Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/883

Rh COSSINIUS. We learn from Cosmas himself, that he com- posed a Universid Cosmography ^ as also Astronomi- cal tables^ in which the motions of the stars were described. He was likewise the author of a Com- mentary on the Canticles and an exposition on the Psalms. These are now lost. Leo Allatius thinks that he wrote the Chronicon Alexandrinura ; but it is more correct to affirm, with Cave, that the author of the Chronicle borrowed largely from Cosmas, copying without scruple, and in the same words, many of his observations. (Montfaucon, Nova CoUcdio Pair, ei Scriptor. Graecor. vol. ii. ; Cave, Historia Literana^ vol. i. pp. 515-10', Oxford, 1740; Fabric. BM. Graec. vol. iv. p. 255.) [S.D.J COSMAS, a Graeco- Roman jurist, usually named Cosmas Magister, probably because he filled the office of magister officiorum under Romanus Senior ; although Reiz, in the index of proper names sub- joined to his edition of Harmenopulus in the sup- plementary volume of Meennann's Thesaurus, is inclined to think that Magister was a family sur- name. In Leunclavius (J. G. R. ii. pp. 166, 167) are two sententiaa {y^<poi) of Cosmas in the style of imperial constitutions, as if he had been authorized by Romanus to frame legal regulations. It further appears from a Novell of Romanus, published in the collection of Leunclavius (ii. p. 158), that Cosmas was employed by the emperor in the com- position of his laws. Hence Assemani {Bibl. Jur. Orient, lib. ii. c. 29, pp. 582 — 584) is disposed to ascribe to Cosmas a legal work which is preserved in manuscript in the Royal Library at Vienna. It is a system or compendium of law, divided into 50 titles, and compiled in the first year of Romanus Senior (a. d. 919 or 920) under the name 6VA077) vofuav tQv h 6irtToV<^ iicnQifiivu>v. (Lambecius, Comment, in Bibl. Vindob. vi. p. 38 ; Zachariae, Hist. J. G. R. § 37.) The preface and tit. 1 of this work were first published by Zachariae in his edition of the Procheiron of Basileius (d -rrpoxftpos v6/.ios^ Heidelb. 1837). Cedrenus (in Constantino et Romatio) mentions Cosmas as a patricius and logotheta dromi, the hippodromus being the name of the highest court of justice in Constantinople. Harmenopulus, in the preface to his Hexabiblus, acknowledges his obligations to the RomaYca of Magister (ret 'Pw/xaiKa tov Mayiarpov Myoixha), and Jac. Godefroi supposes that Cosmas is meant. In this, as in most other questions in the history of Graeco- Roman law, there is great difficulty in arriving at the truth ; but we believe the Magister referred to by Harmenopulus to be Eustathius Patricius Romanus. (Reiz, ad Harvienop. in Meerm. Thes. viii. p. 6, n. 8, ib. pp. 399, 400 ; Pohl, ad Suares. Notit. Basil, p. 15, n. (0), ib. p. 52, n. (x); Zachariae, Hist. Jur. G. R. % 4=1.) [J. T. G.J COSMAS (Koff/ias), a Monk, according to the title in Brunck's Analeda, but according to that in Stephen's edition of the Planudean Anthology, a mechanician, is the author of one epigram in the Greek Anthology. (Anah. iii, p. 127 ; Jacobs, iv. p. ^^.) Whether he is the same person as CosaiAS Indicopleustes, or as the Cosmas of Jerusa- lem, or whether he was different from both, is altogether uncertain. [P. S.] CO'SROES, king of Parthia. [Arsaces XXV.] CO'SROES, king of Persia. [Sassanidae.] COSSI'NIUS, the name of a Roman family which came from Tibur. None of its members ever obtained any of the higher offices of the state. 1. L. CossiNius, of Tibur, received ibe Roman COSSUS. 865 franchise in consequence of the condemnation of T. Caelius, whom he had accused. (C'c. pro Balb. 23.) He is perhaps the same as the Cossinius who was one of the legates in the army of the praetor P. Varinius, and who fell in battle against Spartacus, b. c. 73. (Plut. Crass. 9.) 2. L. Cossinius, a Roman knight and son of the preceding (Cic. pro Balb. 23), was a friend of Cicero, Atticus, and Varro. Cicero mentions his death in B. c. 45, and expresses his grief at his loss. (Cic. ad Att. i. 19, 20, ii. 1, ad Fum. xiii. 23; Varr. R. R. ii. 1 ; Cic. ad Att. xiii. 46.) 3. L. Cossinius Anchialus, a freedman of No. 2, is recommended by Cicero to Ser. Sulpicius in B. c. 46. (Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 23.) 4. Cossinius, a Roman knight and a friend of Nero's, was poisoned by mistake by an Egyptian physician, whom the emperor had sent for in order to cure his friend. (Plin. H. N. xxix. 4. s. 30.) COSSUS, the name of a patrician family of the Cornelia gens. This family produced many illus- trious men in the fifth century before the Christian aera, but afterwards sunk into oblivion. The name " Cossus " was afterwards revived as a praenomen in the family of the Lentuli, who belonged to the same gens. The Cossi and Maluginenses were probably one family originally, for at first both these surnames are united, as for instance, in the case of Ser. Cornelius Cossus Maluginensis, consul in B. c. 485. [Maluginensis.] Afterwards, however, the Cossi and Maluginenses became two separate families. 1. Ser. Cornelius M. f. L. n. Cossus, one of the three consular tribunes in B. c. 434, though other authorities assign consuls to this year. (Diod. xii. 53 ; Liv. iv. 23.) 2. Ser. Cornelius (M. f. L. n.) Cossus, pro- bably brother of the preceding, was consul in B. c. 428 with T. Quinctius Pennus Cincinnatus II., and two years afterwards, B. c. 426, one of the four consular tribunes, when he was entrusted with the care of the city, while his three colleagues had the conduct of the war against Veil. But the latter having met with a repulse, Cossus nominated Mam. Aerailius Mamercinus dictator, who in his turn appointed Cossus master of the horse. It was this Cossus who killed Lar Tolumnius, the king of the Veii, in single combat, and dedi- cated his spoils in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius — the second of the three instances in which the spolia opima were won. But the year in which Tolum- nius was slain, was a subject of dispute even in antiquity. Livy following, as he says, all his authorities, places it in b. c. 437, nine years before the consulship of Cossus, when he was military tribune in the army of Mam. Aemilius Mamerci- nus, who is said to have been dictator in that year likewise. At the same time the historian brings forward several reasons why this was improbable, and mentions in particular that Augustus had dis- covered a linen breastplate in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, on which it was stated that the consul Cossus had won these spoils. But as the year of Cossus' consulship was, according to the annalists, one of pestilence and dearth without any military operations, it is probable that Tolumnius was slain' by Cossus in the year of his consular tribunate, when he was master of the horse, especially since it is expressly placed in that year by some writers. (Val. Max. iii. 2. § 4 ; Aur. Vict, de Vir. III. 25.) In dedicating the spoils, Cossus would have added 3 K