Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/635

Rh protection. By this act of treachery towards her own countrymen, she won the favour of the Romans, and increased her power. Hence, says Tacitus, arose wealth and luxury, and Cartimandua repudiated her own husband Venutius to share her bed and throne with Vellocatus, the arm-bearer of her husband. This threw her state into a civil war, n portion of herpeople supporting Venutius against the adulterer. Venutius collected an army of auxiliaries, defeated the Brigantes, and reduced Cartimandua to the last extremity. She solicited the aid of the Romans, who rescued her from her danger; but Venutius remained in possession of her kingdom, A. D. 69. (Tac. Ann. xii. 36, 40, Hist. iii. 45.) [L.S.]

CARVI'LIA GENS, plebeian, came into distinction during the Samnite wars. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Sp. Carvilius in B. C. 293, who received the surname of Maximus, which was handed down as a regular family-name. For those whose cognomen is not mentioned, see.

The following coin is referred to this gens, and the three names upon it. , are those of three triumvirs of the mint.

CARVI'LIUS. 1. and 2. L. and Sp. , tribunes of the plebs B. C. 212, accused M. Postumius. [] (Liv.xxv. 3.)

3. Sp. , was sent by Cn. Sicinius to Rome in B. C. 171, when Perseus despatched an embassy to the senate. When the senate ordered the ambassadors to quit Italy within eleven days, Carvilius was appointed to keep watch over them, till they embarked on board their ships. (Liv. xlii. 36.)

4. C. of Spoletium, negotiated on behalf of the Roman garrison the surrender of Uscana, a town of the Penestae, to Perseus in B. C. 169. (Liv. xliii. 18, 19.)

CARUS, a Roman poet, and a contemporary of Ovid, who appears to have written a poem on Hercules. (Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iv. 16. 7.)

CARUS, M. AURE'LIUS, according to Victor, whose account is confirmed by Sidonius Apollinaris and Zonaras, was a native of Narbonne in Gaul; but Vopiscus professes to be unable to speak with certainty either of his lineage or birth-place, and quotes the conflicting statements of older authorities, who variously represented that he was born at Milan; or in Illyria, of Carthaginian ancestors; or in the metropolis, of Illyrian parents. He himself undoubtedly claimed Roman descent, as appears from a letter addressed by him when proconsul of Cilicia to his legate Junius, but this is not inconsistent with the supposition that he may have belonged to some city which was also a colony. After passing through many different stages of civil and military preferment, he was appointed praefect of the praetorians by Probus, who entertained the highest respect for his talents and integrity. When that prince was murdered by the soldiers at Sirmium in A. D. 282, Carus was unanimously hailed as his successor, and the choice of the troops was confirmed by the senate. The new ruler, soon after his accession, gained a victory over the Sarmatians, who had invaded Illyricum and were threatening Thrace and even Italy itself. Having conferred the title of Caesar upon both his sons, he nominated Carinus, the elder, governor of all the Western provinces, and, accompanied by Numerianus, the younger, set out upon an expedition against the Persians which had been planned by his predecessor. The campaign which followed was most glorious for the Roman arms. The enemy, distracted by internal dissensions, were unable to oppose a vigorous resistance to the invaders. All Mesopotamia was quickly occupied,—Seleucia and Ctesiphon were forced to yield. But the career of Carus, who was preparing to push his conquests beyond the Tigris, was suddenly cut short, for he perished by disease, or treachery, or, as the ancient historians commonly report, by a stroke of lightning, towards the close of 283, after a reign of little more than sixteen months. The account of his death, transmitted by his secretary Junius Calphurnius to the praefect of the city, is so confused and mysterious that we can scarcely avoid the surmise that his end was hastened by foul play, and suspicion has rested upon Arrius Aper, who was afterwards put to death by Diocletian on the charge of having murdered Numerianus.

According to the picture drawn by the Augustan historian, Carus held a middle rank between those preeminent in virtue or in vice, being neither very bad nor very good, but rather good than bad. His character undoubtedly stood high before his elevation to the throne: no credit is to be attached to the rumour that he was accessary to the death of his benefactor, Probus, whose murderers he sought out and punished with the sternest justice, and the short period of his sway was unstained by any great crime. But the atrocities of Carinus threw a shade over the memory of his father, whom men could not forgive for having bequeathed his power to such a son. (Vopisc. Carus; Aurel. Vict. Caes. xxxviii., Epit. xxxviii.; Zonar. xii. 30; Eutrop. ix. 12.) [W. R.]

CARUS, JU'LIUS, one of the murderers of T. Vinius when Galba was put to death in A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. i. 42.)

CARUS, ME'TIUS, one of the most infamous informers under Domitian. (Tac. Agric. 45; Juv. i. 36; Martial, xii. 25; Plin. Ep. i. 5, vii. 19, 27.)

CA'RUS, SEIUS, son of Fascianus, at one time praefectus urbi, was put to death by Elagabalus under the pretext that he had stirred up a mutiny among some of the soldiers quartered in the camp under the Alban Mount, but in reality because he was rich, elevated in station, and high in intellect. He was brought to trial in the palace and there executed, no one appearing to give evidence against him except his accuser the emperor. (Dion Cass. lxxix. 4.) [W. R.]