Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/923

Rh CURSOR. 'lictntors, while the conHuls Jire sjiid to Ikivc re- mained aUhonic. It is diflicult to account for this bUite of things. In B. c. 'M'i Papirius was invested with his fifth (or sixth) consulship. The war against the Sani- nites was still going on, but no battle was fought, although the Romans made pcnuanent conquests, favour. It was, as Livy states, again doubtful as to who had the command of the Roman armies in that year. In B. c. 309 Papirius was made dicta- tor to conduct the war against the Samnites, to save the army of C. Marcius, who was in great distress in Apulia, and to wipe off the disgrace of C'audium, which Rome had suffered the year be- fore. His appointment to flie dictatorship was a matter of some difficulty. Q. Fabius, who had once been his magister equitum, and had nearly been siicriticed by him, was ordered to nominate I'apirius. The recollection of what had happened sixteen ye;irs before rendered it hard to the feel- ings of Fabius to obey the command of the senate ; but he sacrificed his own personal feelings to the good of the republic, and he nominated Papirius in the silence of night without saying a word. Papi- rius now hastened with the reserve legions to the assistiince of C. Marcius. The position of the enemy, however, was so formidable, that for a time he merely watched them, though it would have been more in accordance with his vehement tem- per to attack them at once. Soon after, however, a battle was fought, in which the Samnites were completely defeated. The dictator's triumph on his return to Rome was very brilliant, on account of the splendid arms which he had taken from the enemy : the shields decorated with gold were dis- tributed among the stalls of the bankers around the forum, probably for no other purpose than to be hung out during processions. This triumph is the last event that is mentioned in the life of Pa- pirius, whence we must infer that he died soon after. He had the reputation of being the greatest general of his age. He did not indeed extend the Roman dominion by conquest, but it was he who roused Rome after the defeat and peace of Cau- dium, and led her to victory. But he was, not- withstanding, not popular, in consequence of his personal character, which was that of a rough sol- dier. He was a nuvn of immense bodily strength, and was accustomed to partake of an excessive quantity of food and wine. He had something hoiTible and savage about him, for he delighted in rendering the service of the soldiers as hard as he could : he punished cruelly and inexorably, and enjoyed the anguish of death in those whom he intended to punish. (Liv. viii. 12, 23, 29. 30-36, 47, ix. 7, 12, 13-16, 22, 28, 38, 40 ; Aurel. Vict. (le Vir. III. 31; Eutrop. ii. 4; Oros. iii. 15; Dion Cass. Excerpt. Vat. p. 32, &c., ed. Sturz ; Cic. ad Fain. ix. 21 ; Niebuhr, Ilist. of Home, iii. pp. 192 —250.) 4. L. Papirius Cursor, a son of No. 3, was censor in a. c. 272. (Frontin. de Aquued. i. 6.) 5. Ii. PapiriIts Cursor, likewise a son of No. 3, was no less distinguished as a general than his father. He was made consul in u. c. 293 with Sp. Carvilius Maximus, at the time of the third Samnite war. The Siimnites, after having made immense efforts, had invaded Campania ; but the consuls, instead of attjicking them there, penetrated into their unprotected country, and thus compelled Cl'RTILIUS. yu5 them to retreat. I'apirius took the town of Duro- nia, and he as well as his colleague ravaged Sam- i>ium, especially the territory of Antium. He then pitched his camp opposite the Samnite anny near Aquilonia, at some distance from the can)p ot Carvilius. Several days passed before Papirius attJicked the enemy, and it was agreed that Carvi- lius should make an attack upon Cominium on the same day that Papirius offered battle to the Sam- nites, in order to prevent the Samnites from ob- taining any succour from Cominium. Papirius gained a brilliant victory, which he owed mainly to his cavalry, and the Samnites fled to their camp without being able to maintain it. They however still continued to fight against the two consuls, and even beat Carvilius near Herculaneum ; but it was of no avail, for the Romans soon after again got the upper hand. Papirius continued his operations in Samnium till the beginning of win- ter, and then returned to Rome, where he and his colleague celebrated a nuignificent triumph. The booty which Papirius exhibited on that occasion was very rich ; but his troops, who were not satis- fied with the plunder they had been allowed, mur- mured because he did not, like Carvilius, distribute money among them, but delivered up everything to the treasury. He dedicated the temple of Qui- rinus, which his father had vowed, and adorned it with a solarium horoloi/ium, or a sun-dial, the first that was set up in public at Rome. He was raised to the consulship again in u. c. 272, together with his former colleague, Carvilius, for the ex- ploits of their former consulship had made such an impression upon the Romans, that they were look- ed up to as the only men capable of bringing the wearisome struggle with the Samnites to a close. They entirely realized the hopes of their nation, for the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians were compelled to submit to the majesty of Rome. But we have no account of the manner in which those nations were thus reduced. On his return to Rome, Papirius celebrated his second triumph, and after this event we hear no more of him. (Liv. x. 9, 38, 39 — 47; Zonar. viii. 7; Oros. iii. 2, iv. 3; Frontin, de Aquaed. i. 6, Stralefji iii. 3 ; Plin. 11. N. vii. 60, xxxiv. 7 ; Niebuhr, iii. pp. 390, &c., 524, &c.) [L. S.] CURSOR, CAE'LIUS, a Roman eques in the time of Tiberius, who was put to death by the emperor, in a. d. 21, for having falsely charged the praetor Magius Caecilianus with high treason. (Tacit. Ann. iii. 37.) [L. S.J CU'RTIA GENS, an obscure patrician gens^, of whom only one member, C. Curtius Philo, was ever invested with the consulship, b. c. 445. This consulship is one of the proofs that the Curtia gen.-> must have been patrician, since the consulship at that time was not accessible to the plebeians; other proofs are implied in the stories about the earliest Curtii who occur in Roman history. The fact that, in b. c. 57, C. Curtius Peducaeanus was tribune of the people, does not prove the contrary, for members of the gens may have gone over to the plebeians. The cognonuMis which occur in this gens under the republic are Pkuucaeanus, Philo, and PosTUMUs or Postumius. For those who are mentioned in history without a cognomen, see Curtius. [L. S.] CURTl'LIUS, a Roman who belonged to the party of Caesar, and who, after the victory of his party in b. c. 43, is dosciil»ed a> in the possesiou
 * ind thus gave the war a decided turn in their