Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/544

Rh 530 HOSTILIA. It is uncertain to what Hosidius Geta the annexed coin refers. [W. B. D] COIN OF HOSIDIUS GETA. HOSI'DIUS GETA, the poet. [Geta.] HOSPITA'LIS, the guardian or protector of the law of hospitality. We find the title of dii hospi- to/es as applied to a distinct class of gods, though their names are not mentioned. (Tacit. Ann. xv. 62; Liv. xxxix. 51 ; Ov. Met. v. 45.) But the great protector of hospitality was Jupiter, at Rome called Jupiter hospitalis, and by the Greeks Zei)v ^evios. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 140 ; Cic. ad Q. frat. ii. 12 ; Horn. Od. xiv. 389.) [L. S.] HOSTILIA'NUS. Certain coins, belonging to the reign of Decius, bear upon the obverse a repre- sentation of the emperor and his wife Etruscilla, with the legend concordia augustorum, while the reverse exhibits the portraits of two youths, with the words pietas augustorum. One of these individuals is unquestionably Herennins Etruscus [Etruscus], and other medals taken in connection with inscriptions prove that the second must be C. Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus, to which Victor adds Perpenna^ who after the defeat and death of Decius and Etruscus (a. p. 251) [Decius] was associated in the purple with Tre- bonianus Gallus, and died soon afterwards, either of the plague at that time ravaging the empire, or by the treachery of his colleague. So obscure and contradictory, however, are the records of this period, that historians have been unable to deter- mine whether this Hostilianus was the son, the son-in-law, or the nephew of Decius. A view of the different arguments will be found in the works of Tillemont and Eckhel, but the question seems to be in a great measure decided by the testimony of Zosimus, who distinctly states that Decius had a son, whom he does not name, in addition to Etruscus, and that this son was assumed by Tre- bonianus as his partner in the imperial dignity. We must not omit to notice, at the same time, that a reign of two years is assigned to a Hostili- anus, placed by Cedrenus (p. 451, ed. Bonn) im- mediately before Philip. (Victor, de Cues. 30, Epit. 30; Eutrop. ix. 5 ; Zosim. i. 25 ; Zonar. vol. i. p. 625, ed. Par. 1687 ; Tillemont, Histoire des Einpereurs, vol. iii. ; Eck- hel, vol. vii. p. 350.) [W. R.] coin of hostilianus. HOSTI'LIA QUARTA, was married first to Cn. Fulvius Flaccus, by whom she had a son. Q. Fulvius Flaccus [Flaccus, Q. Fulvius, No. 9], and secondly, to C. Calpiirnius Piso, consul in B. c. 180. She was accused and convicted of poisoning HOSTILIUS. " her second husband, in order that her son by the first marriage might succeed him in the consulship. (Liv. xl. 37.) [W. B. D.] HOSTI'LIA GENS came originally from Me- dullia, and was probably transported thence to Rome by Romulus. (Dionys. iii. 1.) It is uncertain whether the Hostilia gens under the republic traced their descent from this source ; but two coins of L. Hostilius Saserna, bearing the heads of Pallor and Pavor, indicate such an origin, since Tullus Hostilius, in his war with Veil and Fidenae, vowed temples to Paleness and Panic. (Liv. i. 27 ; Lac- tant. i. 20 ; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, iv. 15, 23, vi. 10.) The Hostilia gens had the surnames Cato, Firminus (see below), Mancinus, Rutilus, Sa- serna, and TuBULUS. [W. B. D.] HOSTI'LIUS. 1 . Hostus Hostilius, of Me- dullia, was the first of the Hostilian name at Rome. He married the Sabine matron Hersilia [Hersilia], by whom he had a son, the father of Tullus Hosti- lius, third king of Rome. In the war that sprung from the rape of the Sabine women, Hostilius was the champion of Rome, and fell in battle. (Liv. i. 12 ; Dionys. iii. 1. Macrob. Sat. i. 6.) 2. Tullus Hostilius, grandson of the pre- ceding, was the third king of Rome. Thirty-two years — from about B. c. 670 to 638 — were assigned by the annalists to his reign. According to the legends, his history ran as follows : — Hostilius departed from the peaceful ways of Numa, and aspired to the martial renown of Romulus. He made Alba acknowledge Rome's supremacy in the war wherein the three Roman brothers, the Ho- ratii, fought with the three Alban brothers, the Curiatii, at the Fossa Cluilia. Next he warred with Fidenae and with Veil, and being straitly pressed by their joint hosts, he vowed temples to Pallor and Pavor — Paleness and Panic. And after the fight was won, he tore asunder with chariots Mettius Fufetius, the king or dictator of Alba, be- cause he had desired to betray Rome; and he utterly destroyed Alba, sparing only the temples of the gods, and bringing the Alban people to Rome, where he gave them the Caelian hill to dwell on. Then he turned himself to war with the Sabines, M who, he said, had wronged the Roman merchants ^ at the temple of Feronia, at the foot of Mount Soracte ; and being again straitened in fight in a wood called the Wicked Wood, he vowed a yearly ; festival to Saturn and Ops, and to double the number of the Salii, or priests of Mamers. And when, by their help, he had vanquished the Sabines, he per- formed his vow, and its records were the feasts Saturnalia and Opalia. But while Hostilius thus warred with the nations northward and eastward of the city, he leagued himself with the Latins and with the Hernicans, so that while he was besieging Veil, the men of Tusculum and of Anagnia en- camped on the Esquiline hill, and kept guard over Rome, where the city was most open. Yet, in his old days, Hostilius grew weary of warring ; and when a pestilence struck him and his people, and a shower of burning stones fell from heaven on Mount Alba, and a voice as of the Alban gods came forth from the solitary temple of Jupiter on its summit, he remembered the peaceful and happy days of Numa, and sought to win the favour of the gods, as Numa had done, by prayer and divination. But the gods heeded neither his prayers nor his charms, and when he would inquire of Jupiter Elicius, Jupiter was wroth, and smote Hostilius and his