Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1122

Rh 1108 MODESTINUS. It has generally been supposed that the Oclins mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (i. 1) i'S the same person as the Mochus referred to by Athenaeus. Suidas also calls him Ochus ; bi:t he has evidently only copied the passage in Diogenes Laertius. But the mistake, if it is one, may eaaily have crept into the MS3. before his time. Josephus {Ant. Jud. i. 8. s. 5) refers to Mochus, as do also Tatianus {adv. dent. p. 217) and Eusebius {Praep. Evang. x. p. 289). (Fabric. Dibl. Graec. vol, i. p. 226, vol. iii. p. 807 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 471, ed. Westermann.) [C. P. M.] MOCILLA, L. JU'LIUS, a man of praetorian rank, who espoused the republican party after the death of Julius Caesar, and fought in the army of Cassius and Brutus at the battle of Philippi (B. c. 42). After the loss of that battle he fled to Saniothrace, with his son and others of his party, and their wants were supplied by Pomponius Atticus, who sent from Epeirus every thing that they needed. (Corn. Nep. Attic. 11.) MODERA'TUS, a native of Gades, a distin- guished follower of the Pythagorean system, who flourished in the time of the emperor Nero. He wrote a work on the dogmas of his sect. He was a man of considerable eloquence, and was to some extent imitated by lambiichus. (Porphyr. p. 32 ; Suidas, s. v. rdSapa.) A fragment of his is preserved in Stobaeus {Eclog. p. 3). [C. P. M.] MODESTFNUS, HERE'NNIUS, a Roman jurist, and a pupil of Ulpian, whom Modestinus cites in terras of high commendation. (Dig. 26. tit. 6. 8. 2.) His name, Herennius, is mentioned in a passage of Ulpian (Dig. 47. tit. 2. s. 53. § 20), if the Herennius Modestinus there mentioned is the jurist, which we assume to be the fact. The words of Ulpian, " Herennio Modestino studioso meo de Dalmatia consuleiiti rescripsi," are ambi- guous : some take them to mean that Modestinus was a native of Dalmatia, which cannot be the meaning of the words ; others more probably take the words to mean that Modestinus was then in Dalmatia. But the assumption that he was pro- consul of Dalmatia is not proved by the words of Ulpian, who would hardly have omitted his title if Modestinus held that rank. All that we can conclude from the words of Ulpian is that Modestinus asked his advice about Dalmatia. Ziramern says that '' he may have been the person who in the year 979 (a. d. 226), as proconsul of Dalmatia, decided an eighteen years' suit;" and this decision, he says, is mentioned in an inscrip- tion in Fabretti (p. 278). This is one of the strangest blunders ever made. The matter is stated correctly by Puchta. {Qiraus, vol. i. p. 489.) The name of Herennius Modestinus occurs in an inscrip- tion, which inscription also states that the first de- cision in the matter referred to by the inscription was made by Aelius Florianus ; it was confirmed by Herennius Modestinus, and again confirmed by Faltonius Restitutianus, praefectus vigilum. This inscription was found at Rome, and it contains nothing about Dalmatia ; and yet the conclusion of Zinunem is that the passage in Ulpian, which was probably written in the time of Caracalla, and this inscription, which records a judgment in the time of Alexander Severus, establish the fact of Modestinus being governor of Dalmatia. Modestinus was writing under Alexander Severus, as appears from the terms in which he mentions the emperor (Dig. 48. tit. 10. s. 29) ; and he was one MODESTUS. of his consiliarii. He also taught law to the younger Maximiinis. (Capitol, Moximin. Jun. 1.) In a rescript of Gordian (a. D. 239) mention is made of a Responsum which Modestinus had given to the person to whom the rescript is directed. (Cod. 3. tit. 42. 8. 5.) Modestinus often cites Ulpian, and he is cited by Aurelius Arcadius Charisius. Though Modestinus is the latest of the great Roman jurists, he ranks among the most distin- guished. There are 345 excerpts in the Digest from his writings, the titles of which show the extent and variety of his labours. Modestinus wrote both in Greek and Latin. From the six books of Excusationes, which were written in Greek, an extract, Avhich contains the beginning of the work, is preserved in the Digest (27. tit. 1). There are also excerpts from the nine books of Differentiae., ten books of Reyulae., nine- teen books of liesponsa, twelve books of Fandectae^ from which there are many extracts, four books on Poenae, and the single treatises Ue Eimcleatis Casibus, De Euremaiicis or Heurematids, De Inofficioso TesiamentOy De Manumissionibtis, and De Praescriptionibus. This last work must be dis- tinguished from another of the same name, which is not mentioned in the Florentine Index, and which consisted of four books at least. (Dig. 45. tit.l. s. 101.) Other works wcve,DeRituNuptiarum^ De Differentia Dotis, and the single treatises De Legatis et Eideicommissis, and De Testamentis, which are mentioned in the Florentine Index, The Florentine Index does not mention the Libri ad Quintum Mucium, though there are two excerpts from this work in the Digest, from the fourteenth and thirty-first books respectively. (Dig. 41. tit. 1. s. 53,54.) A rescript of the emperors Septimius Severus and Antoninus Caracalla, a. d. 204 (Cod. 4. tit, 2. s. 1), can hardly have been directed to this Modestinus, who lived to the time of Gordian ; for it is dated thirty-five years before the time of Gordian, and, besides this, the demand of Modestinus is charac- terised as neither equitable nor usual. (G. Grotius, Vita^ Jurisconsultorum^ &c. ; Puchta, Cursus der Tnstitutionen, vol. i. p. 459 ; Zimmern, Geschichte dea Rom. Privatrechis, p. 383 ; Fabretti, Imcript. Antiq., Romae, 1699, p. 278.) [G. L.] MODESTUS. 1. The author of a Libellus de Vocabulis Ret Militaris, addressed to the emperor Tacitus. It contains an explanation of some com- mon terms, and an outline of the system pursued at that period hi classifying and disciplining sol- diers. It is very brief, and presents no features of interest or importance. The compiler has been most unjustly charged with copying Vegetius, who flourished nearly a century later under Valen- tinianus. Modestus first appeared in a 4to volume without date and without name of p'ace or printer, but which, according to the best bibliographical au- thorities, was printed at Rome by Jo.Schurener de Bopardia about 1474, and contains also Pomponius Laetus de Magistratibus Urbis. The tract was subsequently included in all the chief collections of Scriptores de Re Militari, and apj)ear8 under its best form in the edition of that Corpus published with the notes of Stevechius, Modius,and Schrive- rius at Wesel ( Vesalia Qivorum), 8vo. 1680. 2. The name of Modestus is prefixed to three elegiac distichs in the Latin Anthology, the words