For, when she found her wishes and com-
mands alike disregarded, she threatened to bring
the claims of the lawful heir before the soldiery
and publicly to assert his rights. Nero, alarmed
by these menaces, resolved at once to remove a BRITOMA'RIS, a leader of the Senonian
rival who might prove so dangerous : poison was Gauls, who induced his countrymen to murder the
procured from Locusta—the same apparently whose Roman ambassadors who had been sent to com-
infamy has been immortalized by Juvena)—and plain of the assistance which the Senones had
administered, but without success. A second dose rendered to the Etruscans, then at war with Rome.
of more potent efficacy was mixed with a draught The corpses of the Roman ambassadors were man-
of wine, and presented at a banquet, where, in ac- gled with every possible indignity; and as soon as
cordance with the usage of those times, the chil- | the Roman consul, P. Cornelius Dolabella, heard
dren of the imperial family, together with other of this outrage, he marched straight into the coun-
noble youths, were seated at a more frugal board try of the Senones, which he reduced to a desert,
apart from the other guests. Scarcely had the cup and murdered all the males, with the exception of
touched the lips of the ill-fated prince, when he Britomaris, whose death he reserved for his tri-
fell back speechless and breathless. While some umph. (Appian, Samn. v. 1, 2, p. 55, ed. Schw. ,
fied, and others remained gazing in dismay at the Gail. xi. p. 83; comp. Polyb. ii. 19; Liv. Epit.
horrid spectacle, Nero calmly ordered him to be 12. )
removed, remarking that he had from infancy been BRITOMARTIS (Bpitbuaptis), appears to
subject to fits, and would soon revive. The obse have originally been a Cretan divinity of hunters
quies were hurried over the same night; historians and fishermen. Her name is usually derived from
concur in reporting, that a terrible storm burst Bpitús, sweet or blessing, and uáptis, i. e. uapvá,
forth as the funeral procession defiled through the a maiden, so that the name would mean, the sueet
forum towards the Campus Martius, and Dion or Llessing maiden. (Paus. iii. 14. & 2 ; Solin. 11. )
adds, that the rain, descending in torrents, washed After the introduction of the worship of Artemis
away from the face of the murdered boy the white into Crete, Britomartis, between whoni and Artemis
paint with which it had been smeared, and re- there were several points of resemblance, was
RAICA
MINIVAS
COIN OP BRITANNICUS.
## p. 506 (#526) ############################################
506
BRIZO.
BROTEAS.
out.
LEVRD
LONGO
FOLOCOS
placed in some relation to her : Artemis, who loved with Bpíte. v, to fall asleep. The women of Deloa
her, assumed her name and was worshipped under offered sacrifices to her in vessels of the shape of
it, and in the end the two divinities became com- boats, and the sacrifices consisted of various things;
pletely identified, as we see from the story which but fishes were never offered to her. Prayers were
Inakes Britomartis a daughter of Leto. (Callim. addressed to her that she might grant everything
Hymn. in Dian. 189, with the Schol. ; Paus. ii
. 30. that was good, but especially, that she might pro-
$ 3; Schol. ad Aristopi. Ran. 1402 ; Eurip. tect ships. (Athen. viii. p. 335; Eustath. ad Hom.
Iphig. Taur. 126 ; Aristoph. Ran. 1358 ; Virg. p. 1720; Hesych. s. v. Bpišómartis. ) (L. S. )
Cir. 305. ) The mythus of Britomartis is given BROCCHUS, a Roman cognomen, was origi-
by some of the authorities just referred to. nally applied to a person who had teeth standing
She was a daughter of Zeus and Carme, the It was the name of a family of the Furia
daughter of Eubulus. She was a nymph, took gens, and occurs on coins. In the one annexed, the
great delight in wandering about hunting, and was obverse is III vir BROCCHI with the head of Ceres,
beloved by Artemis. Minos, who likewise loved and the reverse L. Fyri Cn. F. with a sella curulis
her, pursued her for nine months, but she fled
from him and at last threw herself into the nets
which had been set by fishermen, or leaped from
mount Dictynnaeum into the sea, where she be-
came entangled in the nets, but was saved by
Artemis, who now made her a goddess. She was
worshipped not only in Crete, but appeared to the
inhabitants of Aegina, and was there called
Aphaea, whereas in Crete she received the sur-
name Dictymna or Dictynna (from diktuov, a net ; and fasces on each side of it. This Brocchus is
comp. Diod. v. 76). According to another tradi- not mentioned by ancient writers : he may have
tion, Britomartis was fond of solitude, and had been a triumvir of the mint or for the purchase of
vowed to live in perpetual maidenhood. From corn. Pighius assigns the surname of Brocchus to
Phoenicia (for this tradition calls her mother Carme, several persons of the Furia gens: but the only
a daughter of Phoenix) she went to Argos, to the Brocchi of this gens mentioned by ancient writers,
daughters of Erasinus, and thence to Cephallenia, as far as we are aware, are :
where she received divine honours from the in- 1. T. (Furius) BROcchus, the uncle of Q. Liga-
habitants under the name of Laphria. From rius. (Cic. pro Lig. 4. )
Cephallenia she came to Crete, where she was 2. Cx. FURIUS BROCCHUS, detected in adultery,
pursued by Minos ; but she fled to the sea-coast, and grievously punished. (Val. Max. vi. 1. & 13. )
where fishermen concealed her under their nets, BROCCHUS, C. ANNAEUS, or ANNEIUS,
whence she derived the surname Dictynna. A a Roman senator, who was plundered by Symma-
sailor, Andromedes, carried her from Crete to chus, one of the Venerii, a new class of publicani
Aegina, and when, on landing there, he made an instituted by Verres. (Cic. Verr. iii. 40. )
attempt upon her chastity, she fled from his vessel
BROCCÉUS, ARME'NIUS, a proconsul in
into a grove, and disappeared in the sanctuary of the time of Domitian. (Plin. Ep. x. 71. )
Artemis. The Aeginetans now built a sanctury BROGITA'RUS, a Gallo-Grecian, a son-in-law
to her, and worshipped her as a goddess. (Anton. of king Deiotarus. He was an unworthy and
Lib. 40. ) These wanderings of Britomartis un- nefarious person, who has become known only
questionably indicate the gradual diffusion of her through the fact, that P. Clodius, in his tribune.
worship in the various maritime places of Greece ship, B. c. 58, sold to him, by a lex tribunicia, for
mentioned in the legend. Her connexion and a large sum of money, the office of high priest of
ultimate identification with Artemis had naturally the Magna Mater at Pessinus, and the title of
a modifying influence upon the notions entertained king. (Cic. pro Sest. 26, de Harusp. Resp. 13,
of each of them. As Britomartis had to do with comp. ad Q. Fratr. ii. 9. )
[L. S. )
fishermen and sailors, and was the protectress of BROME or BROʻMIE, one of the nymphs who
harbours and navigation generally, this feature was brought up Dionysus on mount Nysa (Hygin.
transferred to Artemis also, as we see especially in Fab. 182 ; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 15. ) [L. S. ]
the Arcadian Artemis ; and the temples of the two BRO'MIUS (Bpópios), a surname of Dionysus,
divinities, therefore, stood usually on the banks of which some explain by saying, that he was born
rivers or on the sea-coast. As, on the other hand, during a storm of thunder and lightning (Diod. iv.
Artemiz was considered as the goddess of the 5; Dion Chrys. Or. 27); others derive it from
moon, Britomartis likewise appears in this light: the nymph Brome, or from the noise of the Bac-
her disappearance in the sea, and her identification chantic processions, whence the verb Bpopedšeriai,
with the Aeginetan Aphaea, who was undoubtedly to rage like a Bacchant (Ov. Met. iv. 11; Orph.
a goddess of the moon, seem to contain sufficient Lith. xviii
. 77. ) There is also a mythical personage
proof of this, which is confirmed by the fact, that of this name. (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 5. ) [L. S. ]
on some coins of the Roman empire Dictynna BRONTES. [CYCLOPES. ]
appears with the crescent. Lastly, Britomartis was BRONTI'NUS (Bportivos), of Metapontum, a
like Artemis drawn into the mystic worship of Pythagorean philosopher, to whom, as well as to
Hecate, and even identified with her. (Eurip. | Leon and Bathyllus, Alcmaeon dedicated his works.
Hippol. 141, with the Schol. ; comp. Müller, Ae-According to some accounts, Brontinus married
ginet. p. 163, &c. ; Höck, Kreta, ii. p. 158, &c. ; | Theano, the daughter of Pythagoras. (Diog. Laërt.
Dict. of Ant. s. v. A. KTÚvvia. )
[L. S. ] viii. 83; Suidas, s. v. Beavo; lamb). Vit. Pyth.
BRIZO (Bpi5w), a prophetic goddess of the $ 267. ) lamblichus (Villoison, Anec. Gr. vol. i.
island of Delos, who sent dreams and revealed p. 198) quotes a work of Brontinus.
their meaning to man. Her name is connected BROʻTEAS (Bpotéas). 1. A son of Vulcan
## p. 507 (#527) ############################################
BRUTUS.
507
BRUTUS.
6
and Minerva, who burnt himself that he might not l. c. ) But this tale about a third son is such an
be taunted with his ugliness. (Ov. Ilis, 517. ) evident invention, to answer an objection that had
2. One of the fighters at the marriage of Phi- been started by those who espoused the other side
neus. (Ov. Met, v. 106. )
of the question, that it deserves no credence ; and
3. A Lapith, who was slain at the marriage of nothing was more natural than that the family
Pirithous. (Ov. Met. xii. 260. )
should claim descent from such an illustrious an-
4. The father of Tantalus, who had been mar- cestor, especially after the murder of Cacsar, when
ried to Clytaemnestra before Agamemnon. The M. Brutus was represented as the liberator of his
common account, however, is, that Thyestes was country from tyranny, like his name-silke of old.
the father of this Tantalus. (Paus. ii. 22. § 4. ), It is, however, by no means impossible, that the
5. A son of Tantalus, who, according to a tradi- family may have been descended from the first con-
tion of the Magnetes, had made the most ancient sul, even if we take for granted that he was a pa-
statue of the mother of the gods on the rock of trician, as we know that patricians sometimes
Coddinos. (Paus. iii. 22. $ 4. ) (L. S. ] passed over to the plebeians : while this descent
BRUNI'CHIUS (Bpouvixios), a chronographer becomes still more probable, if we accept Niebuhr's
of uncertain date, referred to by Joannes Malala conjecture (Rom. Hist. i. p. 522, &c. ), that the first
(vol. i. p. 239), the title of whose work was éxoeous consul was a plebeian, and that the consulship was,
Βρουνιχίου Ρωμαίου χρονογράφου.
at its first institution, shared between the two or-
BRUSUS (Bpouoos), a son of Emathius, from ders.
whom Brusis, a portion of Macedonia, was believed The surname of Brutus is said to have been
to have derived its name. (Steph. Byz. s. v. given to L. Junius, because he pretended idiocy in
Bpovoss. )
(L. S. ] order to save himself from the last Tarquin, and
BRUTI'DIUS NIGER. [Niger. ]
the word is accordingly supposed to signify an
BRU'TIUS (Bpoúrios), an historian and chro- “idiot. ” (Liv. i. 56; Dionys. iv. 67, who trans-
nographer, is called by the writer of the Alexan- lates it paiolos ; Nonius, p. 77. ) Festus, how-
drian chronicle (p. 90), who quotes some things ever, in a passage (s. v. Brutum) which is pointed
from bim respecting Danaë and Perseus, o coou out by Arnold (Rom. Hist. i. p. 104), tells us, that
τατος ιστορικός και χρονογράφος. He is also Brutus, in old Latin, was synonymous with Gru-
mentioned by Joannes Malala (vol. i. pp. 39, 326, vis; which, as Arnold remarks, would show a
340) and by Hieronymus in the Chronicle of Eu- connexion with Bápus. The word may, there-
sebius; and Scaliger, in his notes upon this pas- fore, as a surname, have been originally much the
sage (p. 205), has conjectured, that he may be the same as Severus. This conjecture we think more
same as the Brutius Praesens whose daughter, probable than that of Niebuhr's, who supposes it
Brutia Crispina, married L. Aurelius Commodus, to mean a runaway slave," and connects it with
the son of M. Aurelius : but this is quite uncer- the Brettii, “revolted slaves," whence the Brutii
tain. (Vossius, de Hist. Gruec. p. 409, ed. Wester- are supposed to have derived their name (Strab.
mann. )
vi. p. 225 ; Diod. xvi. 15; Gell. x. 3): he further
BRUTTIA'NUS LUSTRICUS. [LUSTRICUS. ] observes, that this name might easily have been
BRU'TTIUS. 1. A Roman knight, for whom applied by the Tarquins to Brutus as a term of
Cicero wrote a letter of introduction to M'. Acilius reproach. (Rom. Hist. i. pp. 63, 98, 515. )
Glabrio, proconsul in Sicily in B. C. 46. (Cic. ad 1. L. JUNIUS BRUTUS, was elected consul in
Fam. xii. 38. )
B. C. 509, according to the chronology of the Fasti,
2. A philologer, with whom M. Cicero, the son upon the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome.
of the orator, studied at Athens, in B. C. 44. (Cic. His story, the greater part of which belongs to
ad Fam. xvi. 21. )
poetry, ran as follows: The sister of king Tarquin
BRU'TTIUS SURA. (SURA. ]
the Proud, married M. Brutus, a man of great
BRUẤTULUS PA'PIUS, a man of noble rank wealth, who died leaving two sons under age. Of
and great power among the Samnites, who per- these the elder was killed by Tarquin, who covet-
suaded his countrymen to undertake a second war ed their possessions ; the younger escaped his bro-
against the Romans; but the Samnites, after their ther's fate only by feigning idiocy, whence he re-
disasters in B. c. 322, became anxious for a peace, ceived the surname of Brutus. After a while,
and resolved to deliver up Brutulus to the Romans. Tarquin became alarmed by the prodigy of a serpent
His corpse, however, was all that they could give crawling from the altar in the royal palace, and
their enemies; for Brutulus put an end to his accordingly sent his two sons, Titus and Aruns, to
own life, to avoid perishing by the hands of the consult the oracle at Delphi. They took with
Romans. (Liv. viii. 39. )
them their cousin Brutus, who propitiated the
BRUTUS, the name of a plebeian family of the priestess with the gift of a golden stick enclosed in
Junia Gens, which traced its descent from the first a hollow staff. After executing the king's com-
consul, L. Junius Brutus. (Comp. Cic.
to the date of the birth of Britannicus. The state-
BRITANNICUS, son of Claudius and Messa- ment of Suetonius (Claud. 27), that he was born in
lina, appears to have been born in the early part of the second consulship of Claudius and on the twen-
the year a. D. 42, during the second consulship of tieth day of his reign, is inconsistent with itself ;
his father, and was originally named Claudius Tile for Claudius became emperor on the 24th of Janu-
rius Germanicus. In consequence of victories, or ary, A. D. 41, and did not enter upon his second
pretended victories, in Britain, the senate bestowed consulship until the 1st of January, A. D. 42. Ta-
on the emperor the title of Britannicus, which was citus also has committed a blunder upon the point,
shared by the infant prince and retained by him for he tells us, in one place (Ann. xii. 25), that
during the remainder of his life as his proper and Britannicus was two years younger than Nero;
distinguishing appellation. He was cherished as and we learn from another (Ann. xiii. 15), that he
the heir apparent to the throne until the disgraceful was murdered at the beginning of A. D. 55, a few
termination of his mother's scandalous career (A. D. days before he had completed his fourteenth year.
48); but Claudius, soon after his marriage with But we can prove, from Tacitus himself (Ann. xii.
the ambitious and unscrupulons Agrippina, was 58, xiii. 6), that Nero was born a. D. 37, and from
prevailed upon by her wiles and the intrigues of Suetonius that the event took place upon the 15th
the freedman Pallas, her paramour, to adopt L. Do- of December; therefore, according to this last as-
mitius, her son by a former husband, to grant him sertion, Britannicus must have been born in the
Octavia, sister of Britannicus, in marriage, and to year 39 or at the beginning of 40 at latest ; but
give him precedence over his own offspring. This this would bring him to the conipletion of his
preference was publicly manifested the year fol- fifteenth year in 55. If Britannicus was born on
lowing (51), for young Nero was prematurely in the twentieth day after his father's accession, then
vested with the manly gown, and received various he would be on the eve of completing his fourteenth
marks of favour, while Britannicus still wore the year in January, 55; if he was born in the second
simple dress of a boy. Indications of jealousy consulship of Claudius, and this seems to be the
were upon this occasion openly displayed by Brit- opinion of Dion Cassius (lx. 12), he was only about
annicus towards his adopted brother, and Agrip- to enter upon his fourteenth year. Under the first
pina seized upon his conduct as a pretext for re-supposition, he was somewhat more than three
moving by banishment or death the most worthy years younger than Nero ; under the second, some-
of his preceptors, and substituting creatures of her what more than four. (Tacit. Ann. xi. 4, 26, 32,
own in their place. Claudius is said before his xii. 2, 25, 41, xiii. 15, 16; Suet. Claud. 27, 43,
death to have given tokens of remorse for his con- Nero, 6, 7, 33; Dion Cass. lx. 12, 22, 34, lxi. 7. )
duct, and to have bastened his own fate by incau-
(W. R. ]
tiously dropping some expressions which seemed to
denote a change of purpose. After the accession of
Nero, Britannicus might perhaps have been per-
mitted to live on in harmless insignificance, had
he not been employed as an instrument by Agrip-
pina for working upon the fears of her rebellious
son. For, when she found her wishes and com-
mands alike disregarded, she threatened to bring
the claims of the lawful heir before the soldiery
and publicly to assert his rights. Nero, alarmed
by these menaces, resolved at once to remove a BRITOMA'RIS, a leader of the Senonian
rival who might prove so dangerous : poison was Gauls, who induced his countrymen to murder the
procured from Locusta—the same apparently whose Roman ambassadors who had been sent to com-
infamy has been immortalized by Juvena)—and plain of the assistance which the Senones had
administered, but without success. A second dose rendered to the Etruscans, then at war with Rome.
of more potent efficacy was mixed with a draught The corpses of the Roman ambassadors were man-
of wine, and presented at a banquet, where, in ac- gled with every possible indignity; and as soon as
cordance with the usage of those times, the chil- | the Roman consul, P. Cornelius Dolabella, heard
dren of the imperial family, together with other of this outrage, he marched straight into the coun-
noble youths, were seated at a more frugal board try of the Senones, which he reduced to a desert,
apart from the other guests. Scarcely had the cup and murdered all the males, with the exception of
touched the lips of the ill-fated prince, when he Britomaris, whose death he reserved for his tri-
fell back speechless and breathless. While some umph. (Appian, Samn. v. 1, 2, p. 55, ed. Schw. ,
fied, and others remained gazing in dismay at the Gail. xi. p. 83; comp. Polyb. ii. 19; Liv. Epit.
horrid spectacle, Nero calmly ordered him to be 12. )
removed, remarking that he had from infancy been BRITOMARTIS (Bpitbuaptis), appears to
subject to fits, and would soon revive. The obse have originally been a Cretan divinity of hunters
quies were hurried over the same night; historians and fishermen. Her name is usually derived from
concur in reporting, that a terrible storm burst Bpitús, sweet or blessing, and uáptis, i. e. uapvá,
forth as the funeral procession defiled through the a maiden, so that the name would mean, the sueet
forum towards the Campus Martius, and Dion or Llessing maiden. (Paus. iii. 14. & 2 ; Solin. 11. )
adds, that the rain, descending in torrents, washed After the introduction of the worship of Artemis
away from the face of the murdered boy the white into Crete, Britomartis, between whoni and Artemis
paint with which it had been smeared, and re- there were several points of resemblance, was
RAICA
MINIVAS
COIN OP BRITANNICUS.
## p. 506 (#526) ############################################
506
BRIZO.
BROTEAS.
out.
LEVRD
LONGO
FOLOCOS
placed in some relation to her : Artemis, who loved with Bpíte. v, to fall asleep. The women of Deloa
her, assumed her name and was worshipped under offered sacrifices to her in vessels of the shape of
it, and in the end the two divinities became com- boats, and the sacrifices consisted of various things;
pletely identified, as we see from the story which but fishes were never offered to her. Prayers were
Inakes Britomartis a daughter of Leto. (Callim. addressed to her that she might grant everything
Hymn. in Dian. 189, with the Schol. ; Paus. ii
. 30. that was good, but especially, that she might pro-
$ 3; Schol. ad Aristopi. Ran. 1402 ; Eurip. tect ships. (Athen. viii. p. 335; Eustath. ad Hom.
Iphig. Taur. 126 ; Aristoph. Ran. 1358 ; Virg. p. 1720; Hesych. s. v. Bpišómartis. ) (L. S. )
Cir. 305. ) The mythus of Britomartis is given BROCCHUS, a Roman cognomen, was origi-
by some of the authorities just referred to. nally applied to a person who had teeth standing
She was a daughter of Zeus and Carme, the It was the name of a family of the Furia
daughter of Eubulus. She was a nymph, took gens, and occurs on coins. In the one annexed, the
great delight in wandering about hunting, and was obverse is III vir BROCCHI with the head of Ceres,
beloved by Artemis. Minos, who likewise loved and the reverse L. Fyri Cn. F. with a sella curulis
her, pursued her for nine months, but she fled
from him and at last threw herself into the nets
which had been set by fishermen, or leaped from
mount Dictynnaeum into the sea, where she be-
came entangled in the nets, but was saved by
Artemis, who now made her a goddess. She was
worshipped not only in Crete, but appeared to the
inhabitants of Aegina, and was there called
Aphaea, whereas in Crete she received the sur-
name Dictymna or Dictynna (from diktuov, a net ; and fasces on each side of it. This Brocchus is
comp. Diod. v. 76). According to another tradi- not mentioned by ancient writers : he may have
tion, Britomartis was fond of solitude, and had been a triumvir of the mint or for the purchase of
vowed to live in perpetual maidenhood. From corn. Pighius assigns the surname of Brocchus to
Phoenicia (for this tradition calls her mother Carme, several persons of the Furia gens: but the only
a daughter of Phoenix) she went to Argos, to the Brocchi of this gens mentioned by ancient writers,
daughters of Erasinus, and thence to Cephallenia, as far as we are aware, are :
where she received divine honours from the in- 1. T. (Furius) BROcchus, the uncle of Q. Liga-
habitants under the name of Laphria. From rius. (Cic. pro Lig. 4. )
Cephallenia she came to Crete, where she was 2. Cx. FURIUS BROCCHUS, detected in adultery,
pursued by Minos ; but she fled to the sea-coast, and grievously punished. (Val. Max. vi. 1. & 13. )
where fishermen concealed her under their nets, BROCCHUS, C. ANNAEUS, or ANNEIUS,
whence she derived the surname Dictynna. A a Roman senator, who was plundered by Symma-
sailor, Andromedes, carried her from Crete to chus, one of the Venerii, a new class of publicani
Aegina, and when, on landing there, he made an instituted by Verres. (Cic. Verr. iii. 40. )
attempt upon her chastity, she fled from his vessel
BROCCÉUS, ARME'NIUS, a proconsul in
into a grove, and disappeared in the sanctuary of the time of Domitian. (Plin. Ep. x. 71. )
Artemis. The Aeginetans now built a sanctury BROGITA'RUS, a Gallo-Grecian, a son-in-law
to her, and worshipped her as a goddess. (Anton. of king Deiotarus. He was an unworthy and
Lib. 40. ) These wanderings of Britomartis un- nefarious person, who has become known only
questionably indicate the gradual diffusion of her through the fact, that P. Clodius, in his tribune.
worship in the various maritime places of Greece ship, B. c. 58, sold to him, by a lex tribunicia, for
mentioned in the legend. Her connexion and a large sum of money, the office of high priest of
ultimate identification with Artemis had naturally the Magna Mater at Pessinus, and the title of
a modifying influence upon the notions entertained king. (Cic. pro Sest. 26, de Harusp. Resp. 13,
of each of them. As Britomartis had to do with comp. ad Q. Fratr. ii. 9. )
[L. S. )
fishermen and sailors, and was the protectress of BROME or BROʻMIE, one of the nymphs who
harbours and navigation generally, this feature was brought up Dionysus on mount Nysa (Hygin.
transferred to Artemis also, as we see especially in Fab. 182 ; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 15. ) [L. S. ]
the Arcadian Artemis ; and the temples of the two BRO'MIUS (Bpópios), a surname of Dionysus,
divinities, therefore, stood usually on the banks of which some explain by saying, that he was born
rivers or on the sea-coast. As, on the other hand, during a storm of thunder and lightning (Diod. iv.
Artemiz was considered as the goddess of the 5; Dion Chrys. Or. 27); others derive it from
moon, Britomartis likewise appears in this light: the nymph Brome, or from the noise of the Bac-
her disappearance in the sea, and her identification chantic processions, whence the verb Bpopedšeriai,
with the Aeginetan Aphaea, who was undoubtedly to rage like a Bacchant (Ov. Met. iv. 11; Orph.
a goddess of the moon, seem to contain sufficient Lith. xviii
. 77. ) There is also a mythical personage
proof of this, which is confirmed by the fact, that of this name. (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 5. ) [L. S. ]
on some coins of the Roman empire Dictynna BRONTES. [CYCLOPES. ]
appears with the crescent. Lastly, Britomartis was BRONTI'NUS (Bportivos), of Metapontum, a
like Artemis drawn into the mystic worship of Pythagorean philosopher, to whom, as well as to
Hecate, and even identified with her. (Eurip. | Leon and Bathyllus, Alcmaeon dedicated his works.
Hippol. 141, with the Schol. ; comp. Müller, Ae-According to some accounts, Brontinus married
ginet. p. 163, &c. ; Höck, Kreta, ii. p. 158, &c. ; | Theano, the daughter of Pythagoras. (Diog. Laërt.
Dict. of Ant. s. v. A. KTÚvvia. )
[L. S. ] viii. 83; Suidas, s. v. Beavo; lamb). Vit. Pyth.
BRIZO (Bpi5w), a prophetic goddess of the $ 267. ) lamblichus (Villoison, Anec. Gr. vol. i.
island of Delos, who sent dreams and revealed p. 198) quotes a work of Brontinus.
their meaning to man. Her name is connected BROʻTEAS (Bpotéas). 1. A son of Vulcan
## p. 507 (#527) ############################################
BRUTUS.
507
BRUTUS.
6
and Minerva, who burnt himself that he might not l. c. ) But this tale about a third son is such an
be taunted with his ugliness. (Ov. Ilis, 517. ) evident invention, to answer an objection that had
2. One of the fighters at the marriage of Phi- been started by those who espoused the other side
neus. (Ov. Met, v. 106. )
of the question, that it deserves no credence ; and
3. A Lapith, who was slain at the marriage of nothing was more natural than that the family
Pirithous. (Ov. Met. xii. 260. )
should claim descent from such an illustrious an-
4. The father of Tantalus, who had been mar- cestor, especially after the murder of Cacsar, when
ried to Clytaemnestra before Agamemnon. The M. Brutus was represented as the liberator of his
common account, however, is, that Thyestes was country from tyranny, like his name-silke of old.
the father of this Tantalus. (Paus. ii. 22. § 4. ), It is, however, by no means impossible, that the
5. A son of Tantalus, who, according to a tradi- family may have been descended from the first con-
tion of the Magnetes, had made the most ancient sul, even if we take for granted that he was a pa-
statue of the mother of the gods on the rock of trician, as we know that patricians sometimes
Coddinos. (Paus. iii. 22. $ 4. ) (L. S. ] passed over to the plebeians : while this descent
BRUNI'CHIUS (Bpouvixios), a chronographer becomes still more probable, if we accept Niebuhr's
of uncertain date, referred to by Joannes Malala conjecture (Rom. Hist. i. p. 522, &c. ), that the first
(vol. i. p. 239), the title of whose work was éxoeous consul was a plebeian, and that the consulship was,
Βρουνιχίου Ρωμαίου χρονογράφου.
at its first institution, shared between the two or-
BRUSUS (Bpouoos), a son of Emathius, from ders.
whom Brusis, a portion of Macedonia, was believed The surname of Brutus is said to have been
to have derived its name. (Steph. Byz. s. v. given to L. Junius, because he pretended idiocy in
Bpovoss. )
(L. S. ] order to save himself from the last Tarquin, and
BRUTI'DIUS NIGER. [Niger. ]
the word is accordingly supposed to signify an
BRU'TIUS (Bpoúrios), an historian and chro- “idiot. ” (Liv. i. 56; Dionys. iv. 67, who trans-
nographer, is called by the writer of the Alexan- lates it paiolos ; Nonius, p. 77. ) Festus, how-
drian chronicle (p. 90), who quotes some things ever, in a passage (s. v. Brutum) which is pointed
from bim respecting Danaë and Perseus, o coou out by Arnold (Rom. Hist. i. p. 104), tells us, that
τατος ιστορικός και χρονογράφος. He is also Brutus, in old Latin, was synonymous with Gru-
mentioned by Joannes Malala (vol. i. pp. 39, 326, vis; which, as Arnold remarks, would show a
340) and by Hieronymus in the Chronicle of Eu- connexion with Bápus. The word may, there-
sebius; and Scaliger, in his notes upon this pas- fore, as a surname, have been originally much the
sage (p. 205), has conjectured, that he may be the same as Severus. This conjecture we think more
same as the Brutius Praesens whose daughter, probable than that of Niebuhr's, who supposes it
Brutia Crispina, married L. Aurelius Commodus, to mean a runaway slave," and connects it with
the son of M. Aurelius : but this is quite uncer- the Brettii, “revolted slaves," whence the Brutii
tain. (Vossius, de Hist. Gruec. p. 409, ed. Wester- are supposed to have derived their name (Strab.
mann. )
vi. p. 225 ; Diod. xvi. 15; Gell. x. 3): he further
BRUTTIA'NUS LUSTRICUS. [LUSTRICUS. ] observes, that this name might easily have been
BRU'TTIUS. 1. A Roman knight, for whom applied by the Tarquins to Brutus as a term of
Cicero wrote a letter of introduction to M'. Acilius reproach. (Rom. Hist. i. pp. 63, 98, 515. )
Glabrio, proconsul in Sicily in B. C. 46. (Cic. ad 1. L. JUNIUS BRUTUS, was elected consul in
Fam. xii. 38. )
B. C. 509, according to the chronology of the Fasti,
2. A philologer, with whom M. Cicero, the son upon the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome.
of the orator, studied at Athens, in B. C. 44. (Cic. His story, the greater part of which belongs to
ad Fam. xvi. 21. )
poetry, ran as follows: The sister of king Tarquin
BRU'TTIUS SURA. (SURA. ]
the Proud, married M. Brutus, a man of great
BRUẤTULUS PA'PIUS, a man of noble rank wealth, who died leaving two sons under age. Of
and great power among the Samnites, who per- these the elder was killed by Tarquin, who covet-
suaded his countrymen to undertake a second war ed their possessions ; the younger escaped his bro-
against the Romans; but the Samnites, after their ther's fate only by feigning idiocy, whence he re-
disasters in B. c. 322, became anxious for a peace, ceived the surname of Brutus. After a while,
and resolved to deliver up Brutulus to the Romans. Tarquin became alarmed by the prodigy of a serpent
His corpse, however, was all that they could give crawling from the altar in the royal palace, and
their enemies; for Brutulus put an end to his accordingly sent his two sons, Titus and Aruns, to
own life, to avoid perishing by the hands of the consult the oracle at Delphi. They took with
Romans. (Liv. viii. 39. )
them their cousin Brutus, who propitiated the
BRUTUS, the name of a plebeian family of the priestess with the gift of a golden stick enclosed in
Junia Gens, which traced its descent from the first a hollow staff. After executing the king's com-
consul, L. Junius Brutus. (Comp. Cic.
