Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/682

Rh 664 CENSORINUS. god had a temple. (Apollod. ii. 7. § 7 ; Ov. Met. ix. 136.) [L. S.] CE'NCHRIAS (Keyxpias), a son of Poseidon and Peirene, was killed accidentally by Artemis. He and his brother Leches were believed to have given their names to Cenchreae and Lechaeum, the two port- towns of Corinth. (Pans. ii. 2. § 3, 3. § 3, 24. § 8.) [L. S.] CENSORI'NUS, the name of a plebeian fimiily of the Marcia gens. The name of this family was originally Rutilus, and the first member of it who acquired the name of Censorinns, was C. Marcius Rutilus [No. 1, below], who is said in the Capi- toline Fasti to have received this surname in his second censorship, B. c 265. Niebuhr, however, remarks (Hist, of Homey iii. p. 556), that this statement is doubtful, as he might have derived it from the circumstance of his father having first gained for the plebs a share in this dignity. 1. C. Marcius C. f. L. n. Rutilus Censo- RiNUS, was the son of C. Marcius Rutilus, the first plebeian dictator (b. c 356) and censor (a c. 351). He was consul in B. c. 310 with Q. Fabius Maximus, and while his colleague was engaged in his brilliant campaign in Etruria, Rutilus conduct- ed the war in Samnium and took the town of AIHfae. He afterwards fought a battle with the Samnites, in which he was probably defeated ; for the statement of Livy, that the battle was a drawn one, is almost outweighed by his confession, that the consul himself was wounded and a legate and several tribunes of the soldiers killed. (Li v. ix. 33, 38 ; Diod. XX. 27.) On the admission of the plebs to the priestly colleges by the Ogulnian law in b. c. 300, by which also the number of their members was in- creased, Rutilus was elected one of the pontiffs. (Liv. X. 9.) He was censor with P. Cornelius Arvina in 294 (Liv. x. 47), and a second time with Cn. Cornelius Blasio in 265, the only in- stance in which a person held the office of censor twice. It is mentioned above that he is said to have received the surname of Censorinus in this honour. After his election Rutilus rebuked the people for having conferred this dignity upon him again, and brought forward a law enacting that no one in future should be eligible to this office a second time. (Liv. Epit. 16 ; Eutrop. ii. 18; Val. Max. iv. 1. § 3; Plut. CorioL 1.) 2. L. Marcius C. f. C. n. Censorinus, consul with M Manilius in B. c. 149, the first year of tlie third Punic war. Both consuls were ordered to proceed to Carthage : the command of the army was entrusted to Manilius, and that of the fleet to Censorinus. In the negotiations between the consuls and Carthaginians which preceded actual hostilities, and of which Appian has given us a detailed account, Censorinus acted as spokesman because he was the better orator. After the Car- thaginians had refused compliance with the com- mands of the Romans, who required them to abandon Carthage and build another town not less than ten miles from the sea, the consuls formally laid siege to the city ; but Censorinus was com- pelled shortly afterwards to return to Rome in order to hold the comitiji, leaving the conduct of the siege in the hands of his colleague. (Appian, Pun. 75—90, 97—99 ; Liv. Epit. 49 ; Flor. ii. 15; Eutrop. iv. 10; Oros. iv. 22; Veil. Pat. i. 13; Zonar. ix. p. 463 ; Cic. Brut. 15, 27, ad Att. xii. 5.) Censorinus was censor in b. c. 147) with CENSORINUS. L. Cornelius Lentulus Lupus. (Val. Max. vi. 9. § 10.) It was to tins Censorinus that the philosopher Cleitomachus dedicated one of his works. (Cic. Acad. ii. 32.) 3. C. Marcius Censorinus, one of the leading men of the Marian party, is first mentioned as the accuser of Sulla on his return from Asia in b. c. 91. (Plut. SuU. 5.) He entered Rome together with Marius and Cinna in B. c. 87, and took a leading part in the massacres which then ensued. It was Censorinus who killed the consul Octavius, the first victim of the proscription ; he cut off his head and carried it to Cinna, who commanded it to be hung up on the rostra. Censorinus shared in the vicissitudes of the Marian party, and took an active part in the great campaign of b. c. 82, which established the supremacy of Sulla. He had the command of one of the Marian armies, and is first mentioned as suffering a defeat from Pompey near Sena. He was afterwards sent with eight legions by the consul Carbo to relieve the younger Marius, who was kept besieged at Praeneste ; but on his march thither, he was attacked from an ambush by Pompey, and was compelled after considerable loss to take refuge on a neighbouring hill. His men, believing him to be the cause of their defeat, deserted him in a body, with the exception of seven cohorts, with which miserable remnant he was compelled to return to Carbo. When Carbo shortly afterwards abandoned Italy in despair, Censorinus united his forces with those of Brutus Damasippus and Carrinas, and these three generals, after an ineffectual attempt to force the passes of Praeneste with the object of relieving the town, marched towards Rome, hoping to take the city as it was destitute of men and provisions. Sulla, however, hastened after them, and a dreadful battle was fought near the Colline gate, which ended in the total defeat of the Marian army. Censorinus and Carrinas took to flight, but were overtaken and brought back to Sulla, who com- manded them to be put to death, and their heads to be cut off and carried round the walls of Prae- neste to inform Marius of the fate of his friends. (Appian, B. C. i. 71, 88, 90, 92, 93.) Censo- rinus is spoken of by Cicero as one of the orators of bis time, and as tolerably well versed in Greek literature. (Brut. 67, 90.) 4. (Marcius) Censorinus, one of the friends of Q. Cicero in Asia, b. c. 59 (Cic. ad Q. Fr. i. 2. §4), may possibly be the same as the following. 5. L. Marcius L. f. C. n. Censorinus, a vio- lent partizan of M. Antony, and one of the prae- tors in B. c. 43. (Cic. Phi/, x'u 5, 14, xiii. 2, dtio praetores, xii. 8 ; comp. Garaton. ad xii. 8.) When Antony passed over into Asia after arrang- ing the affairs of Greece in b. c. 41, he left Censo- rinus governor of the province. (Plut. Anton. 24.) His adherence to Antony procured him the consul- ship in 39 (Dion Cass, xlviii. 34), and we learn from the Triumphal Fasti, that he obtained a triumph for some successes he had gained in Macedonia, which must consequently have been his province. 6. C. Marcius L. f. L. n. Censorinus, son of No. 5, wa« consul in b. c. 8 (Dion Cass. Iv. 5 ; Plin. H. JV. xxxiii. 10. s. 47 ; Censorin. 22 ; Sue- ton. Vit. Horat. ; Lapis Ancyranus), and seems to have obtained subsequently the government of Syria, from the way in which he is mentioned by Josephus (A7it. xvi. 6. ^ 2) in tlie decree of Augus-