) It is not
improbable
that this
Q.
Q.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
Of a éNétodos (an apparatus used in besieging
B. C. 330, and informed him of the flight of Dareius cities, see Vitruv. x. 22, and Dict. of Ant. s. r. ),
from that city. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 19. )
made by Poseidonius of Macedon for Alexander
BI'THYAS (Budúas), the commander of a con- the Great. 4. Of a Sambuca (Dict. of Ant. s. v. ),
siderable body of Numidian cavalry, deserted Gu- made by Damius of Colophon. 5. Of a yaotpa-
lussa, the son of Masinissa and the ally of the oé775 (an engine somewhat resembling a cross-
Romans in the third Punic war, B. c. 148, and bow, and so named from the way in which it was
went over to the Carthaginians, to whom he did held in order to stretch the string, see Hero Alex-
good service in the war. At the capture of Car- andrinus, Belop. ap. l'et. Math. p. 125), made by
thage in 146, Bithyas fell into the hands of Scipio, Zopyrus of Tarentum at Miletus, and another by
by whom he was taken to Rome. He doubtless the same at Cumae in Italy. Biton addresses this
adorned the triumph of the conqueror, but instead work to king Attalus, if at least the reading w
of being put to death afterwards, according to the "Attale is to be adopted instead of a tála or
usual custom, he was allowed to reside under guard nalla (near the beginning), and the emendation
in one of the cities of Italy. (Appian, Pun. 111, is said to be supported by a manuscript (Gale, de
114, 120 ; Zonar. ix. 30; Suidas, s. v. Bibias. ) Script. Mythol. p. 45); but whether Attalus, the
BITHY'NICUS, a cognomen of the Pompeii. Ist of Pergamus, who reigned B. C. 241–197, or
We do not know which of the Pompeii first bore one of the two later kings of the same name be
this cognomen ; but, whatever was its origin, it meant, is uncertain.
was handed down in the family.
The Greek text, with a Latin version, is printed
1. Q. Pompeius BITHYNICUS, the son of Aulus, in the collection of ancient mathematicians, Vet.
was about two years older than Cicero, with whom Mathem. Op. Graec. et Latin. , Paris, 1693, fol. ,
he was very intimate. He prosecuted his studies p. 105, &c. Biton mentions (p. 109) a work of
together with Cicero, who describes him as a man his own on Optics, which is lost. (Fabric. Bibl.
of great learning and industry, and no mean orator, Graec, ii. p. 591. )
(W. F. D. ]
but his speeches were not well delivered. (Cic. BITON (Bítwv) and CLEOBIS (KA606is) were
Brut. 68, 90, comp. ad Fam. vi. 17. ) On the the sons of Cydippe, a priestess of Hera at Argos.
breaking out of the civil war in 49, Bithynicus Herodotus, who has recorded their beautiful story,
espoused the party of his great namesake, and, makes Solon relate it to Croesus, as a proof that it
after the battle of Pharsalia, accompanied him in is better for mortals to die than to live. On one
his flight to ypt, where he was killed together occasion, says Herodotus (i. 31), during the festival
with the other attendants of Pompeius Magnus. of Hera, when the priestess had to ride to the
(Oros. vi. 15. )
temple of the goddess in a chariot, and when the
2. A. Pompeius BitHYNICUS, son of the pre-oxen which were to draw it did not artire from
ceding, was praetor of Sicily at the time of Caesar's the country in time, Cleobis and Biton dragged the
death, B. C. 44, and seems apparently to have been chariot with their mother, a distance of 45 stadia,
in fear of the reigning party at Rome, as he wrote to the temple. The priestess, moved by the
a letter to Cicero soliciting his protection, which filial love of her sons, prayed to the goddess to
Cicero promised in his reply. (Cic. ad Fam. vi. grant them what was best for mortals. After the
16, 17, comp. xvi. 23. ) Bithynicus repulsed Sex. solemnities of the festival were over, the two
Pompeius in his attempt to gain possession of Mes brothers went to sleep in the temple and never
Bana, but he afterwards allowed Sextus to obtain
rose again. The goddess thus shewed, says Hero-
it, on the condition that he and Sextus should dotus, that she could bestow upon them no greater
hare the government of the island between them. boon than death. The Argives made statues of
Bithynicus, however, was, after a little while, put the two brothers and sent them to Delphi. Pausa-
to death by Sextus. (Dion Cass. xlviii. 17, 19; nias (ii. 20. § 2) saw a relief in stone at Argos,
Liv. Epit. 123 ; Appian, B. C. iv. 84, v. 70. ) representing Cleobis and Biton drawing the chariot
Bithynicus also occurs as the cognomen of a Clo- with their mother. (Comp. Cic. Tuscul. i. 47;
dius, who was put to death by Octavianus, on the Val. Max. v. 4, extern. 4; Stobaeus, Sermones,
taking of Perusia, B. C. 40. (Appian, B. C. v. 49. ) 169 ; Servius and Philargyr. ad Virg. Georg. iii.
BITIS or BITHYS (Blous), the son of Cotys, 532. )
[L. S. )
king of Thrace, who was sent by his father as a BITUI'TUS, or as the name is found in in-
a
## p. 491 (#511) ############################################
BLAESUS.
491
BLAESUS.
scriptions, Betultus, a king of the Arverni Sicily, and in their voynge from thence to Italy
in Gaul. When the proconsul Cn. Domitius they were overtaken off cape Palinurus by a tre-
Ahenobarbus undertook the war in B. c. 121 mendous storm, in which 150 ships perished.
against the Allobroges, who were joined by the Notwithstanding these misfortunes, each of them
Arverni under Bituitus, these Gallic tribes were obtained a triumph for their successes in Africa, as
defeated near the town of Vindalium. After this we learn from the Fasti. (Polyb. i. 39; Eutrop.
first disaster the Allobroges and Arverni made im- ii. 23 ; Oros. iv. 9; Zonar. viii. 14. ) Blaesus was
mense preparations to renew the contest with the consul a second time, in 244 (Fasti Capit. ), in
Romans, and Bituitus again took the field with a which year a colony was founded at Brundusium.
very numerous army. At the point where the (Vell. Pat. i. 14. )
Isara empties itself into the Rhodanus, the consul 2. SemproniÚS BLaesus, quaestor in B. c. 217
Q. Fabius Maximus, the grandson of Paullus, met to the consul Cn. Servilius Geininus, was killed,
the Gauls in the autumn of B. c. 121. Although together with a thousand men, in a descent upon
the Romans were far inferior in numbers, yet they the coast of Africa in this year. (Liv. xxii. 31. )
gained such a complete victory, that, according to 3. C. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, tribune of the
the lowest estimate, 120,000 men of the army of plebs in B. c. 211, brought Cn. Fulvius to trial on
Bituitus fell in the battle. After this irreparable account of his losing his army in Apulia. (Liv.
loss, Bituitus, who had been taken prisoner in an xxvi. 2; comp. Val. Max. ii. 8. $ 3. )
insidious manner by Cn. Domitius, was sent to 4. Cx. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, legate in B. C.
Rome. The senate, though disapproving of the 210 to the dictator Q. Fulvius Flaccus, by whom
conduct of Domitius, exiled Bituitus to Alba. His he was sent into Etruria to command the army
son, Congentiatus, was likewise made prisoner and which had been under the praetor C. Calpurnius.
sent to Rome. Florus adds, that the triumph of (Liv. xxvii. 5.
) It is not improbable that this
Q. Fabius was adorned by Bituitus riding in a Cn. Blaesus may be the same as No. 3, as Cn. is
silver war-chariot and with his magnificent armour, very likely a false reading for C. , since we find
just as he had appeared on the field of battle. none of the Sempronii at this period with the for-
(Liv. Epit. 61; Florus, iii. 2; Vell. Pat. ii. 10; mer praenomen, while the latter is the most com-
Suet. Nero, 2; Appian, Gallic. 12, where Bituitus mon one.
is erroneously called king of the Allobroges ; Eu- 5. P. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, tribune of the plebs
trop. iv. 22, where the year and the consuls are in B. c. 191, opposed the triumph of P. Cornelius
given incorrectly ; Oros. v. 14; Val. Max. ix. 6. Scipio Nasica, but withdrew his opposition through
§ 3; comp. Strab. iv. p. 191; Plin. H. N. vii. the remonstrances of the consul. (Liv. xxxvi. 39,
61. )
(L. S. ] 40. )
BITYS (Bitus), an Egyptian seer, who is said 6. C. SEMPRONIUS BL. A Esus, plebeian aedile in
by Iamblichus (de Myst. viii. 5) to have interpreted B. c. 187, and praetor in Sicily in 18+. In 170,
to Ammon, king of Egypt, tlie books of Hermes he was sent with Sex. Julius Caesar as ambassador
written in hieroglyphics.
to Abdera. (Liv. xxxix. 7, 32, 38, xliii. 6. )
BLAESUS (Białoos), an ancient Italian poet, BLAESUS, a Roman jurist, not earlier than
born at Capreae, who wrote serio-comic plays Trebatius Testa, the friend of Cicero : for Blaesus
(orovdové ovos) in Greek. (Steph. Byz. s. v. is cited by Labeo in the Digest (33. tit. 2. s. 31)
Kaupin. ) Two of these plays, the Megotpibas as reporting the opinion of Trebatius. Various
and Latoupvos, are quoted by Athenaeus (iii. p. conjectures have been made without much plausi-
lll, c. , xi. p. 487, c. ), and Hesychius refers to bility for the purpose of identifying the jurist with
Blaesus (s. m. Μοκκωνώσις, Μολγώ, Φυλατός), but | other persons of the same name. Junius Blaesus,
without mentioning the names of his plays. Ca- proconsul of Africa in A. D. 22, was probably some-
saubon supposed that Blaesus lived under the Ro- what later than the jurist. (Majansius, vol. ii. p.
man empire; but he must have lived as early as the 162; G. Grotii, Vita Ictorum, c. 9. § 18. ) (J. T. G. ]
3rd century B. C. , as Valckenär (ad Theocr. p. 290, BLAESUS, JU'NIUS. 1. The governor of
a. ) has shewn, that Athenaeus took bis quotations Pannonia at the death of Augustus, A. v. 14, when
of Blaesus from the racoval of Pamphilus of Alex- the formidable insurrection of the legions broke
andria, who was a disciple of Aristarchus; and out in that province, which was with difficulty
also that Pamphilus borrowed a part of his work quelled by Drusus himself. The conduct of Blae-
explaining the words in Blaesus and similar poets sus in allowing the soldiers relaxation from their
from the ramooai ’Italikal of Diodorus, who was ordinary duties was the immediate cause of the in-
a pupil of Aristophanes of Alexandria. (Comp. surrection, but the real causes lay deeper. Through
Schweigh. ad Athen. iii. p. 111, c. )
the influence of Sejanus, who was his uncle, Blae-
BLAESUS, “a stammerer," was the name of sus obtained the goverment of Africa in 21, where
a plebeian family of the Sempronia gens under he gained a victory over Tacfarinas in 22, in con-
the republic. It also occurs as a cognomen of the sequence of which Tiberius granted him the insig-
Junii and of one Pedius under the empire. nia of a triumph, and allowed him the title of
1. C. SEMPRONIUS Tı. F. T. N. BLAEsus, con- Imperator--the last instance of this honour being
sul in B. c. 253 in the first Punic war, sailed with conferred upon a private person.
We learn from
his colleague, Cn. Servilius Caepio, with a fleet of Velleius Paterculus, who says that it was difficult
260 ships to the coast of Africa, which they laid to decide whether Blaesus was more useful in the
waste in frequent descents, and from which they camp or distinguished in the forum, that he also
obtained great booty. They did not, howerer, commanded in Spain. (Dion Cass. Ivii. 4 ; Tac.
accomplish anything of note; and in the lesser Ann. i. 16, &c. , iii. 35, 58, 72-74; Vell. Pat. ii.
Syrtis, through the ignorance of the pilots, their 125. ) It appears from the Fasti, from which we
ships ran aground, and only got off, upon the re- learn that his praenomen was Quintus, that Blae
turn of the tide, by throwing everything over- sus was consul suffectus in 28 ; but he shared in
board. This disaster induced them to return to the fall of Sejanus in 31, and was deprived, as was
## p. 492 (#512) ############################################
492
BLASIO.
BLASTARES.
INOMA
also his son, of the priestly offices which he held. | bassador with two others to the Carni, Istri, and
His life, however, was spared for the time; but lapydes, in B. C. 170. In 168 he was one of the
when Tiberius, in 36, conferred these offices upon five commissioners appointed to settle the disputes
other persons, Blaesus and his son perceived that between the Pisani and Lunenses respecting the
their fate was sealed, and accordingly put an end boundaries of their lands. (Liv. xlij. 7, xlv. 13. )
to their own lives. (Tac. Ann. v. 7, vi. 40. ) There are several coins belonging to this family.
2. The son of the preceding, was with his father The obverse of the one annexed has the inscription
in Pannonia when the legions mutinied in A. D. 14, Blasio CN. F. , with what appears to be the head
and was compelled by the soldiers to go to Tiberius of Mars: the reverse represents Dionysus, with
with a statement of their grievances. He was sent Pallas on his left hand in the act of crowning him
a second time to Tiberius after the arrival of Dru- and another female figure on his right. (Eckhel,
bus in the camp.
He also served under his father | v. p. 180. )
in 22 in the war against Tacfarinas in Africa;
and he put an end to his own life, as mentioned
above, in 36. (Tac. Ann. i. 19, 29, iii. 74, vi. 40. )
3. Probably the son of No. 2, was the governor
of Gallia Lugdunensis in a. D. 70, and espoused
the party of the emperor Vitellius, whom he sur-
plied when in Gaul with everything necessary to
support his rank and state. This liberality on the
part of Blaesus excited the jealousy of the emperor,
who shortly after had hiin poisoned on the most
II. Helvää Blasiones.
trumpery accusation, brought against him by L. 1. M. Helvius Blasio, plebeian acdile in B. C.
Vitellius. Blaesus was a man of large property | 198 and praetor in 197. He obtained the pro-
and high integrity, and had steadily refused the so vince of further Spain, which he found in a very
licitations of Caecina and others to desert the cause disturbed state upon his arrival. After handing
of Vitellius. (Tac. Hist. i. 59, ii. 59, iii. 38, 39. ) over the province to his successor, he was detained
BLAESUS, PE’DIUS, was expelled the senate in the country a year longer by a severe and
in A. D. 60, on the complaint of the Cyrenians, for tedious illness. On his return home through
robbing the temple of Aesculapius, and for corrup- nearer Spain with a guard of 6000 soldiers, which
tion in the military levies; but he was re-admitted the praetor Ap. Claudius had giren him, he was
in 70. (Tac.
B. C. 330, and informed him of the flight of Dareius cities, see Vitruv. x. 22, and Dict. of Ant. s. r. ),
from that city. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 19. )
made by Poseidonius of Macedon for Alexander
BI'THYAS (Budúas), the commander of a con- the Great. 4. Of a Sambuca (Dict. of Ant. s. v. ),
siderable body of Numidian cavalry, deserted Gu- made by Damius of Colophon. 5. Of a yaotpa-
lussa, the son of Masinissa and the ally of the oé775 (an engine somewhat resembling a cross-
Romans in the third Punic war, B. c. 148, and bow, and so named from the way in which it was
went over to the Carthaginians, to whom he did held in order to stretch the string, see Hero Alex-
good service in the war. At the capture of Car- andrinus, Belop. ap. l'et. Math. p. 125), made by
thage in 146, Bithyas fell into the hands of Scipio, Zopyrus of Tarentum at Miletus, and another by
by whom he was taken to Rome. He doubtless the same at Cumae in Italy. Biton addresses this
adorned the triumph of the conqueror, but instead work to king Attalus, if at least the reading w
of being put to death afterwards, according to the "Attale is to be adopted instead of a tála or
usual custom, he was allowed to reside under guard nalla (near the beginning), and the emendation
in one of the cities of Italy. (Appian, Pun. 111, is said to be supported by a manuscript (Gale, de
114, 120 ; Zonar. ix. 30; Suidas, s. v. Bibias. ) Script. Mythol. p. 45); but whether Attalus, the
BITHY'NICUS, a cognomen of the Pompeii. Ist of Pergamus, who reigned B. C. 241–197, or
We do not know which of the Pompeii first bore one of the two later kings of the same name be
this cognomen ; but, whatever was its origin, it meant, is uncertain.
was handed down in the family.
The Greek text, with a Latin version, is printed
1. Q. Pompeius BITHYNICUS, the son of Aulus, in the collection of ancient mathematicians, Vet.
was about two years older than Cicero, with whom Mathem. Op. Graec. et Latin. , Paris, 1693, fol. ,
he was very intimate. He prosecuted his studies p. 105, &c. Biton mentions (p. 109) a work of
together with Cicero, who describes him as a man his own on Optics, which is lost. (Fabric. Bibl.
of great learning and industry, and no mean orator, Graec, ii. p. 591. )
(W. F. D. ]
but his speeches were not well delivered. (Cic. BITON (Bítwv) and CLEOBIS (KA606is) were
Brut. 68, 90, comp. ad Fam. vi. 17. ) On the the sons of Cydippe, a priestess of Hera at Argos.
breaking out of the civil war in 49, Bithynicus Herodotus, who has recorded their beautiful story,
espoused the party of his great namesake, and, makes Solon relate it to Croesus, as a proof that it
after the battle of Pharsalia, accompanied him in is better for mortals to die than to live. On one
his flight to ypt, where he was killed together occasion, says Herodotus (i. 31), during the festival
with the other attendants of Pompeius Magnus. of Hera, when the priestess had to ride to the
(Oros. vi. 15. )
temple of the goddess in a chariot, and when the
2. A. Pompeius BitHYNICUS, son of the pre-oxen which were to draw it did not artire from
ceding, was praetor of Sicily at the time of Caesar's the country in time, Cleobis and Biton dragged the
death, B. C. 44, and seems apparently to have been chariot with their mother, a distance of 45 stadia,
in fear of the reigning party at Rome, as he wrote to the temple. The priestess, moved by the
a letter to Cicero soliciting his protection, which filial love of her sons, prayed to the goddess to
Cicero promised in his reply. (Cic. ad Fam. vi. grant them what was best for mortals. After the
16, 17, comp. xvi. 23. ) Bithynicus repulsed Sex. solemnities of the festival were over, the two
Pompeius in his attempt to gain possession of Mes brothers went to sleep in the temple and never
Bana, but he afterwards allowed Sextus to obtain
rose again. The goddess thus shewed, says Hero-
it, on the condition that he and Sextus should dotus, that she could bestow upon them no greater
hare the government of the island between them. boon than death. The Argives made statues of
Bithynicus, however, was, after a little while, put the two brothers and sent them to Delphi. Pausa-
to death by Sextus. (Dion Cass. xlviii. 17, 19; nias (ii. 20. § 2) saw a relief in stone at Argos,
Liv. Epit. 123 ; Appian, B. C. iv. 84, v. 70. ) representing Cleobis and Biton drawing the chariot
Bithynicus also occurs as the cognomen of a Clo- with their mother. (Comp. Cic. Tuscul. i. 47;
dius, who was put to death by Octavianus, on the Val. Max. v. 4, extern. 4; Stobaeus, Sermones,
taking of Perusia, B. C. 40. (Appian, B. C. v. 49. ) 169 ; Servius and Philargyr. ad Virg. Georg. iii.
BITIS or BITHYS (Blous), the son of Cotys, 532. )
[L. S. )
king of Thrace, who was sent by his father as a BITUI'TUS, or as the name is found in in-
a
## p. 491 (#511) ############################################
BLAESUS.
491
BLAESUS.
scriptions, Betultus, a king of the Arverni Sicily, and in their voynge from thence to Italy
in Gaul. When the proconsul Cn. Domitius they were overtaken off cape Palinurus by a tre-
Ahenobarbus undertook the war in B. c. 121 mendous storm, in which 150 ships perished.
against the Allobroges, who were joined by the Notwithstanding these misfortunes, each of them
Arverni under Bituitus, these Gallic tribes were obtained a triumph for their successes in Africa, as
defeated near the town of Vindalium. After this we learn from the Fasti. (Polyb. i. 39; Eutrop.
first disaster the Allobroges and Arverni made im- ii. 23 ; Oros. iv. 9; Zonar. viii. 14. ) Blaesus was
mense preparations to renew the contest with the consul a second time, in 244 (Fasti Capit. ), in
Romans, and Bituitus again took the field with a which year a colony was founded at Brundusium.
very numerous army. At the point where the (Vell. Pat. i. 14. )
Isara empties itself into the Rhodanus, the consul 2. SemproniÚS BLaesus, quaestor in B. c. 217
Q. Fabius Maximus, the grandson of Paullus, met to the consul Cn. Servilius Geininus, was killed,
the Gauls in the autumn of B. c. 121. Although together with a thousand men, in a descent upon
the Romans were far inferior in numbers, yet they the coast of Africa in this year. (Liv. xxii. 31. )
gained such a complete victory, that, according to 3. C. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, tribune of the
the lowest estimate, 120,000 men of the army of plebs in B. c. 211, brought Cn. Fulvius to trial on
Bituitus fell in the battle. After this irreparable account of his losing his army in Apulia. (Liv.
loss, Bituitus, who had been taken prisoner in an xxvi. 2; comp. Val. Max. ii. 8. $ 3. )
insidious manner by Cn. Domitius, was sent to 4. Cx. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, legate in B. C.
Rome. The senate, though disapproving of the 210 to the dictator Q. Fulvius Flaccus, by whom
conduct of Domitius, exiled Bituitus to Alba. His he was sent into Etruria to command the army
son, Congentiatus, was likewise made prisoner and which had been under the praetor C. Calpurnius.
sent to Rome. Florus adds, that the triumph of (Liv. xxvii. 5.
) It is not improbable that this
Q. Fabius was adorned by Bituitus riding in a Cn. Blaesus may be the same as No. 3, as Cn. is
silver war-chariot and with his magnificent armour, very likely a false reading for C. , since we find
just as he had appeared on the field of battle. none of the Sempronii at this period with the for-
(Liv. Epit. 61; Florus, iii. 2; Vell. Pat. ii. 10; mer praenomen, while the latter is the most com-
Suet. Nero, 2; Appian, Gallic. 12, where Bituitus mon one.
is erroneously called king of the Allobroges ; Eu- 5. P. SEMPRONIUS BLAESUS, tribune of the plebs
trop. iv. 22, where the year and the consuls are in B. c. 191, opposed the triumph of P. Cornelius
given incorrectly ; Oros. v. 14; Val. Max. ix. 6. Scipio Nasica, but withdrew his opposition through
§ 3; comp. Strab. iv. p. 191; Plin. H. N. vii. the remonstrances of the consul. (Liv. xxxvi. 39,
61. )
(L. S. ] 40. )
BITYS (Bitus), an Egyptian seer, who is said 6. C. SEMPRONIUS BL. A Esus, plebeian aedile in
by Iamblichus (de Myst. viii. 5) to have interpreted B. c. 187, and praetor in Sicily in 18+. In 170,
to Ammon, king of Egypt, tlie books of Hermes he was sent with Sex. Julius Caesar as ambassador
written in hieroglyphics.
to Abdera. (Liv. xxxix. 7, 32, 38, xliii. 6. )
BLAESUS (Białoos), an ancient Italian poet, BLAESUS, a Roman jurist, not earlier than
born at Capreae, who wrote serio-comic plays Trebatius Testa, the friend of Cicero : for Blaesus
(orovdové ovos) in Greek. (Steph. Byz. s. v. is cited by Labeo in the Digest (33. tit. 2. s. 31)
Kaupin. ) Two of these plays, the Megotpibas as reporting the opinion of Trebatius. Various
and Latoupvos, are quoted by Athenaeus (iii. p. conjectures have been made without much plausi-
lll, c. , xi. p. 487, c. ), and Hesychius refers to bility for the purpose of identifying the jurist with
Blaesus (s. m. Μοκκωνώσις, Μολγώ, Φυλατός), but | other persons of the same name. Junius Blaesus,
without mentioning the names of his plays. Ca- proconsul of Africa in A. D. 22, was probably some-
saubon supposed that Blaesus lived under the Ro- what later than the jurist. (Majansius, vol. ii. p.
man empire; but he must have lived as early as the 162; G. Grotii, Vita Ictorum, c. 9. § 18. ) (J. T. G. ]
3rd century B. C. , as Valckenär (ad Theocr. p. 290, BLAESUS, JU'NIUS. 1. The governor of
a. ) has shewn, that Athenaeus took bis quotations Pannonia at the death of Augustus, A. v. 14, when
of Blaesus from the racoval of Pamphilus of Alex- the formidable insurrection of the legions broke
andria, who was a disciple of Aristarchus; and out in that province, which was with difficulty
also that Pamphilus borrowed a part of his work quelled by Drusus himself. The conduct of Blae-
explaining the words in Blaesus and similar poets sus in allowing the soldiers relaxation from their
from the ramooai ’Italikal of Diodorus, who was ordinary duties was the immediate cause of the in-
a pupil of Aristophanes of Alexandria. (Comp. surrection, but the real causes lay deeper. Through
Schweigh. ad Athen. iii. p. 111, c. )
the influence of Sejanus, who was his uncle, Blae-
BLAESUS, “a stammerer," was the name of sus obtained the goverment of Africa in 21, where
a plebeian family of the Sempronia gens under he gained a victory over Tacfarinas in 22, in con-
the republic. It also occurs as a cognomen of the sequence of which Tiberius granted him the insig-
Junii and of one Pedius under the empire. nia of a triumph, and allowed him the title of
1. C. SEMPRONIUS Tı. F. T. N. BLAEsus, con- Imperator--the last instance of this honour being
sul in B. c. 253 in the first Punic war, sailed with conferred upon a private person.
We learn from
his colleague, Cn. Servilius Caepio, with a fleet of Velleius Paterculus, who says that it was difficult
260 ships to the coast of Africa, which they laid to decide whether Blaesus was more useful in the
waste in frequent descents, and from which they camp or distinguished in the forum, that he also
obtained great booty. They did not, howerer, commanded in Spain. (Dion Cass. Ivii. 4 ; Tac.
accomplish anything of note; and in the lesser Ann. i. 16, &c. , iii. 35, 58, 72-74; Vell. Pat. ii.
Syrtis, through the ignorance of the pilots, their 125. ) It appears from the Fasti, from which we
ships ran aground, and only got off, upon the re- learn that his praenomen was Quintus, that Blae
turn of the tide, by throwing everything over- sus was consul suffectus in 28 ; but he shared in
board. This disaster induced them to return to the fall of Sejanus in 31, and was deprived, as was
## p. 492 (#512) ############################################
492
BLASIO.
BLASTARES.
INOMA
also his son, of the priestly offices which he held. | bassador with two others to the Carni, Istri, and
His life, however, was spared for the time; but lapydes, in B. C. 170. In 168 he was one of the
when Tiberius, in 36, conferred these offices upon five commissioners appointed to settle the disputes
other persons, Blaesus and his son perceived that between the Pisani and Lunenses respecting the
their fate was sealed, and accordingly put an end boundaries of their lands. (Liv. xlij. 7, xlv. 13. )
to their own lives. (Tac. Ann. v. 7, vi. 40. ) There are several coins belonging to this family.
2. The son of the preceding, was with his father The obverse of the one annexed has the inscription
in Pannonia when the legions mutinied in A. D. 14, Blasio CN. F. , with what appears to be the head
and was compelled by the soldiers to go to Tiberius of Mars: the reverse represents Dionysus, with
with a statement of their grievances. He was sent Pallas on his left hand in the act of crowning him
a second time to Tiberius after the arrival of Dru- and another female figure on his right. (Eckhel,
bus in the camp.
He also served under his father | v. p. 180. )
in 22 in the war against Tacfarinas in Africa;
and he put an end to his own life, as mentioned
above, in 36. (Tac. Ann. i. 19, 29, iii. 74, vi. 40. )
3. Probably the son of No. 2, was the governor
of Gallia Lugdunensis in a. D. 70, and espoused
the party of the emperor Vitellius, whom he sur-
plied when in Gaul with everything necessary to
support his rank and state. This liberality on the
part of Blaesus excited the jealousy of the emperor,
who shortly after had hiin poisoned on the most
II. Helvää Blasiones.
trumpery accusation, brought against him by L. 1. M. Helvius Blasio, plebeian acdile in B. C.
Vitellius. Blaesus was a man of large property | 198 and praetor in 197. He obtained the pro-
and high integrity, and had steadily refused the so vince of further Spain, which he found in a very
licitations of Caecina and others to desert the cause disturbed state upon his arrival. After handing
of Vitellius. (Tac. Hist. i. 59, ii. 59, iii. 38, 39. ) over the province to his successor, he was detained
BLAESUS, PE’DIUS, was expelled the senate in the country a year longer by a severe and
in A. D. 60, on the complaint of the Cyrenians, for tedious illness. On his return home through
robbing the temple of Aesculapius, and for corrup- nearer Spain with a guard of 6000 soldiers, which
tion in the military levies; but he was re-admitted the praetor Ap. Claudius had giren him, he was
in 70. (Tac.
