Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/526

Rh 508 BRUTUS. for avenging his own and his country's wrongs. In the capacity of Tribunus Celeruni, which office he then held, and which bore the same relation to the royal power as that of the Magister Equitum did to the dictatorship, he summoned the people, obtained the banishment of the Tarquins, and was elected consul with L. Tarquinius Collatinus in the comitia centuriata. Resolved to maintain the free- dom of the infant republic, he loved his country better than his children, and accordingly put to death his two sons, when they were detected in a conspiracy with several other of the young Roman nobles, for the purpose of restoring the Tarquins. He moreover compelled his colleague, L. Tarquinius Collatinus, to resign his consulship and leave the city, that none of the hated family might remain in Rome. And when the people of Veii and Tar- quinii attempted to bring Tarquin back by force of arms, Brutus marched against them, and, fight- ing with Aruns, the son of Tarquin, he and Aruns both fell, pierced by each other''8 spears. The ma- trons mourned for Brutus a year, and a bronze statue was erected to him on the capitol, with a drawn sword in his hand. (Liv. i. 56 — 60, ii. I — 7 ; Dionys. iv. 67 — 85, v. 1 — 18; Macrob. ii. 16 ; Dion. Cass. xlii. 45 ; Plut. Brut. 1.) The contradictions and chronological impossibi- lities in this account have been pointed out by Niebuhr. (i. p. 511.) Thus, for instJince, the last Tarquin is said to have reigned onl}' twenty-five years, and yet Brutus is represented as a child at the beginning of his reign, and the father of young men at the close of it. Again, the tale of his idiocy is irreconcileable with his holding the re- sponsible office of Tribunus Celenim. That he did hold this office seems to bean historical fact (Pom- pon, de Orig. Juris^ Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 15) ; and the story of his idiocy probably arose from his surname, which may, however, as we have seen, have had a very different meaning originally. 2. T. Junius Brutus, and 3. Ti. Junius Brutus, the sons of the first consul and of Vitellia (Liv. ii. 4), were executed by their father's orders, as related above. (Dionys. V. 6— 8 ; Liv.ii, 4, 5.) 4. L. Junius Brutus, one of the leaders of the plebeians in their secession to the Sacred Mount, B. c. 494, is represented by Dionysius as a ple- beian, who took the surname of Bnitus, that his name might be exactly the same as the first con- sul's. He was, according to the same authority, chosen one of the first tribunes of the plebs in this year, and also plebeian aedile in the year that Coriolanus was brought to trial. (Dionys. vi. 70, &c., 87—89, vii. 14, 26.) This Brutus is not mentioned by any ancient writer except Dionysius, and Plutarch {Coriol. 7) who copies from him. The old reading in Asconius {in Cornel, p. 76, ed. Orelli) made L. Junius C. F. Paterculus one of the first tribunes ; but Junius was an alteration made by Manutius, and Paterculus nowhere occurs as a cognomen of the Junia gens : the true reading is Albinius. [Albinius.] Niebuhr supposes (i.p. 617) that this L. Junius Brutus of Dionysius is an en- tirely fictitious person. 5. D. Junius Brutus Scaeva, magister equitum to the dictator Q. Publilius Philo, b. c. 339, and plebeian consul in 325 with the patrician L. Furius Camillus. He carried on war in his consulship against the Vestini, whom he conquered in battle, after a hard contest, and took two of BRUTUS. their towns, Cutina and Cingilia. (Liv. viii. 12, 29; Diod. xviii. 2.) 6. D. Junius D. f. Brutus Scaeva, legate B. c. 293 in the army of the consul Sp. Carvilius Maximus, and consul in 292. (Liv. x. 43, 47.) In his consulship he conquered the Faliscans : Sp. Carvilius, the consul of the preceding year, served under him as legate by command of the senate. (Zonar. viii. 1.) 7. D. Junius Brutus, probably a son of the preceding, exhibited, in conjunction with his brother Marcus, the first gladiatorial combat at Rome in the P'orum Boarium, at his father's funeral in B. c. 264. (Liv. EpU. 16 ; Val. Max. ii. 4. § 7.) 8. M. Junius Brutus, brother of the preced- ing. (Val. Max. I. c.) 9. M. Junius Brutus, tribune of the plebs, B. c. 195, endeavoured with his colleague P.Junius Brutus to prevent the repeal of the Oppia lex, which restrained the expenses of women. He was praetor in 191, and had the jurisdiction in the city, while his colleagues obtained the provinces. During his praetorship he dediaited the temple of the Great Idaean Mother, on which occasion the Megalesian games were performed for the first time. {Diet, of Ant. s. v. Alegalesia.) He was one of the ambassadors sent into Asia in 189, to settle the terms of peace with Antiochus the Great. (Liv. xxxiv. 1 ; Val. Max. ix. 1. § 3 ; Liv. xxxv. 24, xxxvi. 2, 36, xxxvii. 55.) This M, Junius Brutus may be the same as No. 12, who was con- sul in 178. 10. P. Junius Brutus, probably the brother of the ])receding, was his colleague in the tribunate, B. c. 1 95. He was curule aedile in 1 92, and prae- tor in 1 90 ; in the latter office he had the province of Etniria, where he remained as propraetor in the following year, 1 89. From thence he was sent by the senate into Further Spain, which was decreed to him as a province. (Liv. xxxiv. 1 ; Val. Max. ix. 1. § 3 ; Liv. xxxv. 41, xxxvi. 45, xxxvii. 2, 50, 57.) 11. D. Junius Brutus, one of the triumvirs for founding a colony in the territory of Sipontum, B. c. 194. (Liv. xxxiv. 35.) The annexed sterama exhibits the probable fa- mily connexion of the following persons, Nos. 12 to 17 inclusive. 12. M. Junius Brutus, cos. B, c. 178. I 1 3. M. Junius Brutus, the jurist. .1 14. M. Junius Brutus, the accuser. 15. D. Junius Brutus Gal- laecus, COS. B. c. 138. 16. D.Junius Brutus, COS. B. c. 77. I 17. D.Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins. 12. M. Junius M. f. L. n. Brutus, the son of No. 9, unless he is the same person, was consul B. c. 178, and had the conduct of the war against the Istri, whom he subdued in the following year, and compelled them to submit to the Romans. (Liv. xl. 69., xli. 9, 14, 15 ; Obsequ. 62.) He was one of the ambassadors sent into Asia in 171, to exhort the allies to assist the Romans in their war against Perseus. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the censorship in 169. (Liv. xlii. 45, xliii. 16.)