Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/282

Rh 268 GILDO. pire. His father, Nubel, was a man of power and influence " velut regulus," among the Moorish pro- vincials, and left several sons, legitimate and illegi- timate, of whom Firmus, Zamma, Gildo, Mascezel (written also Mascizel and Mascezil, and, by Zosi- mus, Mao-zceASr/Aoy), Dius, Salmaces, and Mazuca, and a daughter, Cyria, are mentioned by Ara- mianus Marcelliaus. Zamma, who was intimate with Count Romanus, was killed by Firmus ; and the persecution which this murder provoked Ro- manus to institute drove Firmus into revolt (a. d. 372). The revolt, in which Firmus was supported by his sister Cyria and by all his brothers, except Gildo, was quelled by the Count Theodosius, father of the emperor Theodosius the Great. Ma- zuca was mortally wounded and taken in the course of the war, and Firmus destroyed himself. Gildo rendered good service to Theodosius in this war, and thus apparently paved the way for his future advancement. He subsequently attained the offices of Comes Africae, and Magister utriusque militiae per Afri- cam. If we can trust to an expression of Claudian, that Africa groaned under his government for twelve years, his appointment to these offices must date from about A. d. 386, in the reign of Valen- tinian II How he acted when Africa was seized by the rebel Maximus, a. d. 387 or 388, is not known ; but from his continuing to hold the govern- ment of the province after the revolt of Maximus was quelled, itis probable that he continued faithful. The Codex Theodosianus (9. tit. 7. s. 9) shows that he possessed his high offices in A. D. 393. In the war of Tlieodosius against Arbogastes and Eugenius (a. d. 394), Gildo acted very ambiguously. It is pro- bable that he professed allegiance to Theodosius, but did not send to him any contributions of ships, money, or men. Claudian intimates that Theodosius, irritated by this, proposed to attack him, but was prevented by death. In A. D. 397 Gildo was instigated by Eutropius the eunuch to transfer his allegiance and that of his province from the western to the eastern em- pire, and the emperor Arcadius accepted him as a subject. Stilicho, guardian of Honorius, was not disposed quietly to allow this transfer, and the matter was laid before the Roman senate, which proclaimed Gildo an enemy, and denounced war against him. Just about this time, Mascezel, brother of Gildo, either disapproving his revolt, or having had his life attempted by him, fled into Italy, leav- ing in Africa two sons, who were serving in the array there, and whom Gildo forthwith put to death. Mascezel, who had shown soldierly qua- lities in the revolt of Firmus, was placed by Sti- licho at the head of the troops (apparently 5000 in number, thoufjh Zosimus speaks of "ample forces"), sent against Gildo (a. d. 398). Mascezel, who was a Christian, took with him several monks ; and his prayers, fastings, and other religious exercises, were very constant. He landed in Africa, and marched to a place between Thebeste in Numidia and Metridera in Africa Proper, where he was met by Gildo, who, though not yet fully prepared for defence, had assembled an irregular army of 70,000 men, partly Roman troops who had revolted with him, partly a motley assembly of African tribes. Mascezel, whose enthusiasm was excited by a dream, in which St. Ambrose, lately deceased at Mdan, appeared to him and promised him victory, easily routed the forces of his brother ; and Gildo, GISCO. who had managed to escape to the sea, was driven by contrar}' winds into the harbour of Tabraca, and being taken and imprisoned, put an end to his own life by hanging himself (a. d. 398). If any confidence may be placed in the represent- ations of Claudian, Gildo was a tj'rant detestable alike for cruelty, lust, and avarice: the poet describes him as worn out with age at the time of his revolt. He was a Pagan, but his wife and his daughter Salvina (who had been married some- where about A. D. 390 to Nebridius, nephew of Flacilla [Flacilla], first wife of the emperor Theodosius the Great, and had been left a widow with two children,) were ladies of approved piety, as was also Cyria, sister of Gildo, who had devoted herself to a life of perpetual virginity. Mascezel did not long survive his brother. He was received by Stilicho on his return with appa- rent honour and real jealousy, and while crossing a bridge, apparently at Milan, among the retinue of Stilicho, was, by his order, shoved, as if acci- dentally, into the river, carried away by the stream,* and drowned. Orosius regards his death as a divine judgment for his having been puffed up with pride at his victory, and having forsaken the society of the monks and religious persons with whom he before kept company, and especially for having dragged some accused persons out of a church, where they had taken sanctuary. This change of demeanour excites a suspicion that his former exercises of piety were a feint to excite the enthusiasm of his own army, or act upon the superstitious fears of his opponents. (Amm. Marc. xxix. 5; Oros. vii. 36 ; Zosim. v. 1 1 ; Marcellin. Chron. ; Claudian, de Bell. Gildon., and de Laudihus Stilichonis^ lib. i. ; Hieronymus, Epist. Ixxxv., ad Salvinain, vol. iv. cOi. 663, ed. Benedict ; Tillemoat, Hist, des Ernp. vol. V. ; Gibbon, c. 29.) [J. C. M.] GILLO. 1. Q. FuLVius Gillo, a legate of Scipio Africanus I., in Africa, by whom he was sent to Carthage in B. c. 203. Gillo was praetor in B. c. 200, and obtained Sicily as his province. (Liv. XXX. 21, xxxi. 4, 6.) 2. Cn. Fulvius (Gillo), probably a son of the preceding, was praetor in B. c. 1.67, and had the province of Hispania Citerior. (Liv. xlv. 16.) GILL US (r/AAos), a Tarentine, ransomed the Persian nobles, who had been sent by Dareius Hystaspis on an exploring expedition with Demo- cedes, and who, on their return from Crotona, had been cast on the lapygian coast, and reduced to slavery. Dareius offered Gillus any recompence he pleased, whereupon he requested the king's inter- position to restore him to his native city, from which he had been banished ; and he begged at the same time that this might be effected quietly through the mediation of the Cnidians, between whom and the Tarentines there was friendship, arising probably from their common origin. The attempt to procure his recal was made without success. (Herod, iii. 138; Miiller, Dor. i. 6. § 12.) [E. E.] GISCO or GISGO {T'kxkuiv or ViaKuv). 1. A son of the Hamilcar who was killed in the battle of Himera, b. c. 480. In consequence of the ca- lamity suffered by the Carthaginians under his father's command, Gisco was compelled to quit his native city, and spend his life in exile at Selinus. He was father of the Hannibal who commanded the second Carthaginian expedition to Sicily, b. c. 409. (Diod. xiii. 43 ; Just. xix. 2.)