Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/453

Rh AVITUS. Vossius conjectures, that his designation at full length and properly arranged may have been Fla- vuH Alfius Avitus. All this is very ingenious and very uncertain. We know from Terentianus Mau- rus (1. 2448), that Alphius Avitus composed a work upon Illustrious Men, in iambic dimeters, extending to several books ; and eight lines are cited by Priscian from the second book, forming a part of the legend of the Faliscan schoolmaster who betrayed his pupils to Camillus; besides which, three lines more from the first book are contained in some MSS. of the same grammarian. (Priscian, vol i. pp. 410, 553, vol. ii. p. 131, ed. Krehl, or pp. 823, 947, 1 1 36, ed. Putsch.) These fragments are given in the Anthologia Latina of Burmann, ii. p. 267, and Add. ii. p. 730, or Ep. n. 125, ed. Meyer. There is also an "Alpheus philologus," from whom Priscian adduces five words (vol. i. p. 370, ed. Kr., or p. 792, ed. Putsch), and an Alfius whose work on the Trojan war is mentioned by Festus, s. V. Mameriini. (Wernsdorf, Foett. Latt. Minn. vol. iii. p. xxxi., vol. iv. pars ii. p. 826.) [W. R.] AVITUS, GALLO'NIUS, was legate over the provinces of Thrace under Aurelian, and a letter addressed to him by that emperor is quoted by Vopiscus in the life of Bonosus. Some critics have supposed, that he was the author of an " allocutio sponsalis," in five hexameters, preserved among the " fragmenta epithalamiorum veterum," and that the little poem itself was one of the hundred nuptial lays which were composed and recited when Gal- lienus celebrated the marriages of his nephews. (Pollio, Gall. 11.) Wernsdorf, however, considers that the lines belong to Alcimus AvUus Alethius. [Alethius.J (Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. iv. pars ii. p. 501 ; Burmann, Antholog. iii. 259, or Ep. n. 259, ed. Meyer.) [W. R.] AVITUS, JU'LIUS, the husband of Julia Maesa, brother-in-law of Julia Domna and Septi- raius Severus, uncle by marriage of Caracalla, father of Julia Soemias and Julia Mamaea, and maternal grjindfather of Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. He was of consular rank, and, as we gather from the fragments of Dion Cassius, governed in succes- sion Asia, Mesopotamia, and Cyprus. From him Elagabalus inherited the name of Avitus — an ap- pellation by which ancient historians frequently distinguish that emperor. (Dion Cass. Ixxxviii. 30, Ixxix. 16; Herodian, v. 3. § 2 ; see also the genea- logical table under Caracalla.) [W. R.] AVITUS, M. MAECI'LIUS, emperor of the West, was descended from a noble family in Au- vergne, and spent the first thirty years of his life in the pursuits of literature, field-sports, jurispru- dence, and aims. The first public office to which he was promoted was the praetorian praefecture of Gaul, and whilst in retirement in his villa near Clermont, he was appointed master of the armies of Gaul. During this period, he twice went as ambassador to the Visigothic court, first in a. d. 450 toTheodoric I., to secure his alliance on the invasion of Attila; secondly in a. d. 456, to Theodoric II., on which last occasion, having received the news of the death of Maximus, and of the sack of Rome by the Vandals, he was, by the assistance of the Visigoths, raised to the vacant throne ; but, after a year's weak and insolent reign, was deposed by Ricimer, and returned to private life as bishop of Placentia. But the senate having pronounced the sentence of death upon him, he fled to the sanc- tuary of his patron saint, Julian, at Brivas in Au- AURELIA. 435 vergne, and there died, or at least was buried. (a. d. 456.) His private life is chiefly known from the Pane- gyric of his son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinarus ; his public life from Gregor. Turon. ii. 11, and Idatius, Chronicon. [A. P. S.J The annexed coin of Avitus has on the obverse the head of Avitus crowned with a diadem of pearls, and the inscription D. M. Avitus Perp. F. Aug., and on the reverse the emperor wearing the paludamentura, and standing with one foot upon a barbarian ; in the right hand he holds the cross, and in the left a small figure of Victory. AULANUS EVANDER. [Evander.] AULESTES, a Tyrrhenian ally of Aeneas in Italy, is called a son of Tiberis and the nymph Manto, and brother of Ocnus. He was slain by Messapus, and was regarded as the founder of Perusia. (Virg. Aen. x. 207, xii. 290.) [L. S.] AU'LIA GENS, probably plebeian. Persons of this name rarely occur, though one meniLer of the gens, Q. Aulius Cerretanus, obtained the con- sulship twice in the Samnite war, in b. c. 323 and 319. The name is derived froni the pnienomen Aulus, as Sextius from Sextus, Marcius from Mar- cus, and Quintius from Quintus. The only cogno- men belonging to this gens is Cerretanus. AULIS (AwAis), a daughter of Ogygus and Thebe, from whom the Boeotian town of Aulis was believed to have derived its name. (Paus. ix. 19. §5.) Other traditions called her a daughter of Euonymus, the son of Cephissus. (Steph. Byz. s. V. Adls.) She was one of the goddesses who watched over oaths under th<; name of irpa^t^lKcu. [Alalcomenia.] [L. S.] M AU'LIUS, praefect of the allies, was killed in the battle in which Marcellus was defeated by Hannibal, B. c. 208. (Liv. xxvii. 26, 27.) AULO'NIUS (AuAc^l'Jos), a surname of Ascle- pius, derived from a temple he had in Aulon, a val- ley in Messenia. (Pausi iv. 36. § 5.) [L. S..] AURA (Ay^a), a daughter of Lelas and Peri- boea, was one of the swift-footed companions of Artemis. She was beloved by Dionysus, but fled from him, until Aphrodite, at the request of Dio- nysus, inspired her with love for the god. She accordingly became by him the mother of twins, but at the moment of their birth she was seized with madness, tore one of her children to pieces, and then threw herself into the sea. (Nonnus, Dionys. 260.) Aura also occurs as the name of a race-horse and of one of Actaeon's dogs. ( Paus. v, 13. § 5 ; Hygin. Fab. 181.) [L. S.J AURE'LIA, the wife of C. Julius Caesjir, by whom she became the mother of C. Julius Caesar, the dictator, and of two daughters. It is doubtful who her parents were : Drumann (Geseh. Foms, iii. p. 128) conjectures, that she was the daughter of M. Aurelius Cotta and Rutilia (comp. Cic. ad Att. xii. 20), and that C. M. and L. Cottae, who were consuls in b. c. 75, 74, and 65 respectively, 2 f2