Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/270

Rh 252 AQUILA. Bular dignity. (Siiidas, s. v. ; Tzetzes. Cliil. viii. Q9Q.) He was a friend of Philostratus ( VU. Soph. ii. 33. § 4), who praises the strength and fidelity of his memorj', but is afraid to say more for fear of being suspected of flattery or partiality. We still possess two rhetorical works of Apsines : 1. TicpX ruv fiipcov rod ■koXitikov Xoyov rex^V, which was first printed by Aldus in his Rhetores Graeci (pp. 682 — 726), under the incorrect title tcx'^V ^Wo- piidj Trept Trpootn'uaj', as it is called by the Scholiast on Hermogenes (p. 14, but see p. 297). This work, however, is only a part of a greater work, and is so much interpolated that it is scarcely pos- sible to form a correct notion of it. In some of the interpolated parts Apsines himself is quoted. A considerable portion of it was discovered by Rhunken to belong to a work of Longinus on rhetoric, which is now lost, and this portion has consequently been omitted in the new edition of Walz in his Rhetores Graeci. (ix. p. 465, &c.; comp. Westermann, Gesclu d. Grieclu Beredtsamk. § 98, n. 6.) 2. Ilepl roiv ecxTJAtaTifr/ieVwi/ irpo- SKrifidTcov, is of little importiince and very short. It is printed in Aldus' lilietor. Graec. pp. 727-730, and in Walz. Wietor. Graec. ix. p. 534, A:c. [L.S.] APSYRTUS or ABSYRTUS (*Ai|/upTos), one of the principal veterinary surgeons of whom any remains are still extant, was bom, according to Suidas («. V.) and Eudocia ( Violar. ap. Villoison, Anecd. Graeca, vol. i. p. 65), at Prusa or Nico- media in Bithynia. He is said to have served under Constantino in his campaign on the Danube, which is generally supposed to mean that under Constantine the Great, a. d. 322, but some refer it to that under Constjintine IV. (or Pogonatus), A. D. 671. His remains are to be found in the " Veterinariae Medicinae Libri Duo," first pub- lished in Latin by J. Ruellius, Paris, 1530, fol., and afterwards in Greek by S. Grjmaeus, Basil. J 537, 4to. Sprengel published a little work en- titled " Progi-amma de Apsyrto Bithynio," Halae, 1832, 4to. [W. A. G.] A'PTEROS ('Airrfpos), "the wingless," a sur- name under which Nice (the goddess of victor}') had a sanctuary at Athens. This goddess was usually represented with wings, and their absence in this instance was intended to signify that Vic- tory would or could never fly away from Athens. The same idea was expressed at Sparta by a statue of Ares with his feet chained. (Paus. i. 22. § 4, iii. 15. § 5.) [L. S.] APULEIUS. [Appuleius.] APU'STIA GENS, had the cognomen Fullo. The Apustii who bear no cognomen are spoken of under Apustius. The first member of this gens who obtained the consulship, was L. Apustius Fullo, B. c. 226. APU'STIUS. 1. L. Apustius, the comman- der of the Roman troops at Tarentum, b. c. 215. (Liv. xxiii. 38.) 2. L. Apustius, legate of the consul P. Sul- picius in Macedonia, B. c. 200, was an active officer in the war against Philip. He was after- wards a legate of the consul L, Cornelius Scipio, B. c. 1 90, and was killed in the same year in an engagement in Lycia. (Liv. xxxi. 27, xxxvii. 4, 16.) 3. P. Apustius, one of the ambassadors sent to the younger Ptolemy, B. c. 161. (Polyb. xxxii. A'QUILA {'AKvKas), the translator of the Old AQUILA. I Testament into Greek, was a native of Pontus. Epiphanes (De Fond, et Alem. 15) states, that he was a relation of the emperor Hadrian, who em- ployed him in the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina) ; that he was converted to Christianity, but excommunicated for practising the heathen astrology; and that he then went over to the Jews, and was circumcised; but this account is probably founded only on vague rumours. All that we know with certainty is, that having been a heathen he became a Jewish proselyte, and that he lived in the reign of Hadrian, probably about 130 A. D. (Iren. iii. 24; Euseb. Praep. Evan. vii. 1 ; Hieron. Ep. ad Pammach, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 255, Mart.) He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, with the purpose of furnishing the Jews who spoke Greek with a version better fitted than the Septuagint to sustain them in their op- position to Christianity. He did not, however, as some have supposed, falsify or pervert the sense of the original, but he translated every word, even the titles, such as Messkik, with the most literal accuracy. This principle was carried to the utmost extent in a second edition, which was named «ot* oKpiSeuiv. The version was very popular with the Jews, in whose synagogues it was read. {Novell. 146.) It was generally disliked by the Christians ; but Jerome, though sometimes showing this feel- ing, at other times speaks most highly of Aquila and his version. (Quaest. 2, adDamus. iii. p. 35 ; Epist. ad Marcell. iii. p. 96, ii. p. 312 ; Quaest. Hcb.in Genes, iii. p. 216 ; Comment, in Jes. c. 8; Comment, in Hos. c. 2.) The version is also praised by Origen. {Comment, in Joh. viii. p. 131; Respons. ad Afi-ican. p. 224.) Only a few fragments remain, which have been published in the editions of the Hexapla [Ori- GKNES],and in Dathe's Opuscula, Lips. 1746. [P. S.] A'QUILA, JU'LIUS, a Roman knight, sta- tioned with a few cohorts, in a. d. 50, to protect Cotys, king of the Bosporus, who had received the sovereignty after the expulsion of Mithridates. In the same year, Aquila obtained the praetorian insignia. (Tac. Ann. xii. 15, 21.) A'QUILA, JU'LIUS (GALLUS?), a Roman jurist, from whose liber responsorum two fragments concerning tuiores are preserved in the Digest. In the Florentine Index he is named Gallus Aquila, probably from an error of the scribe in reading FaKKov for lovMov. This has occasioned Julius Aquila to be confounded with Aquillius Gallus. His date is imcertain, though he probably lived under or before the reign of Septimius Severus, A. D. 193-8 ; for in Dig. 26. tit. 7, s. 34 he gives an opinion upon a question which seems to have been first settled by Severus. (Dig. 27. tit. 3. s. 1. §3.) By most of the historians of Roman law he is referred to a later period. He may possibly be the same person -with. Lucius Julius Aquila, wlio wrote de Etrusca disciplina, or with that Aquila who, under Septimius Severus, was praefect of Egj'pt, and became remarkable by his persecution of the Christians. (IMajansius, Comm. ad 30 Jurhcon. Fragm. vol. ii. p. 288 ; Otto, hi Fraef. Tlics. vol. i. p. 13; Zimmem, Horn. Rechts-Geschklde, vol. i. § 103.) [J. T. G.] A'QUILA, L. PO'NTIUS, tribune of the plebs, probably in b. c. 45, was the only member of the college that did not rise to Caesar as he passed by the tribunes' seats in his triumph. (Suet. Jid. Goes.