Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/438

Rh 4-20 AUGURINUS. part in the defence of Coriolanus, who was brought to trial in this year, but was unable to obtain his acquittal. (Liv. ii. 34; Dionys. vii. 20, 27 — 32, 38, 60, 61.) In the victorious approach of Corio- lanus to Rome at the head of the Volscian army, Augurinus was one of the embassy sent to in- tercede with him on behalf of the city. (Dionys. viii. 22, 23.) 2. P. MiNucius Augurinus, consul b. c, 492, was chiefly engaged in his consulship in obtaining a supply of com from different countries, on account of the famine at Rome. (Liv. ii. 34 ; Dionys. Tii. 1 ; Oros. ii. 5.) 3. L. MiNUcius P. F. M. N. EsQUiLiN'us Au- gurinus, consul B. c. 458, carried on the war against the Aequians, but through fear shut himself up in his camp on the Algidus, and allowed the enemy to surround him. He was delivered from his danger by the dictator L. Quinctius Cincin- uatus, who compelled him, however, to resign his consulship. In the Fasti Capitolini we have one of the inversions which are so common in Roman history : in the Fasti, Augurinus is represented as consul suffectus in place of one whose name is lost, instead of being liimself succeeded by another. (Liv. iii. 25 — 29 ; Dionys. x. 22 ; Dion Cass. Frag. xxxiv. 27, p. 140, ed. Reimar ; Val. Max. ii. 7. §7, 2 ; Flor. i. 11; Zonar. vii. 1 Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. ii. n. 604.) 4. Q. AIlNUCIUS P. F. M. N. ESQUILINUS Au- GURiNUS, brother of No. 3, consul B. c. 457, had the conduct of the war against the Sabincs, but could not do more than ravage their lands, as they shut themselves up in their walled towns. (Liv. iii. 30 ; Dionys. x. 26, 30.) 5. L. MiNucius Augurinus, was appointed pracfect of the corn-market (prae/eclus unnonae) in B. c. 439, in order to regulate the price of com and obtain a supply from abroad, as the people were suffering from grievous famine, Sp. Maelius, who distinguished himself by his liberal supplies of corn to the people, was accused by the patricians of aiming at the sovereignty; and Augurinus is siiid to have disclosed his treasonable designs to the senate. The femient occasioned by the assas- sination of Maelius was appeased by Augurinus, who is sjiid to have gone over to tlie plebs from the patricians, and to have been chosen by the tribunes one of their body. It is stated, indeed, that he was elected an eleventh tribune, .as the number of their body was full ; but this seems in- credible. That he passed over to the plebs, how- ever, is confirmed by the fact, that we find subse- quently members of his family tribunes of the plebs. Augurinus also lowered the price of com in three market days, fixing as the maximum an as for a modius. The people, in their gratitude, pre- sented him with an ox having its horns gilt, and erected a statue to his honour outside the Porta Trigeraina, for which everj' body subscribed an ounce of brass. (Liv. iv. 12 — 16; Plin. //. iV. xviii. 4, xxxiv. II; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. ii. p. 423, &c.) This circumstance is commemorated in the AUGUSTIXUS. preceding coin of the Minucia gens. The nbverso represents the head of Pallas winged : the reverse a column sumiounted by a statue, which is not clearly delineated in the annexed cut, with ears of com springing up from its base. The inscription is O. MINVCI. C. F. AVGVRINI., with RoMA at the top. (Eckhel, v. p. 254.) 6. Ti. MiNUCius AucuRiNUS, consul b. c. 305, the last year of the Samnite war, was said in some annals to have received a mortal woimd in battle. (Liv. ix. 44; Diod. xx. 81.) 7. M. MiNUcius (Augurinus), tribune of the plebs, B. c. 216, introduced the bill for the creation of the triumviri mensarii. (Liv. xxiii. 21.) 8. C- MiNucius Augurinus, tiibune of the plebs, B. c. 1 87, proposed the imposition of a fine upon L. Scipio Asiaticus, and demanded that Scipio should give security (praedes). As Scipio, how- ever, refused to do so, Augurinus ordered him to be seized and carried to prison, but was unable to carry his command into effect in consequence of the intercession of his colleague, Tib. Semprouius Gracchus, the father of Tib. and C. Gracchi. (Gell. vii. 19.) A different account of this affair is given in Livy. (xxxviii. 55—60.) 9. Tl Minucius (Augurinus) Moixiculus, was praetor peregrinus B. c. 1 80, and died of the pestilence which visited Rome in that year, (Liv, xl. 35, 37.) AUGURI'NUS, SE'NTIUS, a poet in the time of the younger Pliny, who wrote short poems, such as epigrams, idylls, &c., which he called joo»"- VKitia, and which were in the style of Catullus and Calvus. He was an intimate friend of the younger Pliny, whom he praised in his verses ; and Pliny in return represented Augurinus as one of the first of poets. One of his poems in praise of Pliny is preserved in a letter of the latter. (Plin. Fp. iv. 27, AUGUSTl'NUS, AURF/LIUS, ST., the most illustrious of the Latin fathers, was bom on the 1 3th of November, a. d. 354, at Tagaste, an inland town in Numidia, identified by D'Anville with the modern Tajelt. His father, Patricius, who died about seventeen years after the birth of Angustin, was originally a heathen, but embraced Christia- nity late in life. Though poor, he belonged to the curiales of Tagaste. (August. Cow/ ii. 3.) He is described by his son as a benevolent but hot- tempered man, comparatively careless of the morals of his offspring, but anxious for his im- provement in learning, as the means of future success in life. Monnica,* the mother of Angus- tin, was a Christian of a singularly devout and gentle spirit, who exerted herself to the utmost in training up her son in the practice of piety ; but his disposition, complexionally ardent and headstrong, seemed to bid defiance to her ef- forts. He has given, in his Confessions, a vivid picture of his boyish follies and vices, — his love of play, his hatred of learning, his disobedience to his parents, and his acts of deceit and theft. It would indeed be absurd to infer from this recital that he was a prodigy of j'outhful wickedness, such faults being unhappily too common at that early age. None, however, but a very shallow moralist will treat these singular disclosures with ridicule, or GescMchfe der Romischen Literatur^ ISuppleineni , vol. ii. p. 225. and note p. 228.
 * For the orthography of this name, see Biihr,