Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/190

Rh 176 FLORENTIUS. Tatius (Varro, de L. L. v. 74), and Niima ap- pointed a flamen to her. The resemljlance between the names Flora and Chloris led the later Romans to identify the two divinities. Her temple at Rome was situated near the Circus Maximus (Tac. Ann. ii. 49), and her festival was celebrated from the 28th of April till the first of Maj-, with ex- travagant merriment and lasciviousness. {Did. of Ant. s. V. Floralia.) [L, S.] FLORENXrNUS, a jurist, who is named by Lampridius {Akxand. 68.) as one of the council of the emperor Severus Alexander ; and, though this authority would otherwise be entitled to little weight, it is supported by a rescript of the emperor Alexander to A. Florentinus, which is preserved in Cod. 3. tit. 28. s. 8. He wrote Institutiones in 12 books ; and his work, which was composed with much elegance, acuteness, and learning, was not neglected by the compilers of Justinian's In- stitutes. This is the only work by which he is known ; and there are 43 pure extracts from it preserved in the Corpus Juris. These have been separately commented upon by M. Schmalz, in a dissertation entitled Fiorentini Instituiionum Frag- menta Comment, illustrata, 8vo. Regiom. 1801. The other dissertations upon Florentinus and his remains bear the following titles : — A. F. Rivinus, Fiorentini Jurisprudentiae Testamentariae Reli- quiae in Institut. imp. Justin, repertae et Notis illustratae, 4to. Vitemb. 1752 ; Chr. G. Jaspis, De Florentino ejusque eleganti Doct7-i?ia, 4to. Chemnic. 1753 ; C. F. Walchius, De Philosophia Fiorentini, 4to Jena. 1754, et in Opusculis, vol. i. p. 337-346; Jos. Th. Mathews, De Florentino [do, ejusqiie sex libris priorihus Institut io7ium, 4to. Lug. Bat. 1801. Like the more celebrated writer of Institutes, Gains, he is not cited by any sub- sequent jurist, or, at least, no such citation has reached us. [J. T. G.] FLORENTI NUS, the author of a panegyric in thirty-nine hexameters, on the glories of the Vandal king Thrasimund and the splendour of Carthage under his sway, must have flourished about the close of the fifth century. These verses, which are expressed in harsh and almost barbarous phraseology, present nothing except a cumbrous tissue of coarse flattery. [Felix Flavius ; Lux- ORius.] {Antholog. Lat. vi. 85, ed. Burmann, or n.290,ed. Meyer.) [W. R.] FLORENTI'NUS, a Byzantine writer of un- certain age, but who lived in or before the tenth century of the Christian era, is said to be the author of the Geojwnica, which are generally ascribed to Bassus Cassianus. [W. P.] FLORE'NTIUS, praetorian prefect of Gaul in the reign of Constantius II., by the unscrupulous tyranny of his financial administration, excited the indignation of Julian, who refused to ratify his ordinances. When the embarrassing order arrived for the legions to march to the east [JulianusJ, Florentius, that he might escape the responsibility of compliance or disobedience, remained obstinately at Vienna, busily engaged, as he pretended, in the discharge of official duties ; but upon receiving intelligence of the open revolt of the troops and their choice of an Augustus, he immediately re- paired to the court of Constantius, that he might both display his own fidelity, and at the same time magnify the guilt of the rebel prince. In recom- pense of this devotion, he was forthwith nominated consul for A. D. 361, and appointed praetorian pre- FLORUS. feet of Illyricum, in the room of Anatolius, recently deceased ; but on the death of his patron in the same year (361), he fled, along with his colleague Taurus, from the wrath of the new emperor, during the whole of whose reign he remained in close con- cealment, having, while absent, been impeached and capitally condemned. Julian is said to have generously refused to be informed of the place where his former enemy had sought shelter. (Julian, Epist. 15 ; Amm. Marc. xvi. 12, 14, xvii. 3, 2, XX. 4, 2. 8, 20, xxi. 6, 5, xxii. 3, 6. 7, 5 ; Zosim. iii. 10.) [W. R.] FLORIA'NUS, M. AN'NIUS, the brother, by a diiferent father, of the emperor Tacitus, upon whose decease he at once assumed the supreme power, as if it had been a lawful inheritance. This boldness was to a certain extent successful, for his authority, although not formally acknowledged, was tolerated by the senate and the armies of tlie west. The legions in Syria, however, were not so submissive, but invested their own general, Probus, with the purple, and proclaimed him Augustus. A civil war ensued [Probus], which was abruptly terminated by the death of Florianus, who perished at Tarsus, either by the swords of his soldiers or by his own hands, after he had enjoyed the im- perial dignity for about two months, from April to June or July, a. d. 276. (Zonar. xii. 29 ; Zosim. i. 64 ; Aur. Vict. Cues. 36, 37, Epit. 36 ; Eutrop. ix. 10 ; Vopisc. Florian.) [W. R.] COIN OF florianus. FLORUS, ANNAEUS(?). We possess a summary of Roman history, divided into four books, extending from the foundation of the city to the establishment of the empire under Augustus (a. d. 20), entitled Rerum Romanarum Libri 1 V., or Epitome de Gestis Romanorum, and composed, as we learn from the prooemium, in the reign of Trajan or of Hadrian. This compendium, which must by no means be regarded as an abridgment of Livy, but as a compilation from various authorities, presents within a very moderate compass a striking view of all the leading events comprehended by the above limits. A few mistakes in chronology and geography have been detected here and there ; but the narrative is, for the most part, philosophic in arrangement and accurate in detail, although it has too much the air of a panegyric upon the Roman people. The style is by no means worthy of commendation. The general tone is far too poetical and declamatory, while the sejitiments fre- quently assume the form of tumid conceits ex- pressed in violent metaphors. With regard to the author all is doubt and un- certainty. In many MSS. he is designated as L. Annaeus Florus, in others as L. Julius Florus^ in others as L. Annaeus Seneca, and in one, perhaps the oldest of all, simply as L. Annaeus. Hence some critics have sought to identify him with Julius Florus Secundus, whose eloquence is praised