Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/856

Rh 842 LUSCINUS. most celebrated stories in Roman history, and sub- sequent poets and historians delighted to embellish the account in every possible way. So much, however, seems certain — that Pyrrhus received the ambassadors in the most distinguished manner, and attempted particularly to gain the favour of Fabricius ; that he offered the ambassador the most splendid presents, and endeavoured to per- suade him to enter into his service, and accompany him to Greece; but that the sturdy Roman was proof against all his seductions, and rejected all his offers. The result of the embassy is differently stated by the ancient writers. [Pvrrhus.] The war was renewed in the following year, B. c. 279, when Fabricius again served as legate, and shared in the defeat at the battle of Asculum, in which he is said to have received a wound. (Oros. iv. 1 ; Flor. i. 18, where he is erroneously called consul.) Next year, B. c. 278, he was elected consul a second time with Q. Aemilius Papus. The victories which Pyrrhus had previously gained were purchased so dearly, that he was unwilling to risk another battle against the Romans, especially when commanded by Fabricius ; the Romans too, who were anxious to recover their dominion over their allies who had revolted, were no less eager for a conclusion of the war. The generosity with which Fabricius and his colleague sent back to the king the traitor who had offered to poison liim, afforded a fair pretext for opening a negotiation ; and so opportunely did this event occur, that Niebuhr conjectures that it was a preconcerted plan. Cineas was sent to Rome, a truce was con- cluded, and Pyrrhus sailed to Sicily, leaving his Italian allies to the vengeance of the Romans. [PvRRHUS.] Fabricius was employed during the remainder of the year in reducing Southern Italy to subjection, and on his return to Rome he celebrated a triumph for his victories over the Lucanians, Bruttians, Tarentines, and Samnites. (Fasti Triumph. ; Eutrop. ii. 14 ; Liv. Epit. 13.) He exerted himself to obtain the election of P. Cornelius Rufinus to the consulship for the follow- ing year, on account of his military abilities, although he was an avaricious man. (Cic. de Oral. ii. QQ.) Fabricius is ^stated in the Fasti to have been consul suffectus in B. c. 273, but this appears to be a mistake, arising from a confusion of his name with that of C. Fabius Licinus. (Pigh. Annul. ad ann.) He was censor, B. c. 275, with Q. Aemilius Papus, his former colleague in the con- sulship, and distinguished himself by the severity with which he attempted to repress the growing taste for luxury. His censorship is particularly celebrated, from his expelling from the senate the P. Cornelius Rufinus mentioned above, on account of his possessing ten pounds' weight of silver plate. (Liv. Epit. 14; Zonar. viii. 6; Gell. xvii. 21.) The love of luxury and the degeneracy of morals, which had already commenced, brought out still roore prominently the simplicity of life and the in- tegrity of character which distinguished Fabricius as well as his contemporary Curius Dentatus ; and ancient writers love to tell of the frugal way in which they lived on their hereditary farms, and how they refused the rich presents which the Samnite ambassadors offered them. Fabricius died as poor as he had lived ; he left no dowry for his daughters, which the senate, however, furnished ; and in order to pay the greatest possible respect to LUSCUS. his memory, the state interred him within the pomaerium, although this was forbidden by an enactment of the Twelve Tables. (Val. Max. iv. 3. § 7; Gell. i. 14 ; Appul. Apol. p. 265, ed. Alt.; Cic. de Leg. ii, 23.) 2. C. Fabricius Luscixus, probably a grandson of the preceding, judging from his praenomen and cognomen, was city praetor b. c. 1 95, and legate B.C. 190, with Sex. Digitius and L. Apustius, to the consul L. Scipio Asiaticus. [Digitius, No. 2.] (Liv. xxxiii. 42, 43, xxxvii. 4.) L. LU'SCIUS, a centurion in the times of Sulla, notorious for his crimes and for the wealth which he acquired by them. Luscius was convicted of three murders during the Sullan proscription, b. c. 81, and condemned b. c. 64. (Ascon. m Tog. Cand. p. 92, ed. Orelli ; comp. Appian, v9. C. i. 101 ; Plut. Sull 33 ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 10.) [W. B. D.] LU'SCIUS, LAVI'NIUS, a Latin comic poet, the contemporary and rival of Terence, who men- tions him several times in the prologues to his plays. (Ter. Eunuch, prol. 7, Heautontim. prol. 30, Phorm. prol. 4.) The name of only one of his plays is known, the plan of which is given by Donatus [ad Ter. Eunuch. I. c.) Vulcatius Sedigitus assigned to Luscius the ninth place in the list of comic poets. (Gell. xv. 24.) LU'SCIUS OCREA. [Ocrea.] LUSCUS, a cognomen of the Annia, Aufidia, and Furia gentes, derived, like so many of the Roman surnames, from a physical imperfection — blear-sight. (Plin. //. A^. x'.'dl. § 55 ; Fest. s. v. Luscitio, p. 120, ed. Miiller.) The Fabricia Gens had a kindred surname. Luscinus. [W. B. D.] LUSCUS, A'NNIUS. 1. T. Annius Luscus, son of T. Annius, captured by the Boian Gauls in B.C. 218 [Annius, No. 3], was sent in b. c. 172, with two other envoys to Perseus, king of Mace- donia, and in b. c. 169 was triumvir for ciugment- ing the colony at Aquileia, in the territory of the Veneti. (Liv. xlii. 25, xliii. 17.) 2. T. Annius T. f. Luscus, son, probably, of the preceding, was consul in b. c. 153 (see Fasti). Cicero mentions him as a respectable orator (Brut. 20). In B. c. 133, Luscus appears among the op- ponents of Tib. Gracchus whom he foiled in the comitia by an insidious question. (Plut. Tib. Gracch. 14.) A few words from one of his speeches are extant in Festus {s. v. Satura). 3. T. Annius T. f. T. n. Luscus, with the ag- nomen RuFUS, was consul in B. c. 128. He was probably a son of the preceding. (Fasti.) 4. C. Annius T. F. T. n. Luscus, perhaps son of the preceding. He was commander of the gar- rison at Leptis, under Q. Metellus Numidicus, in the Jngurtliine uar, b. c. 108. He was afterwards praetor, .and in B.C. 81 was sent by Sulla with proconsular authority against Sertorius. Luscus drove the Sertorians through the passes of the Pyrenees into Spain, and at first by his superior forces, both by land and sea, rendered the situation of Sertorius highly precarious. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 134 ; Plut. Sert. 7 ; Sail. D.J. 77.) [W.B.D.] LUSCUS, AUFI'DIUvS, the chief magistrate at Fundi, ridiculed by Horace, on account of the ridiculous and pompous airs he gave himself when Maecenas and his friends passed through Fundi, in their celebrated journey to Brundisium. Horace calls him praetor ; but as Fundi was a praefectura, and not a municipium, Luscus must have been sent from Rome simply as praefectus, and assumed