Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/192

Rh 178 FLORUS. Epit xvii. ; Zonar. viii. 1 1 ; Polyb. i. 24 ; Oros, 1 , 24 ; Fast. Triumph.) [W. B. D.] FLORUS, L. AQUI'LLIUS, a triumvir of the mint under Augustus, whose name occurs on several coins, which are figured below. The ob- verse of the first represents the head of Augustus, and the reverse a flower. The second and third refer to the conquest of Armenia and the recovery of the Roman standards from the Parthians in B. c. 20. The obverse of the second has on it a helmeted head of a female, and the reverse Armenia as a suppliant, kneeling down with outstretched hands, with the legend CaeS-4R Divi F. Arme. Capt. The obverse of the third has a head of the sun, and the reverse a Parthian on his knees, presenting a standard, with the legend Caesar Avgvstvs Sign. Rbce. The obverse of the fourth coin is the same as the second ; the reverse, from the elephants, seems to refer to the same conquests in the East. (Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 142, 143, vol. vi. pp. 94—99.) FLORUS, DOMI'TIUS, whohad been ejected from the senate through the influence ofPlautianus, was restored in the reign of Macrinus, and created tribune of the people. (Dion Cass, Ixx-'iii. 22.) FLORUS, GE'SSIUS, a native of Clazoraenae, succeeded Albinus as procurator of Judaea, a. d. 64 — 65. ^ He owed his appointment to the influ- ence of his wife Cleopatra with the emj ress Pop- paea. The government of Albinus had been op- pressive, but the conduct of Florus Cnjused the Jews to regard it with comparative regret. Without pity or shame, equally crafty and cruH, Fiorus was a systematic plunderer of his province. No gains were too petty, no extortion was too eno.'mous for him. His ravages extended to whole districts, as well as to particular cities and persons : exile was FLORUS. preferable to his government ; and the banditti who infested Judaea purchased impunity by sharing their booty with the procurator. Josephus {Antiq. xviii. 1, § 6, XX. 11, § ], B. J. ii. 14), whom Tacitus confirms {Hid. v. 10), expressly attributes the last war of the Jews with Rome to Floras, and says that he purposely kindled the rebellion m order to cover the enormities of his government. At Caesareia, where in A. D. 65 — %Q^ in the second year of Floras' administration, the insurrection broke out, the Jewish citizens bribed him with eight talents, to secure them ingress into their own synagogue. Florus took the money, and imme- diately quitted Caesareia, abandoning the Jews to the insults and fury of the Greek population. Jew- ish deputies sent from Caesareia to Sebaste, to claim their purchased protection, were thrown into prison by Florus. He abstained from nothing which even the worst of his predecessors had respected. At one time he demanded 17 talents from the temple- treasury in "Caesar's name ;" and twice within a few days he excited a tumult, and ordered a massacre at Jerusalem, in which 3600 persons perished, merely to afford him, amidst the con- fusion, an opportunity of plundering the Temple. The attempt failed, but on this occasion he pub- licly scourged and impaled Roman citizens of equestrian rank, but Jewish birth, although Bere- nice, of the Asmonaean race, and sister of Agrippa II. [Berenice, 2 ; Agrippa Herodes, 2], stood barefooted and in mourning beside his tribunal, supplicating for her cotnitiymen. At the feast of the Passover, April, a. d. 65, three millions of Jews petitioned Cestius Gallus [Gall us], the proconsul of Syria, ai^ainst the tyranny of Festus. But the only redress they obtained was a faint promise of milder treatment, while Florus stood at the proconsul's side, deriding the suppliants, and on his departure ostentatiouslj'' escorted him frr m Jerusalem to Antioch. Hatred to Florus, rather than to Rome, rendered all Agrippa's efforts in A. D. (iQ, to prevent the lebellion of the Jews in- effectual, and, after it broke out, all parties repre- sented Florus as its principal cause. It is doubt- ful whether Florus perished in the insurrection or escaped. His death is recorded by Suetonius ( Vcapas. 4 ; Oros. vii. 9), but not implied by Josephus {Vita^ 6). (Tacit., Joseph. //. <?c., and Antiq. xiv. 9, § 2, XX. 9, § 5, B. J. ii. 15, § 1, ib. 16, § 1 ; Sulpic. Sev. Scicr. Hist. ii. 42 ; Euse- bius, Chronicon. lxvl) He is sometimes called Festus and Cestius Florus. [W. B. D.] FLORUS, JU'LI US, addressed by Horace in two epistles (i. 3, ii. 2), was, as we learn from the poet, attached to the suite of Claudius Tiberius Nero, when that prince was despatched by Augus- tus to place Tigranes upon the throne of Armenia. He was, moreover, according to Porphyrion, the author of satires, or rather, it would seem, the editor of extracts from the satirical works of En- nius, Lucilius, and Varro. It is not improbable that he is the Florus, mentioned as a pupil of M. Porcius Latro by Seneca {Controv. iv. 25), who quotes a passage from one of his pieces, apparently a declamation, entitled FlumininuK We may perhaps identify both with the Julius Florus whom Quintilian (x. 3. § 13) places in the foremost rank among the orators of Gaul, since he eventually practised his profession in that country {quoniam ihi demum earn (sc. eloquentiam) eocercuii)^ and it is not impossible that all three are one and the