), during a portion of his life,
practised
as (Sidon.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
& 4,
sical investigations appear to have occupied a large viii. 5. § 2; J. Obsequ. 103, where he is errone
share of his attention; and such was his fame as ously called L. Flaccus. )
an astrologer, that it was generally believed, in 2. C. Flavius Fimbria, probably a son of
later times at least, that he had predicted in the No. 1, was one of the most violent partizans of
most unambiguous terms the future greatness of Marius and Cinna during the civil war with Sulla.
Octavianus on hearing the announcement of his Cicero (pro Sext. Rosc. 12) calls him a homo auda-
birth ; and in the Eusebian Chronicle he is styled cissimus et insanissimus. During the funeral cere-
“ Pythagoricus et Magus. ” He, moreover, pos- monies of C. Marius, in B. c. 86, C. Fimbria
sessed considerable influence in political affairs caused an attempt to be made on the life of Q.
during the last struggles of the republic ; was one Mucius Scaevola, and, as the latter escaped with a
## p. 151 (#167) ############################################
FIMBRIA.
151
FIRMIANUS.
severe wound, Fimbria made preparations to bring 3. Flavius FIMBRIA, a brother of No. 2, was
an accusation against him before the people. legate of C. Norbanus, in the war against Sulla,
When asked what he had to say against so ex- B. C. 82. He and other officers of the party of
cellent a man, he replied, nothing, except that he Carbo were invited to a banquet. by Albinovanus,
had not allowed the deadly weapon to penetrate and then treacherously murdered. (Appian, B. C.
far enough into his body. After the death of C. i. 91. )
(L. S. ]
Marius, in B. C. 86, Cinna assumed L. Valerius FIRMA'NUS, GA'VIUS. [GAVIUS. )
Flaccus as his colleague in the consulship, in the FIRMA'NUS, TARU'TIUS, a mathematician
place of Marius, and sent him into Asia to oppose and astrologer, contemporary with M. Varro and
Sulla and bring the war against Mithridates to a Cicero, and an intimate friend of them both. At
close ; but as Valerius Flaccus was inexperienced Varro's request Firmanus took the horoscope of
in military affairs, Fimbria accompanied him as his Romulus, and from the circumstances of the life
legate or commander of the horse (not as quaestor, and death of the founder determined the era of
as Strabo, xiii. p. 596, states). Flaccus drew upon Rome. According to the scheme of Firmanus,
himself the hatred of the soldiers by his avarice Romulus was born on the 23d day of September,
and cruelty, and Fimbria took advantage of it in in the 2d year of the 20 Olympiad=B. c. 771, and
endeavouring to win the favour of the army. Rome was founded on the 9th of April, between
While staying at Byzantium, Fimbria became in the second and third hour of the day. (Plut. Kom.
volved in a quarrel with the quaestor of Valerius 12 ; Cic. de Divin. ii. 47. ). Plutarch docs not say
Flaccus, and the latter decided the dispute in fa- in what year Firmanus placed the foundation of
vour of the quaestor, for which he was assailed by Rome, but the day is earlier than the Palilia
Fimbria in insulting terms. Fimbria was de (April 21st), the usual point from which the years
prived of his office in consequence, and Val. of Rome are reckoned. The name, Firmanus, de-
Flaccus sailed to Chalcedon. Fimbria, who re- notes a native of Firmum, in Picenum, the modern
mained at Byzantium, created a mutiny among the town of Fermo, in the Marca d'Ancona, but Taru-
soldiers who were left there. Flaccus returned to tius is an Etruscan appellation (Plut. Rom. 5,
Byzantium, but was obliged to quit the place, and Quaest. Rom. 35 ; Licinius Macer, ap. Macrob.
took to flight. Fimbria pursued him to Chalcedon, Suturn. i. 10 ; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, vi. 7), and
and thence to Nicomedeia, where he killed him, from his Etruscan ancestors he may have inherited
in B. C. 85. He forth with undertook the command his taste for mathematical studies. (W. B. D. ]
of the army. He gained several not unimportant FIRMIANUS SYMPO'SIUS, CAEʼLIUS,
victories over the generals of Mithridates, and when (also written Symphosius, or Simphosius, not to
the king bimself took to fight, Fimbria followed mention various evident corruptions,) is the name
him to Pergamus, and chased him from thence to prefixed in MSS. to a series of a hundred insipid
Pintana. Here he might have made the king his riddles, each comprised in three hexameter lines,
prisoner, if Lucullus, who had the command of collected, as we are told in the prologue, for the
the fleet, had condescended to co-operate with the purpose of promoting the festivities of the Satur-
usurper, and not allowed the king to escape. nalia. To the same author apparently belong two
Having thus got rid of one enemy, Fimbria began short odes; one entitled De Fortuna, in fifteen
a most cruel war against the Asiatics who had Choriambic Tetraineters, ascribed in some copies
fought in the ranks of Mithridates, or declared in to an Asclepias or Asclepadius, a mistake which
favour of Sulla. Among the places of the latter arose from confounding the poet with the metre
class was Ilium, which was treacherously taken, which he employed ; the other, De Livore, in
and wantonly and cruelly destroyed. He raged in twenty-five Hendecasyllabics, attributed occasion-
Asia, without restraint, like an iisane person, and ally to a Vomanus or an Euphorbus, while both
succeeded in subduing a great part of the country. pieces are frequently included among the Cata-
But in B. c. 84, Sulla crossed over from Greece into lecta of Virgil. We know nothing regarding the
Asia, and, after having concluded peace with Mi- personal history of this writer, nor the period
thridates, he attacked Fimbria in his camp near when he flourished; but from certain peculiarities
the town of Thyateira. As Fimbria was unable of expression it has been conjectured that he was
to make his men fight against Sulla, he tried an African. His diction and versification, although
to get rid of his enemy by assassination, and, by no means models of purity and correctness, are
as this attempt failed, he endeavoured to ne- far removed from barbarism, and the enigmas con-
gotiate ; but when Sulla refused, and demanded tain allusions to various usages which had ceased
absolute submission, Fimbria fled from his camp to prevail long before the downfall of the empire.
to Pergamus, and baving retired into a temple of The only reference, however, in any ancient writer
Aesculapius, he tried to kill himself with his own to these compositions is to be found in Aldhelm,
sword; but as the wound did not cause his death, who died at the beginning of the eighth century.
he commanded one of his slaves to give him The words with which the prologue commences,
the final blow. Such was the miserable end
“ Haec quoque Symposius de carmine lusit inepto,
of a short career, which had begun with trea- Sic tu, Sexte, doces, sic te deliro magistro,"
chery. Cicero (Brut. 66) describes his public which point distinctly to some former efforts, have
speaking just as we might expect of a man of been made the basis of an extravagant conjecture
his temperament: it was of a furious and most by Heumann. Assuming that the reading as it
vehement kind, and like the raving of a mad-
now stands is faulty, he proposes, as an emenda-
(Liv. Epit. 82; Plut. Sull. 2, 23, 25 ; tion,
Lucull. 3; Appian, Mithrid. 51–60 ; Vell. Pat.
ii. 24: Dion Cass. Fragm. Peiresc. 127-130,
“ Hoc quoque Symposium lusi de carmine inepto.
Reimar. ; Aur. Vict, de Vir. Il. 70; Oros. vi. 2;
Sic me Sicca docet, Sicca deliro magistro,"
Val. Mar, ix. 11. 82 ; Frontin. Stral. iii. 17. 85; and endeavours to prove that the true title of the
J. Obsequ. 116. )
work is Symposium, that no such person as Sym.
man.
L 4
## p. 152 (#168) ############################################
152
FIRMICUS.
FIRMICUS.
a
a
posius ever existed, and that the real author of had followed the Antiscia of Hipparchus, but had
these trifles is no less a personage than the Latin erred in presupposing a degree of knowledge on the
father Caelius Firmianus Lactantius, the pupil of part of his readers that they were little likely to
Amobius, who taught at Sicca; the author, as we possess. In the Libri Matheseos we find references
learn from Jerome, of a Symposium. This hy to other pieces previously composed by the author
pothesis, althougn supported by much learning, is upon similar topics, especially to a dissertation De
80 wild as scarcely to deserve confutation. It will | Domino Geniturae et Chronocratone, and De Fine
be sufficient to remark that all MSS. agree in re- Vitae ; the former addressed to a friend, Murinus
presenting Symposius (or something like it) as a (iv. 14, vii. 6. ), while he promises to publish
proper name, -ihat there are no grounds for sup“ twelve books” as a supplement to his present
posing the Symposium of Lactantius to have been undertaking (v. l), together with an explanation
of a light or trivial character, but that we are rather of the Myriogenesis (viii. Praef. ), and a translation
led to conclude that it was a grave dialogue or dis of Necepso upon health and disease (viii. 3). Of
quisition, resembling in plan the Symposia of Xe these not one has been preserved.
nophon, of Plato, and of Plutarch, or the Satur- Firmicus Maternus was first printed at Venice,
nalia of Macrobius.
fol. 1497, by Bivilacqua, from a MS. brought to
The Aenigmata were first printed at Paris, 8vo. Italy by Pescennius Franciscus Niger from Con-
1533, along with the Sayings of the Seven Wise stantinople ; again by Aldus, fol. 1499, in a vo-
Men of Greece: the most elaborate edition is that | lume containing also Manilius, the Phaenomena of
of Heumann, Hannov. , 8vo. 1722, which was fol- Aratus, in Greek, with the translations by Cicero,
lowed by that of Heynatz, Francof. ad Viad. , 8vo. Caesar Germanicus, and Avienus, the Greek com-
1775 ; ihe most useful is that contained in the mentaries of Theon on the same work, the Sphere
Poct. Lat. Min. of Wernsdorf, vol. vi. part ii. of Proclus, in Greek, and the Latin version by
p. 474, with very complete prolegomena (p. 410). Linacer ; a collection reprinted four years after-
The Odes are given in the same collection, vol. iii. wards under the inspection of Mazalis (fol. Rheg.
pp. 386, 389. See also vol. v. part iii. p. 1464, Ling. 1503). The last edition noticed by biblio-
and vol. iv. part ii. p. 853.
(W. R. ] graphers is that corrected by Pruckner, fol. Basil.
FIR'MICUS MATERNUS, JU’LIUS, or 1551, and published along with the Quadriparti-
perhaps VI'LLIUS. We possess a treatise, which tum, the Centiloquium, and the Inerrantium Stel-
bears the title Julii Firmici Materni Junioris Si- larum Significationes, translated from the Greek of
culi V. C. Matheseos Libri VIII. , the writer of Cl. Ptolomaeus ; the Astronomica of Manilius; and
which, as we gather from his own statement (lib. sundry tracts by Arabian and Oriental astrologers.
iv. praef.
), during a portion of his life, practised as (Sidon. Apollin. Carm. xxii. Praef. )
a forensic pleader, but abandoned the profession in In the year 1562 Matthias Flaccius published at
disgust. The production pamed above is a formal Strasburg, from a Minden MS. , now lost, a tract
introduction to judicial astrology, according to the bearing the title Julius Firmicus Maternus V. C.
discipline of the Egyptians and Babylonians, as de Errore Profanarum Religionum ad Constantium
expounded by the most renowned masters, among et Constantem Augustos. No ancient authority
whom we find enumerated Petosiris, Necepso, makes any mention of this piece, nor does it con-
Abraham, and Orpheus. The first book is chiefly tain any allusions from which we might draw an
occupied with a defence of the study; the second, inference with regard to the personal history of the
third, and fourth contain the definitions and max-composer. The supposition, at one time generally
ims of the science, while in the remainder the admitted, that he was the same person with the
powers and natal influences (apotelesmata) of the astrologer spoken of above, rests upon no proof
heavenly bodies in their various aspects and combi- whatever except the identity of name, while it is
nations are fully developed, the horoscopes of Oe- rendered highly improbable by several considera-
dipus, Paris, Homer, Plato, Archimedes, and tions, and is much shaken by a chronological argu-
various other remarkable individuals, being ex- ment. For, as we have already seen, the Mathe-
amined, as examples of the propositions enunciated. seos Libri were certainly not commenced until after
It would appear that the task was commenced a. D. 334, and in all likelihood not finished for a
towards the close of the reign of Constantine the considerable period ; it being evident, moreover,
Great, for a solar eclipse, which happened in the from the spirit which they breathe, that the writer
consulship of Optatus and Paullinus, A. D. 334, is was not a Christian ; while, on the other hand, the
spoken of (lib. i. 1. ) as a recent event. It seems attack upon the heathen gods must have been
probable, however, that the whole was not pub- drawn up before A. D. 350, since in that year Con-
lished at once ; for while each book is formally stans, one of the emperors, to whom it is inscribed,
addressed to Manutius Lollianus, the title of pro- was slain.
consul is added to his name in the dedication to The object of the essay is not so much to enlarge
the last four only. If this Lollianus be the Fl. upon the evidences of the true faith as to demon-
Lollianus who appears in the Fasti along with Fl. strate the falsehood of the different forms of pagan
Arbitio, in the year 355, the conclusion of the belief, to trace the steps by which men fell away
work might be referred to an epoch somewhat later from the service of the true God, first by personify-
than this date.
ing the powers of nature, and then by proceeding
Although we can trace in several passages a to raise mere men to the rank of divinities. In
correspondence with the Astronomica of Manilius, this portion of the argument the theory of Euhe-
we are led to suppose that Firmicus was ignorant merus [EUHENERUS), which ever since the days
of the existence of that poem; for his expressions of Ennius had exercised great influence over the
on two occasions (lib. ii. Praef. viii. 2) imply Roman mind, is followed out, and the discussion
his belief that scarcely any Roman writers had concludes with an exhortation to the heathen to
touched upon these themes except Cicero and Cae abandon such a system of worship, and with an
sar, the translators of Aratus, and Fronto, who appeal to the emperors, urging them to take
a
## p. 153 (#169) ############################################
FLACCUS.
153
FLACCUS.
batud
arba
is present
planasan
1. 3). Of
broogate
froa (
3, in a
Lenames of
s by Cicers,
Greek com
the Spiere
version by
s (fol Robes
ed by labans
er, fol
. Please
Qadripart
the Great of
Manilius; and
cal astrologers
as pablished a
the sternest measures for the extirpation of and M. Avianus. (Cic. ad Fam. xii. 35, 79. )
idolatry.
Both father and sons seem to have been engaged
The Editio Princeps, as we have remarked above, in the farming of the public taxes. In B. c. 52,
was printed at Strasburg in 1562 ; that of Wower, Cicero recommended Caius, the son, to T. Titius,
8vo, Hamburg, 1603, was long held in high esti- one of Pompey's legates, who had the management
mation, but the best and most recent is that of of the corn-market, in accordance with the law
Münter, 8vo, Havniae, 1826. See also the vo which had conferred the superintendence of it upon
lume of the Dutch Variorum Classics in 8vo, which Pompey (ad Fam. xiii. 75), and, in B. C. 47, Cicero
contains Minucius Felix, Lug. Bat. 1709, and the recommends both sons to A. Allienus, the procon-
Bibl. Patr, of Galland, vol. v. p. 23. [W. R. ) Bul of Sicily (ad Fam. xiii. 79).
FI'RMIUS CATUS. (Catus. ]
FLACCUS, CALPU'RNIUS, a rhetorician
M. FIRMUS, one of the “minusculi tyranni" who was living in the reign of Hadrian, and
who sprung up during the reign of Aurelian. Ac whose fifty-one declamations frequently accompany
cording to Vopiscus, he was a native of Seleuceia, those of Quintilian. They were first published
the friend and ally of Zenobia, and appears to have by Pithoeus, Lutet. 1580. 8vo. ; and subsequently
followed the profession of a merchant, carrying on have been edited with Quintilian by Gronovius,
a most extensive and lucrative trade. When Ze- Schulting, Almeloveen, &c. Pliny (Ep. v. 2. )
nobia took up arms against the Romans, Firmus, writes to Flaccus, who, in some editions, is called
in order to make a diversion in her favour, seized Calpurnius Flaccus.
(W. B. D. )
upon Alexandria ; but the rebellion was promptly FLACCUS, FU'LVIUS. 1. M. FULVIUS,
crushed by the vigour and good fortune of the Q. P. M. N. Flaccus, was consul with App. Clau-
emperor. The Augustan historian has chronicled a dius Caudex, in B. C. 264, the year in which the
number of particulars with regard to the personal first Punic war broke out. In his consulship the
appearance, bodily strength, athletic and convivial first gladiatorial games were exhibited at Rome, in
exploits, wealth and magnificence of this petty the forum boarium. (Vell. Pat. i. 12 ; Gell. xvii.
usurper, some of which are curious in an anti- 21 ; Val. Max. ii. 4. 97; Eutrop. ii. 10; Oros.
quarian point of view. We are expressly told that iv. 7, who erroneously calls the colleague of App.
he issued a coinage, and a medal is contained in the Claudius Caudex, Q. Fabius. )
Pembroke collection bearing the legend
2. Q. Fulvius M. F. Q. N. Flaccus, a son of
ΑΥΤ. Μ. ΦΙΡΜΙΟΣ ΕΥΓC
No. 1, was consul in B. C. 237. He and his col-
which some writers suppose to belong to him. league, L. Cornelius Lentulus, fought against the
(Vopisc. Firm. ; Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 496. ) (W. R. ] Ligurians in Italy, and triumphed over them. In
FIRMUS, PLO'TIUS, a contemporary and B. C. 224 he was consul a second time. The war
faithful friend of the emperor Otho. He had risen in the north of Italy was still going on, and Flaccus
from the station of a coinmon soldier to the offices and his colleague were the first Roman generals that
of praepositus vigilibus and pruefectus praetori. led their armies across the river Po. The Gauls
During an insurrection of the soldiers he exerted and Insubrians were reduced to submission in that
himself in suppressing the revolt, by addressing campaign. In B. c. 215, after having been twice
each maniple separately, and causing large sums of consul, Q. Fulvius Flaccus obtained the city prae-
money to be distributed among them. During the torship, a circumstance which Livy thinks worth
last struggle of Otho, Plotius Firmus implored being recorded. The year before his praetorship,
him not to abandon his faithful army, and exhorted 216, he had been elected pontifex in the place of
him to resume his courage. (Tac. Hisl. i. 46, 82. Q. Aelius Paetus, who had fallen in the battle of
ii. 46, 49. )
(L. S. ] Cannae. In his praetorship the senate placed
FISTUS, P. CURIA'TIUS, with the agnomen twenty-four ships at his command, to protect the
TRIGEMINUS, consul B. C. 453, in which year coast in the neighbourhood of the city, and soon
the city was visited with a great pestilence (Liv. after the senate decreed that he should raise 5000
iii. 32; Fasti Capit. ); and one of the first de foot and 400 horse, and cause this legion to be
cemvirate in B. c. 451. (Liv. iii. 33; Dionys. x. carried to Sardinia as soon as possible, and that
34. )
he should appoint whomsoever he pleased as its
FLACCINATOR, M. FOʻSLIUS. 1. One of commander, until Q. Mucius, who was severely ill,
the consular tribunes in B. C. 433, in which year, recovered. Flaccus accordingly appointed T. Man-
notwithstanding the opposition of the plebeian tri- lius Torquatus commander of the legion. In B. C.
bunes, the consular tribunes were all patricians. 214 he was the only one among his colleagues that
(Liv. iv. 25; Diod. xii. 58, where he is called was re-elected to the praetorship, and a senatus
Palinius. )
consultum ordained, that he, eatra ordinem, should
2. Master of the equites to the dictator C. Mae have the city for his province, and that he should
nius, for the first time in B. C. 320, according to have the command there during the absence of the
the Fasti, but according to Livy in B. c. 312 (ix. consuls.
sical investigations appear to have occupied a large viii. 5. § 2; J. Obsequ. 103, where he is errone
share of his attention; and such was his fame as ously called L. Flaccus. )
an astrologer, that it was generally believed, in 2. C. Flavius Fimbria, probably a son of
later times at least, that he had predicted in the No. 1, was one of the most violent partizans of
most unambiguous terms the future greatness of Marius and Cinna during the civil war with Sulla.
Octavianus on hearing the announcement of his Cicero (pro Sext. Rosc. 12) calls him a homo auda-
birth ; and in the Eusebian Chronicle he is styled cissimus et insanissimus. During the funeral cere-
“ Pythagoricus et Magus. ” He, moreover, pos- monies of C. Marius, in B. c. 86, C. Fimbria
sessed considerable influence in political affairs caused an attempt to be made on the life of Q.
during the last struggles of the republic ; was one Mucius Scaevola, and, as the latter escaped with a
## p. 151 (#167) ############################################
FIMBRIA.
151
FIRMIANUS.
severe wound, Fimbria made preparations to bring 3. Flavius FIMBRIA, a brother of No. 2, was
an accusation against him before the people. legate of C. Norbanus, in the war against Sulla,
When asked what he had to say against so ex- B. C. 82. He and other officers of the party of
cellent a man, he replied, nothing, except that he Carbo were invited to a banquet. by Albinovanus,
had not allowed the deadly weapon to penetrate and then treacherously murdered. (Appian, B. C.
far enough into his body. After the death of C. i. 91. )
(L. S. ]
Marius, in B. C. 86, Cinna assumed L. Valerius FIRMA'NUS, GA'VIUS. [GAVIUS. )
Flaccus as his colleague in the consulship, in the FIRMA'NUS, TARU'TIUS, a mathematician
place of Marius, and sent him into Asia to oppose and astrologer, contemporary with M. Varro and
Sulla and bring the war against Mithridates to a Cicero, and an intimate friend of them both. At
close ; but as Valerius Flaccus was inexperienced Varro's request Firmanus took the horoscope of
in military affairs, Fimbria accompanied him as his Romulus, and from the circumstances of the life
legate or commander of the horse (not as quaestor, and death of the founder determined the era of
as Strabo, xiii. p. 596, states). Flaccus drew upon Rome. According to the scheme of Firmanus,
himself the hatred of the soldiers by his avarice Romulus was born on the 23d day of September,
and cruelty, and Fimbria took advantage of it in in the 2d year of the 20 Olympiad=B. c. 771, and
endeavouring to win the favour of the army. Rome was founded on the 9th of April, between
While staying at Byzantium, Fimbria became in the second and third hour of the day. (Plut. Kom.
volved in a quarrel with the quaestor of Valerius 12 ; Cic. de Divin. ii. 47. ). Plutarch docs not say
Flaccus, and the latter decided the dispute in fa- in what year Firmanus placed the foundation of
vour of the quaestor, for which he was assailed by Rome, but the day is earlier than the Palilia
Fimbria in insulting terms. Fimbria was de (April 21st), the usual point from which the years
prived of his office in consequence, and Val. of Rome are reckoned. The name, Firmanus, de-
Flaccus sailed to Chalcedon. Fimbria, who re- notes a native of Firmum, in Picenum, the modern
mained at Byzantium, created a mutiny among the town of Fermo, in the Marca d'Ancona, but Taru-
soldiers who were left there. Flaccus returned to tius is an Etruscan appellation (Plut. Rom. 5,
Byzantium, but was obliged to quit the place, and Quaest. Rom. 35 ; Licinius Macer, ap. Macrob.
took to flight. Fimbria pursued him to Chalcedon, Suturn. i. 10 ; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, vi. 7), and
and thence to Nicomedeia, where he killed him, from his Etruscan ancestors he may have inherited
in B. C. 85. He forth with undertook the command his taste for mathematical studies. (W. B. D. ]
of the army. He gained several not unimportant FIRMIANUS SYMPO'SIUS, CAEʼLIUS,
victories over the generals of Mithridates, and when (also written Symphosius, or Simphosius, not to
the king bimself took to fight, Fimbria followed mention various evident corruptions,) is the name
him to Pergamus, and chased him from thence to prefixed in MSS. to a series of a hundred insipid
Pintana. Here he might have made the king his riddles, each comprised in three hexameter lines,
prisoner, if Lucullus, who had the command of collected, as we are told in the prologue, for the
the fleet, had condescended to co-operate with the purpose of promoting the festivities of the Satur-
usurper, and not allowed the king to escape. nalia. To the same author apparently belong two
Having thus got rid of one enemy, Fimbria began short odes; one entitled De Fortuna, in fifteen
a most cruel war against the Asiatics who had Choriambic Tetraineters, ascribed in some copies
fought in the ranks of Mithridates, or declared in to an Asclepias or Asclepadius, a mistake which
favour of Sulla. Among the places of the latter arose from confounding the poet with the metre
class was Ilium, which was treacherously taken, which he employed ; the other, De Livore, in
and wantonly and cruelly destroyed. He raged in twenty-five Hendecasyllabics, attributed occasion-
Asia, without restraint, like an iisane person, and ally to a Vomanus or an Euphorbus, while both
succeeded in subduing a great part of the country. pieces are frequently included among the Cata-
But in B. c. 84, Sulla crossed over from Greece into lecta of Virgil. We know nothing regarding the
Asia, and, after having concluded peace with Mi- personal history of this writer, nor the period
thridates, he attacked Fimbria in his camp near when he flourished; but from certain peculiarities
the town of Thyateira. As Fimbria was unable of expression it has been conjectured that he was
to make his men fight against Sulla, he tried an African. His diction and versification, although
to get rid of his enemy by assassination, and, by no means models of purity and correctness, are
as this attempt failed, he endeavoured to ne- far removed from barbarism, and the enigmas con-
gotiate ; but when Sulla refused, and demanded tain allusions to various usages which had ceased
absolute submission, Fimbria fled from his camp to prevail long before the downfall of the empire.
to Pergamus, and baving retired into a temple of The only reference, however, in any ancient writer
Aesculapius, he tried to kill himself with his own to these compositions is to be found in Aldhelm,
sword; but as the wound did not cause his death, who died at the beginning of the eighth century.
he commanded one of his slaves to give him The words with which the prologue commences,
the final blow. Such was the miserable end
“ Haec quoque Symposius de carmine lusit inepto,
of a short career, which had begun with trea- Sic tu, Sexte, doces, sic te deliro magistro,"
chery. Cicero (Brut. 66) describes his public which point distinctly to some former efforts, have
speaking just as we might expect of a man of been made the basis of an extravagant conjecture
his temperament: it was of a furious and most by Heumann. Assuming that the reading as it
vehement kind, and like the raving of a mad-
now stands is faulty, he proposes, as an emenda-
(Liv. Epit. 82; Plut. Sull. 2, 23, 25 ; tion,
Lucull. 3; Appian, Mithrid. 51–60 ; Vell. Pat.
ii. 24: Dion Cass. Fragm. Peiresc. 127-130,
“ Hoc quoque Symposium lusi de carmine inepto.
Reimar. ; Aur. Vict, de Vir. Il. 70; Oros. vi. 2;
Sic me Sicca docet, Sicca deliro magistro,"
Val. Mar, ix. 11. 82 ; Frontin. Stral. iii. 17. 85; and endeavours to prove that the true title of the
J. Obsequ. 116. )
work is Symposium, that no such person as Sym.
man.
L 4
## p. 152 (#168) ############################################
152
FIRMICUS.
FIRMICUS.
a
a
posius ever existed, and that the real author of had followed the Antiscia of Hipparchus, but had
these trifles is no less a personage than the Latin erred in presupposing a degree of knowledge on the
father Caelius Firmianus Lactantius, the pupil of part of his readers that they were little likely to
Amobius, who taught at Sicca; the author, as we possess. In the Libri Matheseos we find references
learn from Jerome, of a Symposium. This hy to other pieces previously composed by the author
pothesis, althougn supported by much learning, is upon similar topics, especially to a dissertation De
80 wild as scarcely to deserve confutation. It will | Domino Geniturae et Chronocratone, and De Fine
be sufficient to remark that all MSS. agree in re- Vitae ; the former addressed to a friend, Murinus
presenting Symposius (or something like it) as a (iv. 14, vii. 6. ), while he promises to publish
proper name, -ihat there are no grounds for sup“ twelve books” as a supplement to his present
posing the Symposium of Lactantius to have been undertaking (v. l), together with an explanation
of a light or trivial character, but that we are rather of the Myriogenesis (viii. Praef. ), and a translation
led to conclude that it was a grave dialogue or dis of Necepso upon health and disease (viii. 3). Of
quisition, resembling in plan the Symposia of Xe these not one has been preserved.
nophon, of Plato, and of Plutarch, or the Satur- Firmicus Maternus was first printed at Venice,
nalia of Macrobius.
fol. 1497, by Bivilacqua, from a MS. brought to
The Aenigmata were first printed at Paris, 8vo. Italy by Pescennius Franciscus Niger from Con-
1533, along with the Sayings of the Seven Wise stantinople ; again by Aldus, fol. 1499, in a vo-
Men of Greece: the most elaborate edition is that | lume containing also Manilius, the Phaenomena of
of Heumann, Hannov. , 8vo. 1722, which was fol- Aratus, in Greek, with the translations by Cicero,
lowed by that of Heynatz, Francof. ad Viad. , 8vo. Caesar Germanicus, and Avienus, the Greek com-
1775 ; ihe most useful is that contained in the mentaries of Theon on the same work, the Sphere
Poct. Lat. Min. of Wernsdorf, vol. vi. part ii. of Proclus, in Greek, and the Latin version by
p. 474, with very complete prolegomena (p. 410). Linacer ; a collection reprinted four years after-
The Odes are given in the same collection, vol. iii. wards under the inspection of Mazalis (fol. Rheg.
pp. 386, 389. See also vol. v. part iii. p. 1464, Ling. 1503). The last edition noticed by biblio-
and vol. iv. part ii. p. 853.
(W. R. ] graphers is that corrected by Pruckner, fol. Basil.
FIR'MICUS MATERNUS, JU’LIUS, or 1551, and published along with the Quadriparti-
perhaps VI'LLIUS. We possess a treatise, which tum, the Centiloquium, and the Inerrantium Stel-
bears the title Julii Firmici Materni Junioris Si- larum Significationes, translated from the Greek of
culi V. C. Matheseos Libri VIII. , the writer of Cl. Ptolomaeus ; the Astronomica of Manilius; and
which, as we gather from his own statement (lib. sundry tracts by Arabian and Oriental astrologers.
iv. praef.
), during a portion of his life, practised as (Sidon. Apollin. Carm. xxii. Praef. )
a forensic pleader, but abandoned the profession in In the year 1562 Matthias Flaccius published at
disgust. The production pamed above is a formal Strasburg, from a Minden MS. , now lost, a tract
introduction to judicial astrology, according to the bearing the title Julius Firmicus Maternus V. C.
discipline of the Egyptians and Babylonians, as de Errore Profanarum Religionum ad Constantium
expounded by the most renowned masters, among et Constantem Augustos. No ancient authority
whom we find enumerated Petosiris, Necepso, makes any mention of this piece, nor does it con-
Abraham, and Orpheus. The first book is chiefly tain any allusions from which we might draw an
occupied with a defence of the study; the second, inference with regard to the personal history of the
third, and fourth contain the definitions and max-composer. The supposition, at one time generally
ims of the science, while in the remainder the admitted, that he was the same person with the
powers and natal influences (apotelesmata) of the astrologer spoken of above, rests upon no proof
heavenly bodies in their various aspects and combi- whatever except the identity of name, while it is
nations are fully developed, the horoscopes of Oe- rendered highly improbable by several considera-
dipus, Paris, Homer, Plato, Archimedes, and tions, and is much shaken by a chronological argu-
various other remarkable individuals, being ex- ment. For, as we have already seen, the Mathe-
amined, as examples of the propositions enunciated. seos Libri were certainly not commenced until after
It would appear that the task was commenced a. D. 334, and in all likelihood not finished for a
towards the close of the reign of Constantine the considerable period ; it being evident, moreover,
Great, for a solar eclipse, which happened in the from the spirit which they breathe, that the writer
consulship of Optatus and Paullinus, A. D. 334, is was not a Christian ; while, on the other hand, the
spoken of (lib. i. 1. ) as a recent event. It seems attack upon the heathen gods must have been
probable, however, that the whole was not pub- drawn up before A. D. 350, since in that year Con-
lished at once ; for while each book is formally stans, one of the emperors, to whom it is inscribed,
addressed to Manutius Lollianus, the title of pro- was slain.
consul is added to his name in the dedication to The object of the essay is not so much to enlarge
the last four only. If this Lollianus be the Fl. upon the evidences of the true faith as to demon-
Lollianus who appears in the Fasti along with Fl. strate the falsehood of the different forms of pagan
Arbitio, in the year 355, the conclusion of the belief, to trace the steps by which men fell away
work might be referred to an epoch somewhat later from the service of the true God, first by personify-
than this date.
ing the powers of nature, and then by proceeding
Although we can trace in several passages a to raise mere men to the rank of divinities. In
correspondence with the Astronomica of Manilius, this portion of the argument the theory of Euhe-
we are led to suppose that Firmicus was ignorant merus [EUHENERUS), which ever since the days
of the existence of that poem; for his expressions of Ennius had exercised great influence over the
on two occasions (lib. ii. Praef. viii. 2) imply Roman mind, is followed out, and the discussion
his belief that scarcely any Roman writers had concludes with an exhortation to the heathen to
touched upon these themes except Cicero and Cae abandon such a system of worship, and with an
sar, the translators of Aratus, and Fronto, who appeal to the emperors, urging them to take
a
## p. 153 (#169) ############################################
FLACCUS.
153
FLACCUS.
batud
arba
is present
planasan
1. 3). Of
broogate
froa (
3, in a
Lenames of
s by Cicers,
Greek com
the Spiere
version by
s (fol Robes
ed by labans
er, fol
. Please
Qadripart
the Great of
Manilius; and
cal astrologers
as pablished a
the sternest measures for the extirpation of and M. Avianus. (Cic. ad Fam. xii. 35, 79. )
idolatry.
Both father and sons seem to have been engaged
The Editio Princeps, as we have remarked above, in the farming of the public taxes. In B. c. 52,
was printed at Strasburg in 1562 ; that of Wower, Cicero recommended Caius, the son, to T. Titius,
8vo, Hamburg, 1603, was long held in high esti- one of Pompey's legates, who had the management
mation, but the best and most recent is that of of the corn-market, in accordance with the law
Münter, 8vo, Havniae, 1826. See also the vo which had conferred the superintendence of it upon
lume of the Dutch Variorum Classics in 8vo, which Pompey (ad Fam. xiii. 75), and, in B. C. 47, Cicero
contains Minucius Felix, Lug. Bat. 1709, and the recommends both sons to A. Allienus, the procon-
Bibl. Patr, of Galland, vol. v. p. 23. [W. R. ) Bul of Sicily (ad Fam. xiii. 79).
FI'RMIUS CATUS. (Catus. ]
FLACCUS, CALPU'RNIUS, a rhetorician
M. FIRMUS, one of the “minusculi tyranni" who was living in the reign of Hadrian, and
who sprung up during the reign of Aurelian. Ac whose fifty-one declamations frequently accompany
cording to Vopiscus, he was a native of Seleuceia, those of Quintilian. They were first published
the friend and ally of Zenobia, and appears to have by Pithoeus, Lutet. 1580. 8vo. ; and subsequently
followed the profession of a merchant, carrying on have been edited with Quintilian by Gronovius,
a most extensive and lucrative trade. When Ze- Schulting, Almeloveen, &c. Pliny (Ep. v. 2. )
nobia took up arms against the Romans, Firmus, writes to Flaccus, who, in some editions, is called
in order to make a diversion in her favour, seized Calpurnius Flaccus.
(W. B. D. )
upon Alexandria ; but the rebellion was promptly FLACCUS, FU'LVIUS. 1. M. FULVIUS,
crushed by the vigour and good fortune of the Q. P. M. N. Flaccus, was consul with App. Clau-
emperor. The Augustan historian has chronicled a dius Caudex, in B. C. 264, the year in which the
number of particulars with regard to the personal first Punic war broke out. In his consulship the
appearance, bodily strength, athletic and convivial first gladiatorial games were exhibited at Rome, in
exploits, wealth and magnificence of this petty the forum boarium. (Vell. Pat. i. 12 ; Gell. xvii.
usurper, some of which are curious in an anti- 21 ; Val. Max. ii. 4. 97; Eutrop. ii. 10; Oros.
quarian point of view. We are expressly told that iv. 7, who erroneously calls the colleague of App.
he issued a coinage, and a medal is contained in the Claudius Caudex, Q. Fabius. )
Pembroke collection bearing the legend
2. Q. Fulvius M. F. Q. N. Flaccus, a son of
ΑΥΤ. Μ. ΦΙΡΜΙΟΣ ΕΥΓC
No. 1, was consul in B. C. 237. He and his col-
which some writers suppose to belong to him. league, L. Cornelius Lentulus, fought against the
(Vopisc. Firm. ; Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 496. ) (W. R. ] Ligurians in Italy, and triumphed over them. In
FIRMUS, PLO'TIUS, a contemporary and B. C. 224 he was consul a second time. The war
faithful friend of the emperor Otho. He had risen in the north of Italy was still going on, and Flaccus
from the station of a coinmon soldier to the offices and his colleague were the first Roman generals that
of praepositus vigilibus and pruefectus praetori. led their armies across the river Po. The Gauls
During an insurrection of the soldiers he exerted and Insubrians were reduced to submission in that
himself in suppressing the revolt, by addressing campaign. In B. c. 215, after having been twice
each maniple separately, and causing large sums of consul, Q. Fulvius Flaccus obtained the city prae-
money to be distributed among them. During the torship, a circumstance which Livy thinks worth
last struggle of Otho, Plotius Firmus implored being recorded. The year before his praetorship,
him not to abandon his faithful army, and exhorted 216, he had been elected pontifex in the place of
him to resume his courage. (Tac. Hisl. i. 46, 82. Q. Aelius Paetus, who had fallen in the battle of
ii. 46, 49. )
(L. S. ] Cannae. In his praetorship the senate placed
FISTUS, P. CURIA'TIUS, with the agnomen twenty-four ships at his command, to protect the
TRIGEMINUS, consul B. C. 453, in which year coast in the neighbourhood of the city, and soon
the city was visited with a great pestilence (Liv. after the senate decreed that he should raise 5000
iii. 32; Fasti Capit. ); and one of the first de foot and 400 horse, and cause this legion to be
cemvirate in B. c. 451. (Liv. iii. 33; Dionys. x. carried to Sardinia as soon as possible, and that
34. )
he should appoint whomsoever he pleased as its
FLACCINATOR, M. FOʻSLIUS. 1. One of commander, until Q. Mucius, who was severely ill,
the consular tribunes in B. C. 433, in which year, recovered. Flaccus accordingly appointed T. Man-
notwithstanding the opposition of the plebeian tri- lius Torquatus commander of the legion. In B. C.
bunes, the consular tribunes were all patricians. 214 he was the only one among his colleagues that
(Liv. iv. 25; Diod. xii. 58, where he is called was re-elected to the praetorship, and a senatus
Palinius. )
consultum ordained, that he, eatra ordinem, should
2. Master of the equites to the dictator C. Mae have the city for his province, and that he should
nius, for the first time in B. C. 320, according to have the command there during the absence of the
the Fasti, but according to Livy in B. c. 312 (ix. consuls.
