Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/940

Rh 926 MARCELLINUS. MARCELLA, was a wife or mistress of the poet Martial, to whom he has addressed two epi- grams (xii. 21, 31). She was a native of Spain, and brought him as her dowry an estate. As Martial was married previously to Cleopatra {Ep. iv. 22, xi. 43, 104), he espoused Marcella probably after his return to Spain about A. D. ^Q. [ W.B.D.] MARCELLI'NUS, the author of the life of Thucydides. [Thucydides.] MARCELLI'NUS, a friend of Martial, who addressed to him three short poems while Mar- cellinus was travelling or with the legions on the Dacian frontier. (^Ep. vi. 25, vii. 80, ix. 46.) [W. B. D.] MARCELLI'NUS, the chief minister of the usurper Magnentius, first appears in history as Praefcctus Orientis, in A. D. 340, and is probably the Marcellinus who stands in the Fasti as consul the following year. Pie was Comes Sacrarum Largitionum under Constans, and the most active promoter, if not the first contriver of the conspii-acy by which that prince was destroyed (a. d. 350). Marcellinus, now holding the rank of Mayister Officiorum and general in chief of the troops, was employed by the usurper to suppress the insurrec- tion of Nepotianus, on which occasion he displayed the most savage cruelty towards the wealthier and more distinguished inhabitants of Rome. He sub- sequently headed the embassy despatched to offer terms of peace and alliance to Constantius, and is said to have been seized and detained by the in- dignant emperor, but we find him soon afterwards at liberty, commanding the armies of the West, and he probably perished at the great battle of Mursa, A. D. 351. Marcellinus is represented by Julian as animated by the most violent and implacable hostility towards all the members of the house of Constan- tine, and as the master rather than the servant of Magnentius. [Constans I. ; Constantius ; Mag- nentius ; Vetranio ; Nepotianus,] (Codex Theod. Chron. p. 41 ; Julian, Oral. i. 2 ; Zosim. ii. 41—54 ; Aurel. Vict. Epit. 41.) [W. R.] MARCELLI'NUS, or MARCELLIA'NUS (MapKeWiavos, Procop.), a Roman officer, who acquired for himself in the fifth century an inde- pendent principality in Illyricum. He was a friend of the patrician Aetius, on whose assassination, A. D. 454 [Aetius], he appears to have renounced his allegiance to the contemptible emperor Valen- tinian III. [Valentinianus III. Aug.] ; and having gathered a force, established himself in Dal- matia and the other parts of Illyricum. (Procop. De Bell. Fandal, i. 6.) After the assassination of Valentinian, whether before the election or after the deposition of Avitus is not clear [Avitus], a conspiracy of the young nobles was formed under the restless Paeonius to raise Marcellinus to the empire, but without success. (Sidon. Apollin. Epistol. i. 11.) During the reign of Majorian, Marcellinus appears to have recognized his autho- rity ; and the title of Patricius Occidentis, which Marcellinus bore, was perhaps conferred at this time. He marched with a body of troops, chiefly or entirely Goths, to the assistance of Majorian against the Vandals, and was posted in Sicily to defend that island from invasion ; but the patrician Ricimer, jealous of Marcellinus, employed his superior wealth in bribing his soldiers to desert hira ; and Marcellinus, fearing some attempt on his life, withdrew in anger from Sicily, which was left MARCELLINUS. defenceless, and returned apparently to Illvricum, This was probably in a.d. 461 or 462, after Majo- rian 's death. (Priscus, Historia^ apud Excerpta de Legationibus Gentium ad Rovianos., c. 14, and Ro- vianorum ad Gentes^iC 10.) The Western empire, which had passed into the hands of Severus, now apprehended an attack from Marcellinus, but he was prevailed on to give up any hostile purpose by the mediation of the Eastern emperor, Leo, who sent Phylarchus as ambassador to him. (Priscus, ibid.) In a. d. 464 he was engaged in the defence of Sicily, from which he drove out the Vandals (Idatius, Chronicon) ; and apparently, in 468, at the request of Leo, drove the same enemy from Sardinia (Procopius, I. c). About the time of the expedition of Basiliscus [Basiliscus] against Carthage (a. d. 468), he was again in Sicily, act- ing with the Romans against the Vandals, when he was assassinated by his JiUies (Marcellin. Cuspinian. Cassiodor. Chronica). Genseric, the Vandal king, who regarded him as his most formidable enemy, rejoiced exceedingly at his death, and re- peated the saying, that " the Romans had cut off their right hand with their left." (Damascius, Vita hidor. apud Phot. Biblioth. Cod. 242.) Mar- cellinus was a heathen (Damascius, I. c), a man of learning, and the friend of Sahistius, the Cynic philosopher. He was given to divination, in which he had the reputation of being highly skilled ; and was eminent for statesmanship and military skill, of which his establishment and maintenance of his independent position, unstained by any great crime, is a sufficient proof. He governed his principality equitably (Suidas, s. v. MapKevos) ; and perhaps transmitted it to his family ; for his nephew, Julius Nepos [Nepos], when driven from the Western empire by the patrician Orestes [Orestes], re- tained some territory and the imperial title in Illy- ricum, where he was assassinated some years after. [Glycerius.] The ancient authorities for the life of Marcellinus have been cited : of modems, Gibbon (Decline and Fall, &c. c. 36) and Tille- mont (Hist, des Empereurs, vol. vi.) may be con- sulted : but we doubt whether either of them has accurately digested the scattered notices of the an- cients. [J. C. M.] MARCELLI'NUS, AMMIA'NUS. [Am- MIANUS.] MARCELLI'NUS, BAE'BIUS, aedile b.c. 203, was unjustly and for a ridiculous reason con- demned to death in that year. (Dion Cass. Ixxvi. 8,9.) MARCELLI'NUS, CLAU'DIUS, an orator who pleaded on the defendant's side at the im- peachment of Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, and replied to Pliny. (Plin. Ep. ii. 1 1 ; comp. Juv. Sat. i. 49, viii. 120.) [W. B. D.] MARCELLI'NUS COMES, so called on ac- count of the office of comes, which he held pro- bably at Constantinople, was a native of Illyricum, and is said to have written " IV. Libri de Tem- porum Qualitatibus et Positionibus Locorum,'* which is much praised by Cassiodorus (De Institu- tione Divinarnm Liter.., c. 7), but which is lost. He wrote besides a short " Chronicon," which be- gins with the consulship of Ausonius and Olybrius, or the accession of Theodosius the Great, in a.d. 379, and goes down to the accession of Justin I., in 518. This is the original work of Marcellinus as published in the editio princeps by Sconhovius. Another writer continued the work till the fourth