Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/317

Rh GRATIANUS. He associated with a few of the Alans, whom he made his friends and followers, and travelled hiibited in their garb. This deportment excited the contempt of the army. While thus unpopular, a competitor for the empire suddenly appeared in the person of Maximus, a man of energy and repu- tation, who was elected by the legions in Britain, and at once crossed over into Gaul, and defeated Gratian somewhere near Paris. Deserted by his troops, and, according to some, betrayed by his general, Mellobaudes, or Merobaudes, Gratian fled in the direction of Italy, but being excluded by the inhabitants of the cities in his route, was overtaken and slain apparently near Lugdunum or Lyon, by Andragathius, whom Maximus had sent in pursuit of him. (25 Aug. 383.) In his last extremity he called upon the name of Ambrose. Zosimus places his death near Singidunum, now Belgrade, on the borders of Pannonia and Maesia. Maximus re- fused to give up his body to his brother Valentinian for burial ; but subsequently, probably on the overthrow of Maximus, it was removed and interred at Milan. Sozomen and Socrates, followed by Theophfines, describe the stratagem by which Andragathius succeeded in killing him, and though their story is improbable enough, it perhaps origi- nated in some treachery actually employed. Gratian was twice married. 1. About A. D. 374 or 375, to Flavia Maxima Constantia, daughter of the emperor Constantius II., by whom he appears to have had a son, of whom nothing is known. Constantia died about six months before her hus- band. 2. To Laeta, of whom little -is known, and who survived him. (Amm. Marc, xxvii. 6, xxviii. 1, xxix. 6, XXX. 10, xxxi. 9, 10 ; Aurel. Vict. Epit. c. 45, 47, 48; Ores. vii. 32, 33, 34 ; Zosim. vi. 12, 19, 24, 34, 35, 36 ; Zonar. xiii. 17 ; Marcellin. Prosper Aquit., Prosper Tiro, Chronica; Idatius, Chronicon and Fasti ; Theophan. Chronograph, vol. i. pp. 85 — 106, ed. Bonn ; Socrat. H. E. iv. 31, v. 2, 11 ; Sozom. H. E. vi. 36, vii. 1,13; Rufinus, //. E. xi. 13, 14 ; Sulpic. Severus, Histor. Sacra, ii. 63 ; Themist. Orat. xiii.; Auson. Epigr. 1, 2, Gratiarum Actio pro Consulatu ; Ambros. De Fide Prolog. Epistolae 11, 17, 21, Consolaiio de Ohitu Valentin, c. 79, ed. Benedictin. ; Tillemont, Hist, des Emp. vol. v. ; Gibbon, ch. 25, 26, 27 ; Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 157.) GRATIDIUS. 303 COIN OP THE EMPEROR GRATIANUS. 3. Theodosius the Great appears to have had a son Gratianus by his second wife Galla [Galla, No. 2] : the child died before his father. (Ambros. Epistol. 17, De Ohitu Theodos. c. 40, ed. Bene- dictin., with the editor's notes in both places.) 4. A usurper, who assumed the purple in Bri- tain, on the murder of the previous usurper, Marcus. Of his history and condition before his elevation we know nothing more than is intimated by the tei-m Municeps Britanniae, applied to him by Orosius and Bede,from which we may infer that he was a native of the island ; and from his being the object of the soldiers' choice, it is probable he was a military man. He was murdered by the troops who had raised him to the purple about four months after his elevation (a. d. 407), and was succeeded by Constantino. [Constantinus, the tyrant, vol. I. p. 830.] (OljTnpiod. apud Phot. BUjL Cod. 80 ; Zosim. vi. 2 ; Ores. vii. 40 ; Sozom. H. E. ix. II; Baeda, //. ^. i. II.) [J. C. M.] GRATI'DIA. a sister of M. Gratidius [No. 1] of Arpinum, was married to M. TuUius Cicero, the grandfather of the orator. (Cic. de Leg. iii. 16.) [L. S.] GRATIDIA'NUS, M. MA'RIUS, the son of M. Gratidius [No. 1], but his name shows that he was adopted by one Marius, probably a brother of the great Marius. He was a very popular speaker, and able to maintain his ground even in very tur- bulent assemblies. Owing to his popularity, he was twice invested with the praetorship, and in one of them he proposed an edict concerning the coinage (edictum de re ntcmmaria), which raised his favour with the people still higher. During the proscriptions of Sulla, he was killed by Catiline in a most cruel and brutal manner, and his head was carried in triumph through the city. Cicero was connected with him by intimate friendship. (Cic. Brut. 62, de Leg. iii. 16, de Of. iii. 16, 20, de Petit. Cons. 3, de Orat. i. 39, ii. 65 ; Ascon. in Cic. in tog. cand. p. 84, ed. Orelli ; Senec. de Ira, 3 Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 9.) [L. S.] GRATI'DIUS, the name of a family of Arpi- num, of which a few members are known in the last century of the Roman republic. 1. M. Gratidius, proposed in B.C. 115 a.lex tabellaria at Arpinum, which was opposed by M. Tullius Cicero, the grandfather of the orator, who was married to Gratidia, the sister of M. Grati- dius. The question respecting the lex tabellaria was referred to the consul of the year, M. Aemilius Scaurus, who seems to have decided in favour of Cicero, for it is said that Scaurus praised his sen- timents and his courage. (Cic. de Leg. ii. 16.) According to Cicero {Brut. 45), Gratidius was a clever accuser, well versed in Greek literature, and a person with great natural talent as an orator ; he was further a friend of the orator M. Antonius, and accompanied him as his praefect to Cilicia, where he was killed. In the last-mentioned pas- sage Cicero adds, that Gratidius spoke against C. Fimbria, who had been accused of extortion. (Val. Max. viii. 5. ^ 2.) This accusation seems to refer to the administration of a province, which Fimbria undertook in b. c. 103 (for he was consul in B. c. 104), so that the accusation would belong to B. c. 1 02, and more particularly to the begin- ning of that year, for in the course of it M. Anto- nius undertook the command against the pirates, and M. Gratidius, who accompanied him, was killed. (Comp. J. Obsequens, Prodig. 104; Dru- mann, Gesch. Boms, vol. i. p. 61, who, however, places the campaign of M. Antonius against the pirates one year too early.) 2. M. Gratidius, perhaps a grandson of No. 1, was legate of Q. Cicero in his administration of the province of Asia. In one passage (Cic. ad Quint, fr. i. 4), a Gratidius is mentioned as tribune of the people in B. c. 57, which has in itself nothing improbable ; but as the name Gratidius is not men- tioned elsewhere among the tribunes of that year, whose names occur very frequently, it is usually supposed that in the passage just referred to, Gra- tidius is a false reading for Fabricius. (See Cic