Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/188

Rh 174 FLAVIUS. ad Alt. vi. 1, de Oral. i. 41.) The collection of legal rules thus published by Flavius was called the Jus Flavianum ; and, next to the Jtis Civile Papirtanum, it was the earliest private work in Roman law. The patrician jurists were grieved and indignant when they saw that their advice and intervention were rendered unnecessary by this publication. In order to regain their lost powers, they framed new rules relating to the legis adiones, and, in order to keep the new rules secret, invented a cypher (notae) to preserve them in. (Cic. pro Mur. 1 1, where by notae some commentators under- stand, not a secret notation or cypher, but the new formulae invented by the jurists). These new rules in another century underwent the same fate with their predecessors, for in the year B. c. 200 they were made known to the people at large by Sex. Aelius Catus, in a publication termed Jus Aelia7ium. Flavius was not content with divulging the legal mysteries through the medium of a book, but, according to Livy, he exposed the Fasti to view on a whited tablet in the Forum. {Fastos drca Forum in albo proposuit, ix. 46.) It is not unlikely, from a comparison of the narrative of Livy with the accounts of other writers, that the latter exposure took place after he had been pro- moted to the office of curule aedile, in consequence of the popularity he had acquired by the previous publication of his book. The first fruits of his popularity were his appointments to the offices of triumvir nocturnus and triumvir coloniae deducen- dae ; and, in order to qualify himself for the ac- ceptance of such honours, he ceased to practise his former business of scribe. He was afterwards made a senator by App. Claudius, in spite of his ignominious birth, and was elected curule aedile in the year b. c. 303. His election was carried by the /orensis /actio, which had been created and had gained strength during the censorship of App. Claudius, and now became a distinct party in the state, in opposition to those who called themselves the fautores bonorum. From Licinius Macer, quoted by Livy, it would appear that he had been prevvmshj tribune, whereas Pliny {H. N. xxxiii. 1) states that the tribunate of the plebs was conferred upon him in addition to the aedile- ship. The circumstance of his election so disgusted the greater part of the senate and the nobles, that they laid aside their golden rings and other orna- ments {plialerae). Flavius met the contemptuous treatment of the nobles with equal hauteur. He consecrated the Temple of Concordia, on which occasion the Pontifex Maximus, Cornelius Barba- tus, was obliged by the populace to take a leading part in the ceremony, notwithstanding his previous declaration that none but a consul or an imperator ought, according to ancient custom, to dedicate a temple. When Flavius went to visit his colleague, who was unwell, a party of young nobles, who were present, refused to rise on his entrance, whereupon he sent for his curule chair, and, from his seat of rank, looked down with triumph upon his jealous enemies. (Liv. ix. 46 ; Gell. vi. 9.) Valerius Maximus (ix. 3) says that he was made praetor. (Puchta, Cursus der Institutionen, vol. i. p. 677.) [J. T. G.] FLA'VIUS, a brother of Arminius, chief of the Cheruscans. In the summer of a. d. 16, the Romans and the Cheruscans were drawn up on the opposite banks of the Weser (Visurgis), when Ar- minius, prince of the Cheruscans, stepped forth from FLAVUS. a group of chieftains, and demanded to speak with his brother, a distinguished officer in the Roman army. Flavius had lost an eye in the service of Rome. The brothers, after their followers had fallen back, conversed across the stream. On learning the cause of his brother's disfigurement, Arminius asked what had been its compensation. Flavius replied, increased pay, and the usual re- wards of valour. Arminius derided his chains and chaplet, as the gear of a slave ; and now began between them an angry colloquy, which, but for the stream betw^een, would have passed into blows. (Tac. A7171. ii. 9.) A descendant of Flavius, named Italicus, became in A. D. 47 chieftain of the Che- ruscans. {Ibid. xi. 16.) [W. B. D.j FLA'VIUS AVIA'NUS. [Avianus.] FLA'VIUS CALVI'SIUS. [Calvisius.] FLA'VIUS CAPER. [Caper.] FLA'VIUS CLEMENS. [Clemens.] FLA'VIUS DEXTER, a Spaniard, the son of Pacian. He was praetorian praefect, and a devoted advocate of Christianity. He was a contemporary of St. Jerom, who dedicated to him his book De Viris Illustrihus. He was said, according to Jerom, to have written a book entitled Omnimoda His- torian but Jerom had not seen it. This book had been long considered as lost; when, in the end of the sixteenth century, a rumour was spread of its dis- covery, and a work under that title was published, first at Saragossa, A. d. 1619, and has been since repeatedly reprinted, but it is now generally re- garded as a forgery. (Hieron. De Viris lilus., Fraof. and c. 132, apud Fabric. Bibl. Eccles.^ with the notes of the editor ; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 283, ed. Ox. 1740-43.) [J. C. M.] FLA'VIUS FELIX. [Felix.] FLA'VIUS HERA'CLEO. [Heracleo.] FLA'VIUS JOSE'PHUS. [Josephus.] FLA'VIUS MA'LLIUS THEODO'RUS. [Theodorus.] FLA'VIUS MATERNIA'NUS. [Mater- NL4NUS.] FLA'VIUS PHILO'STRATUS. [Philo- STRATUS.] FLA'VIUS PRISCUS. [Priscus.] FLA'VIUS SABI'NUS. [Sabinus.] FLA'VIUS SCEVI'NUS. [Scevinus.] FLA'VIUS SU'BRIUS. [Flavcjs.] FLA'VIUS SULPICIA'NUS. [Sulpicia- NUS.] FLA'VIUS VOPISCUS. [Vopiscus.] FLAVUS, C. AL'FIUS, tribune of the plebs, B.C. 59. During Cicero's consulship Flavus seconded him in his measures against Catiline (Cic. pro Plane. 42), but in his tribunate he was a zealous supporter of all Caesar's acts and laws. (Cic. pro Sest. 53 ; Schol. Bob. in Sesctian. p. 304, in Va- tinian. p. 324, ed. Orelli. ) This seems to have cost Flavus the aedileship. He was, however, praetor, B. c. 54, after at least one repulse. Flavus after- wards appears as quaestor, or special commissioner, at the trial of A. Gabinius (Cic. ad Q. Fr. iii. 1. § 7), and at that of Cn. Plancius (Cic. pro Plane. 17). Cicero always speaks of Flavus as an honest and well-meaning, but mistaken man. [W. B. D.] FLAVUS, A'LFIUS, a rhetorician who flou- rished in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. His reputation attracted to his school the elder Seneca [Seneca], then recently come to Rome from Corduba. Flavus himself was a pupil of Cestiua Pius [CESTius],whora he eclipsed both in practice