Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/798

784 which might interfere with the gratification of his passions, but he was systematically treacherous and cruel, possessed of not one redeeming quality save physical courage and military skill. When he destroyed the helpless family of Maximinus he might plead that he only followed the ordinary usage of Oriental despots in extirpating the whole race of a rival ; but the murders of the unoffending Severianus, of Candidianus the son of his friend and benefactor Galerius, who alone had made him what he was, of Prisca and of Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian [], form a climax of ingratitude and cold-blooded ferocity to which few parallels can be found even in the revolting annals of the Roman empire. (Zosim. ii. 7, 11, 17 — 28 ; Zonar. xiii. 1 ; Aurel. Vict, de Caes. 40, 41, Epit. 40, 41 ; Eutrop. x. 3, 4 ; Oros. vii. 28.)

COIN OP LICINIUS, SENIOR.

 LICI'NIUS, whose full name was, was a son of the emperor Licinius and Constantia [ ; ], and was born 315. On the first of March 317, when not yet twenty months old, he was proclaimed Caesar along with his cousins Crispus and Constantinus, and in 319 was the colleague in the consulship of his uncle Constantine the Great. But the poor boy was stripped of all his honours upon the downfal of his father in 323, and, according to Eutropius, whose account is corroborated by St. Jerome, was put to death in 323, at the same time with the ill-fated Crispus []. It appears from medals that he enjoyed the haughty titles of Jovius and Dominus in common with his father ; but although coins have been described on which he appears with the epithet Augustus we have no reason to believe that he had any formal claim to this designation, which was probably annexed to his name by moneyers in ignorance or flattery. (Aurel. Vict, de Caes. 41, Epit. 41 ; Eutrop. x. 4 ; Zosim. ii. 20 ; Theophan. Chron. ad ann. 315.)

COIN OF LICNIUS, JUNIOR.

 LICI'NIUS CAECI'NA. [.]

 LICI'NIUS GETA. [.]

 LICI'NIUS PRO'CULUS. [.]

 LI'CINUS, a surname in several gentes, is frequently written Licinius ; but in the Capitolini Fasti and on coins we always find Licinus, which is no doubt the correct form, the name of Licinius being subtituted for it, on account of its much greater celebrity. (Comp. Madvig, Opuscula altera, p. 205.)

 LI'CINUS. 1. A Gaul by birth, who Avas taken prisoner in war, and became a slave of Julius Caesar, whose confidence he gained so much as to be made his dispensator or steward. Caesar gave him his freedom, perhaps in his testament, as he is called by some writers the freedman of Augustus, who, we know, carried into execution the will of his uncle. Licinus gained the favour of Augustus, as well as of Julius Caesar, and was appointed by the former, in 15, governor of his native country, Gaul. He oppressed and plundered his countrymen so unmercifully, that they accused him before Augustus, who was at first disposed to treat his favourite with severity, but was mollified by Licinus exhibiting to him the immense wealth which he had accumulated in Gaul, and offering him the whole of it. Licinus thus escaped punishment, and seems, moreover, to have been permitted by Augustus to retain his property. His fortune was so great that his name was used proverbially to indicate a man of enormous wealth, and is frequently coupled with that of Crassus. To gratify his imperial master, Licinus, like many of his contemporaries, devoted part of his property to the erection of a public building, the " Basilica Julia," which he called after the name of his former master. He lived to see the reign of Tiberius. (Dion Cass. liv. 21 ; Suet. Aug. 67 ; Juv, i. 109, with Schol. xiv. 306 ; Pers. ii. 36, with Schol. ; Macrob. Sat. ii. 4 ; Senec. Ep. 119. § 10, 120 § 20 ; Sidon. Ep. v. 7.) There was a splendid marble tomb of Licinus on the Via Salaria, at the second milestone from the city ; in reference to which the following pointed epigram is preserved : — "' Marmoreo Licinus tumulo jacet, at Cato parvo, Pompeius nullo ; quis putet esse deos ? '" (Meyer, Anthol. Lat. vol. i. No. 77, with Meyer's note, p. 31). This tomb is also alluded to by Martial (viii. 3. 6). For an account of this Licinus, see Madvig, Opuscula altera, pp. 202 — 205.

 2. The barber (tonsor) Licinus spoken of by Horace (Ars Poet. 301), must have been a different person from the preceding ; and the scholiast has therefore made a mistake in referring to the barber in the epigram quoted above.

<section end="Licinus 2."/> <section begin="Licinus, Clodius"/>LI'CINUS, CLO'DIUS, a Roman annalist, who lived apparently about the beginning of the first century, as Cicero (de Leg. i. 2. § 6), speaks of him as a successor of Caelius Antipater. [.] The work of Clodius Licinus, the title of which Plutarch (Num. 1) gives in Greek, as, appears to have extended from the taking of Rome by the Gauls to his own time. Plutarch quotes (l. c.) his authority for the destruction of the public records of the city when it was captured by the Gauls ; and we learn from Livy (xxix. 22) that Licinus spoke, in the third book, of the second consulship of Scipio Africanus the elder ; and from a fragment of Appian (Celt. 3), that he gave an account of the defeat of L. Cassius Longinus by the Tigurini, 107. This Clodius is called by Cicero and Plutarch simply Clodius, by Livy Clodius Licinus, and by Appian ; instead of the last, which is evidently corrupt, we should perhaps read Publius Clodius, so that his full name would then be P. Clodius Licinus. This Clodius is frequently confounded with Q. Claudius Quadrigarius. [.] Niebuhr thinks (Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. p. 2) that the passage of Plutarch quoted above refers to Claudius Quadrigarius ; but as Plutarch speaks of him as, it seems <section end="Licinus, Clodius"/>