Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/475

Rh BALBUS. which has not come do^vn to us, of the most re- markable occurrences in his own and Caesar's life. (Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ix. 14; Suet. Caes. 81 ; Capi- tolin. Balbin. 2.) He took care that Caesar's Com- mentaries on the Gallic war should be continued ; and we accordingly find the eighth book dedicated to him. There does not, however, appear to be sufficient grounds for the conjecture of some mo- dern writers, that Balbus was the author of the History of the Spanish war. In the collection of Cicero's letters we find four from Balbus. {Ad Alt. viii. 15, ix. 6, 13.) 2. P. Cornelius Balbus, brother of the pre- ceding, received the Roman franchise at the same time as his brother ; but appears to have died soon afterwards, either in Gades or Rome. 3. L. Cornelius Balbus, P. f., son of the pre- ceding [No. 2], and frequently called Minor, to distinguish him from his uncle [No. 1], was bom at Gades, and received the Roman franchise along with his father and uncle. On the breaking out of the civil war (b. c. 49) he served under Caesar, and was sent by him to the consul L. Cornelius Lentulus, who was an old friend of his uncle's, to persuade him to return to Rome. Balbus under- took the same dangerous commission in the follow- ing year, and paid Lentulus a visit in the Pompeian camp at Dyrrhachium, but he was not successful either time. Balbus served under Caesar in the Alexandrian and Spanish wars, during which time he kept up a correspondence with Cicero, with whom he had become acquainted through his uncle. In return for his services in these wars, Caesar made him pontiff; and it is therefore probably this Cor- nelius Balbus who wrote a work on the Roman sacra, of which the eighteenth book is quoted by Macrobius. {Suturfi. iii. 6.) In B. c. 44 and 43, Balbus was quaestor of the propraetor Asinius Pollio in Further Spain ; and while there, he added to his native town Gades a suburb, which was called the new city, and built a dock-yard ; and the place received in consequence the name of Didyma or double-city. (Strab. iii. p. 169.) But his general conduct in Spain was of a most arbitrary and tyrannical kind ; and at length, after pliuidering the provincials and amassing large treasures, he left Spain in B. c. 43, without even pay- ing the soldiers, and crossed over to Bogud in Africa. From that time, we hear nothing of Balbus for upwards of twenty years. We then find him go- vernor of Africa, with the title of proconsul, al- though he had been neither praetor nor consul. While in Africa, he obtained a victory over the Garamantes, and enjoyed a triumph in consequence in March, b. c. 19, the first instance of this honour having been conferred upon one who was not born a Roman citizen. (Plin. //. JV. v. 5 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 51; Strab. iii. p. 1C9.) Balbus, like his uncle, had amassed a large fortune ; and, as A..ugustus was anxious to adorn Rome with public buildings, Bal- bus erected at his own expense a theatre in the city, which was remarkable on account of its con- taining four pillars of onyx. It was dedicated in b. c. 13, with festive games, on the return of Au- gustus to Rome ; and as a compliment to Balbus tor having built it, his opinion was asked first in the senate by Tiberius, who was consul in that year. (Dion Cass. liv. 25 ; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 7. s. 12.) After this we hear nothing further of Bal- bus. He may have been the Cornelius Balbus whom L. Valerius made his heir, although he had BALBUS. 457 involved Valerius in many law-suits, and had at last brought a capital charge against him. (Val. Max. vii. 8. § 7.) (For further information respecting the Comelii Balbi, see Orelli's Onomasiicon TuUianum and Drumann's Rom^ vol. ii. p. 594, &c.) VI. Domitius Balbus^ a wealthy man of praetorian rank, whose will was forged in A. D. 61. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 40.) VII. LaeliiDalbi. 1. D. Laelius D. f. D. n. Balbus, one of the quindecemviri who superintended the celebration of the saecular games in b. c. 17 (Fast. Capitol.), and consul in B. c. 6. (Dion Cass. Iv. 9.) 2. Laelius Balbus, accused Acutia, formerly the wife of P. Vitellius, of treason {majestas), but was unable to obtain the usual reward after her condemnation, in consequence of the intercession of the tribune Junius Otho. He was condemned in A. D. 37 as one of the paramours of Albucilla, deprived of his senatorial rank, and banished to an island : his condemnation gave general satisfaction, as he had been ever ready to accuse the innocent. (Tac. Ann. vi. 47, 48.) VIII. Lucilii Balbi. 1. L. Lucilius Balbus, the jurist. See below. 2. Q. Lucilius Balbus, probably the brother of the preceding, a Stoic philosopher, and a pupil of Panaetius, had made such progress in the Stoic philosophy, that he appeared to Cicero comparable to the best Greek philosophers. {DeNat.Deor. i. 6.) He is introduced by Cicero in his dialogue " On the Nature of the Gods" as the expositor of the opinions of the Stoics on that subject, and his ar- guments are represented as of considerable weight. {De Nat. Deor. iii. 40, de Divin. i. 5.) He was also the exponent of the Stoic opinions in Cicero's " Plortensius." {Fragm. p. 484, ed. Orelli.) IX. L. Naerius Balbus, plebeian, one of the quinqueviri appointed in B. c. 171 to settle the dispute between the Pisani and Lunenses respecting the boundaries of their lands. (Liv. xlv. 13.) The annexed coin of the Naevia gens belongs to this family. The obverse represents a head of Venus, the reverse is C. Nae. Ba(a)b. with Victory in a chariot. X. Nonius Balbus., plebeian, tribune of the plebs, b. c. 32, put his veto upon the decree which the senate would have passed against Octavianus at the instigation of the consul C. So- sius, a partizan of Antony. (Dion Cass. L. 2.) XI. Octavius Balbus. See below. XII. Thorii Balbi, plebeians. 1. C. Thorius Balbus, of Lanuvium, is said by Cicero to have lived in such a manner, that there was not a single pleasure, however refined and rare, which he did not enjoy. {De Fin. ii. 20.) He must not be confounded, as he has been by Pighius, with L. Turius who is mentioned in Ci- cero's Bridus (c. 67). The annexed coin of L. Thorius Balbus contains on the obverse the head of Juno Sospita, whose worship was of great anti-