Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/175

Rh FLACILLA. cufi. Flaccus was also the author of a work en- titled Saturnus, or Saturnalia (Macrob. Saturn, i. 4, 8), and of another, De Obscuris Catonis, on the archaisms used by Cato the Censor : the second book of which is cited by A. Gellius (xvii. 6). Be- sides the preceding references, Flaccus is quoted by Gellius (v. 17, 18), who refers to the fourth book, De Sigmficaiu Verhorum^ of Flaccus, while discuss- ing the difference between history and annals (see also xvi. 14, xviii. 7), and by Macrobius {Saturn, i. 10, 12, 16). Flaccus is cited by Pliny in his Elenchos {H. N. 1), or summary of the materials of his Historia Naturalis, generally (Lib. i. iii. vii. viii. xiv. XV. xviii.. xxviii. xxix. xxxiii. xxxiv. XXXV.), and specially, but without distifiguishing the particular work of Flaccus which he consulted (ff, JV, vii. 53, 8. 54, mortes repentinae ; viii. 6, elephanios in circo ; ix. 23, s. 39, praeteoctatos mu- raenarum tergore verheratos ; xviii. 7, s. 11, /ar P. Rom. victus; xxviii. 2. § 4, Deorum evocaiio ; xxxiii. 3. § 19, Tarquinii Prisciaurea tunica ; 16, 7. § 36, Jovis fades ininio iliita). Flaccus is also referred to by Lactantius {Instit. i. 20), by Arno- bius {adv. Gent. i. B9 and by Isidorus {Orig. xiv. 8. § 33). But the work which more than any other embodies the fragments of an author, whose loss to classical antiquity is probably second only to that of Varro, is the treatise, De Verborum Sig- nificatione., of Festus. Festus abridged a work of the same kind, and with probably a similar title, by Verrius Flaccus, from which also some of the extracts in Gellius and Macrobius, and the citations in the later grammarians, Priscianus, Diomedes, Charisius, and Velius Longus, are probably taken. Of this work of Flaccus, a full account is given under Festus. (Sueton. ///. Gramm. 17 ; K. 0. Mliller, Praefatio ad Pompeium Festum., Lips. 1839.) [W. B. D.] FLACCUS, VESCULA'RIUS, a Roman eques in the confidence of the emperor Tiberius, to whom he betrayed Scribonius Libo in a. d. 16. [Drusus,No.10.] It is uncertain whether the Ves- cularius condemned by Tiberius in a. d. 32 be the same person, some MSS. reading Atticus, others Flaccus, as the cognomen. (Tac. Ann. ii. 28, vi. 10.) [W. B, D.] FLACILLA, or FLACCILLA, AE'LIA (in Greg, Nyss. UXaKiWa, in Chron. Alex. 4>Aa/cKjA- A.a), first wife of Theodosius the Great. Several moderns infer from an obscure passage in Themis- tius {Orat. xvi. De Saturnino), that she was the daughter of Antonius, who was consul A. D. 382, but this is very doubtful. She appears to have been born in Spain (Claudian, Laus Serenae, vs. 69), and to have had a sister, the mother of Nebridius, who was married after a.d. 388 to Sal vina, daughter of Gildo, the Moor. (Hieron.Epist.ad Salvin.o.v. p. 663, ed. Benedict.) Flaccilla had at least three children by Theodosius, — namely, Arcadius, born about A. D. 377-, Honorius, born a.d. 384, both after- wards emperors ; and Pulcheria, who was appa- rently born before 379, as Claudian {Latts Seren. 113, 136) intimates that Theodosius had more than one child when raised to the throne. This Pulcheria died before her mother, and Gregory Nyssen composed a consolatory discourse upon the occasion. Some have supposed that she had an- other child, Gratian, but without reason. (Ambros. De Obitu TJieodos. Oratio, where see note of the Benedictine editors.) Flaccilla herself died a.d. 385, at a place called Scotourain, in Thrace, and VOL, 11. FLAMININUS. 161 Gregory Nyssen, composed a funeral discourse for her. All writers conspire to praise Flaccilla for her piety, and charity, and orthodoxy, and she has been canonized in the Greek Church. (Greg. Nyss. Orat. Funeb. pro Flaccilla ; Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. V. 1 9 ; Themist. De Human. Theodos. Imp. ; Sozom. Hist. Eccles. vii. 6 ; Chron. Alex. v. Pas- cluil. p. 563, ed. Bonn. ; Tillemont, Hist, des Emp. vol. v. pp. 143, 192, 252.) [J. C. M.] COIN OF FLACCILLA. FLAMEN, Q. CLAU'Dl US, praetor B.C. 209, the eleventh year of the second Punic war. His province was the Sallentine district and Tarentura, and he succeeded M. Marcellus in the command of two legions, forming the third division of the Iloman army, then in the field against Hannibal. (Liv. xxvii. 21, 22.) He was propraetor B,c, 207, and his command was prolonged through the next year, (xxvii. 43, xxviii. 10.) In 207, while Flamen was in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, his out- posts brought in two Numidians, the bearers of letters from Hasdrubal at Placentia to Hannibal at Metapontum. Flamen wrung from them the secret of their being entrusted with letters and then despatched the Numidians, strongly guarded, with the letters unopened to the consul, Claudius Nero, [Nero.] The discovery of the letters saved Rome ; for they were sent to apprise Hannibal of his brother's presence in Italy, and to arrange the junction of their armies. [W. B. D.] FLAMI'NIA GENS, plebeian. During the first five centuries of Rome no mention is made of any member of the Flaminia Gens. The name is evidently a derivative from Jiamen, and seems to have originally denoted a servant of a flamen. (Paul. Diac. s. vv. Flaminius Camillus, Flamitiius Lictor.) In former times the Flaminii were be- lieved to be only a family of the Quintia gens ; but this opinion arose from a contusion of the Flaminii with the Flaminini, the latter of whom belonged to the ancient patrician Quintia gens. The only family names of the Flaminia gens that we know are Chilo and Flamma. There is no evidence for the cognomen Nepos, which Orelli {Onom. Tull. ii. p. 254) gives to the Flaminius who fell in the battle at lake Trasimenus. [L, S.] FLAMINI'NUS, a family-name of the patri- cian Quintia gens, 1, K, Quintius Flamininus, was one of the duumviri, who, in B. c. 216, were ordered to contract for the building of the temple of Concordia, which had been vowed two years before by the praetor, L. Manlius. (Liv. xxii. 33.) 2. L. Qumrius Flamininus, was created aagur in B. c. 212. (Liv. xxv. 2.) 3. L. QuiNTius Flamininus, a brother of the great T. Quintius Flamininus, was curule aedile m B. c. 200, and the year after was invested with the city praetorship. When his brother Titus, in B.C. 198, undertook the war against Philip of Macedonia, Lucius received the command of the Roman fleet, and had to protect the coasts of Italy. He first sailed to Corcyra, and having met his fleet near the island of Cama, and received it from his predecessor, L. Apustins, he slowly pro- ceeded to Malea, and thence to Peiraeeus, to join