Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/833

Rh COMAZOX. Translations exist in English, Lond. 4to. IT^o ; In French by Cotereau, Paris, 4to, 1551 ; in Ita- lian by P. Lauro, Venez. 8vo. 1554, l/)57, and 1559, by Bened. del Bene, 2 torn. 4to. Verona, 1800; and in German, among many others, by M. C. Curtius, 8vo., Hamburg, 1769. [W. R.] COLU'TH US {K6oveos), one of the late Greek epic poets, was a native of Lycopolis in Upper Egypt, and flourished under the emperor Anasta- sius, at the beginning of the sixth century of our era. He wrote laudatory poems (iyKcifjua Si* ^ttwi'), an heroic poem, in six books, entitled KoAvSovjko, and another entitled UfpcriKd. These are all lost, but his poem on "The Rape of Helen" ('EA.^n7J dpvayt'i) was discovered, with Quintus Smymaeus, by the Cardinal Bessarion in Calabria. It was first printed by Aldus, 8vo- (no date) : more accu- rately, with ingenious conjectural emendations, by H. Stephens in his Poetae Graeci Frincipes, Par. 1566, fol. Several Latin versions and reprints of the text appeared in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centu- rios, the most important of which is the edition of lo. Dan. Lennep, Leoward. 1747, 8vo. The latest and best editions are those of Bekker, Berl. 1816, {!vo., and Schaefer, Lips. 1825, 8vo. The poem, and is an unsuccessful imitation of Homer. [P.S.] COMANUS {Ko/.iav6s), one of the ministers of Ptolemy Physcon (who had been placed on the throne of Egypt in the room of his exiled brother, Philoinetor), is introduced by Polybius as endea- vouring by embassy and negotiation to obtain peace from Antiochus Epiphanes, B. c. 169, when the latter had gained possession of Egypt. (Pol. xxviii. 16 ; conip. Liv. Epit. 46 ; Val. Max. v. 1. § 1.) We hear of Comanus again in B. c. 162 as ambassador from Physcon to the Romans, to com- plain that Philometor refused to act up to their decree, by which Cyprus had been assigned to Phys- con in the partition of the kingdom. (Pol. xxxi. 27, xxxii. 1 ; Diod. xxxi. Exc. de Lcyat. 23, p. 626.) [E. E.] COMAZON, one of the first commission of nine appointed by Theodosius and Valentinian, A. D. 429, to compile the Theodosian Code, — a work which was carried into effect by a second commis- sion of sixteen, consisting for the most part of new members, appointed a. d. 435. He was an ex- magister scrinii in A. D. 429. (Cod. Theodos. tit. ]. §^ 5, 6.) [J. T. G.] COMAZON, P. VALERIUS EUTYCHIA'- NUS. Eutychianus, surnamed Comazon from his dissipation and buffoonery [tovto ydp rovvofia ck fxlfxuu Kcd yfAcoTOTToiias 4(Tx^^)i was originally an actor and dancer at Rome. While serving in Thrace, he was degraded, in consequence of mis- conduct, to the rank of a rower in the fleet, by Claudius Attalus, governor of the province ; but having subsequently taken an active part in the conspiracy against Macrinus, he became the confi- dential adviser and right-hand man of Elagabalus, was chosen praefect of the praetorium, raised to the rank of consul a. d. 220, twice nominated praefect of the city, and permitted to gratify his revenge by procuring the death of the officer by whom he had been disgraced. Comazon not only escaped the massacre which followed the death of his patron (a. d. 222), but was immediately after appointed praefect of the city for the third time — an honour never before enjoyed by any individual. [Gannys.] COMIMUS. 815 (Dion Caas. Ixxviii. 31, 32, 39, and Reimarns on c. 38, Ixxix. 3, 4, 21 ; Lamprid. Elagah. 12. With regard to the imaginary second and third consulships of Comazon, see Tillemont, note iv. on the emperor Elagabalus, voL iii. p. 472, and Reimanis on Dion Cass. Ixxix. 4.) LW. R.] COME'TAS SCHOLA'STICUS ( Ko^ut/toj l.XoKaarLK6s, Cod. Vat. pp. 130, 467), or CHAR- TULA'RIUS (XopTOuAtiptoy, record-keeper, ib. p. 458), is the author of six epigrams in the Greek Anthology. (Bnnick, Anal. iii. pp. 15, 16 ; Jacobs, iii. pp. 236, 237), and of a paraphrase of part of the 11th chapter of John's Gospel, in fifty-seven hexameter verses. (Jacobs, Paralip. e Cod. Vat. 213, xiii. p. 747.) From some of his epigrams (4, 5, 6) we learn, that he produced a new recen- sion of the Homeric poems, in which he reformed the punctuation. His time is very doubtful. Vil- loison {Proleg, in Ham. p. lix.) identifies him with the Cometas who was appointed by Bardas public professor of grammar at Constantinople in the reign of Michael III., a. d. 856. Jacobs, however, thinks that there are indications of his having lived later, in some marginal notes on his poems in the Vatican MS. (Jacobs, Antliol. Grace, xiii. p. 873.) These notes are by no means complimentary. Respecting the title of Cliartularius., see Du Cange, Gloss. Med. et Inf. Grace, s.v. p. 1735. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions Cometas, a Cretan, among the commentators on Homer. {Strom, i. p. 331.) [P. S.] COMI'NIA GENS, plebeian. If Postumus or Pcstumius Cominius Auruncus, consul in b. c. 501, belonged to this gens, it must have been patrician originally ; but it is probable that he was a mem- ber of the Postumia gens, as Valerius Maximus {de Nom. Rat.) mentions him as an instance in which the praenomens and cognomens are con- founded in the consular Fasti. Cominius also occurs as a cognomen of the Pontii. (See below.) None of the members of the Cominia gens obUiined any of the iiigher offices of the state. [Cominius.] COMI'NIUS. 1. Tribune of the plebs, but in what year is uncertain, accused iVI. Laetoriua Mergus, a military tribune, for attempting to seduce his cornicularius. (Val. Max. vi. 1. § 11.) 2. L. Cominius, military tribune in the anny of the dictator, L. Papirius Cursor, e. c. 325. (Liv. viii. 30.) 3. Cominius, the commander of a troop of cavalry in the army of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus in Spain, B.C. 178. (Appian, Ilvrp. 43.) 4. Se.x. Cominius, a Roman knight, maltreated by Verres. (Cic. Verr. iv. 10.) 5. 6. P. and L. or C. Cominii, two brothers, who are described by Cicero as men of character and eloquence, accused Staienus, about b. c. 74. (Cic pro Cluent. 36.) In B. c. ^'o., these two brothers accused of majestas C. Cornelius, the tri- bune of the preceding year [C. Cornelius], but on the day appointed for the trial, the praetor, L. Cassius, did not appear, and the Cominii were driven away by a mob, and were eventually obliged to quit the city. They renewed the ac- cusation in the following year, b. c. 65 ; Cor- nelius was defended by Cicero, who was then praetor, and acquitted. The speech which P. Cominius delivered on this occasion was extant in the time of Asconius, who says that it was worth reading, not only because of Cicero's speech, bi/t for its own merits. P. Cominius was a native o/
 * is it now stands, consists of 392 hexameter lines,