Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1185

Rh TRIBONIANUS. ap. Cic. ad Fam. viii. 7.) On the breaking out of the civil war Triarius espoused the cause of Pompej', who appointed him and Laelius in b. c. 48 to the command of the ships which were furnished by the province of Asia. He was present at the battle of Pharsalia, and it ia said to have been by his advice that Pompey ordered his troops to stand still and receive the charge of Caesar's soldiers, a mistake in the opinion of his great opponent. Triarius perished in the civil wars, probably in Africa, for Cicero speaks in B. c. 45 of his death, and adds, that Triarius had left him the guardian of his children. (Caes, B. C. iii. 5, 92 ; Cic. Brut. 76, ad Att. xii. 28. § 3.) TRIBONIA'NUS was a son of Macedonianus, according to Suidas. There are in Suidas two articles on Tribonianus, both of which have been supposed to refer to the same person. They are a strange medley of confusion. The first article begins by saying that Tribonianus was a Greek and an atheist, and in all respects averse to the faith of the Christians ; in fact the latter part of the character is an explanation of what the zealot from whom this fragment is taken meant by an atheist. He is further described as a flatterer and a cheat, and as persuading Justinian that he would not die, but would be translated to heaven in the flesh (Suidas, s. v. TpiScoviavos^ ed. Gaisford, and the notes). The foolish compiler seems not to have perceived that a profession of atheism and a promise of heaven to the emperor are hardly consistent things. He is further said to have had great natural powers, and to have made acquirements inferior to those of no man of his age; but he was wonderfully greedy of money, and he sold justice for lucre ; every day he repealed some laws, and made others, selling to each according to his wants. This is taken from Procopius {Persica, i. 24). He lived many years in honour, and died a natural death, having suffered no ill from any one, for he was cunning, and pleasant in his manners, and he threw a shade over his avarice by the abundance of his learning. This is the character which we have of the quaestor of Justinian. The other article appears to be intended by Suidas to refer to another person of the same name, whom he calls a native of Side in Pamphylia, but he also calls him a lawyer or advocate, and a very learned man. He however makes him a contem- porary of Justinian, for one of his works was ad- dressed to the emperor. The list of his works given by Suidas is a list of trifles ; and no legal work is enumerated among them. It may be safely affirmed that Tribonian the jurist was not the author of any of the works enumerated in this second article of Suidas. Tribonianus was successively quaestor, consul, and master of the offices to Justinian. In a. d. 531 he was disgraced in consequence of a popular tumult, but he was soon restored, and remained in office xmtil his death in A. D, 545. His name is recorded among those who made the legal compi- lations of Justinian. In A. D. 528 he was one of the ten commissioners appointed by Justinian to form his first codex : he had at that time the title of " Vir magnificus magisteria dignitate inter agentes decoratus." In a.d. 530 Tribonianus, then quaestor, was commissioned with sixteen others, to compile the Digest or Pandect ; and Tribonianus himself, and the four professors (antecessores) TRICIPTINUS. 1173 Theophilus, Craterus, Dorotheus and Anatolius, were the most active among the commissioners. In December a.d. 533 the Digest was promulgated as law. During the time that he was employed on the Pandect, Tribonianus and the two professors, Theo- philus and Dorotheus, were commissioned to com- pile an Institutional work. Tribonian had at this time the title of " Vir magnificus, magister, et Ex- quaestor sacri palatii nostri " {Instit. Prooemium), and they took as their basis the Institutional work of Gains, and produced the four books of the Insti- tutions of Justinian, which were published in November a.d. 533. The revised or second edition of the Codex was also the work of Tribonianus and four other jurists, and it was published in December A. D. 534. {Constitution Cordi, &c,) It is hardly possible to form any estimate of the services of Tribonianus as distinct from those of the other commissioners. He had the superintend- ence of the Digest, and may have taken the chief part in planning the work ; and to his activity it was owing, that the large collection of juristical writings was made, from which the compilers se- lected the materials for the Digest {Constitution Tanta, &c.). He had a well-stocked library of the old writers on law. As to the compilations made by Tribonian and his associates see the article Justinian us. Gibbon (c. 44) has expanded the scanty and scandalous notices of Procopius {Persica^ i. 23, 24, andAnecdota, 13,20) and Suidas after his peculiar fashion. There is a life of Justinian and Tribonian by J. P. de Ludewig, entitled " Vita Justiniani Magni atque Theodorae nee non Triboniani, Hal. 1731." [G. L.] TRIBU'NUS {Tpi€ovuo5), a very eminent physician, a native of Palestine, and a man of great piety and benevolence. He went to Persia, where he attended on the king, Cosra (or Chos- rolis) I., and returned home laden with mag- nificent presents, probably A. D. 531. When this king was concluding a treaty of peace with the emperor Justinian in the following year, he made it a special request that Tribunus should be al- lowed to stay with him for twelve months. This was agreed to, and when at the end of that time Tribunus was about to take leave of the Persian court, the king told him to ask for any favour that he pleased. The noble-minded physician only begged for the liberation of some Roman captives ; and the king released not only those whom he particularly named, but three thousand others besides (Procop. De Bello Goth. iv. 10 ; Suid. s. V. TpiSovvos). This anecdote will bring to the recollection of an English physician the very similar disinterestedness of Mr.Boughton at the court of the Great Mogul about the middle of the seven- teenth century, which was the origin of the power of the East India Company in Bengal. [W. A. G.] TRICCIA'NUS, DE'CIUS, a soldier of humble origin, who rose to the dignity of governor of Pannonia under Macrinus. He is apparently the same person as the Triccianus, who at a subsequent period was put to death by Elagabalus. (Dion Cass. Ixxviii. 15, Ixxix. 4.) [W. R.J TRICIPTI'NUS, the name of an ancient patri- cian family of the Lucretia gens. 1. Sp. LucRBTius Triciftinus, the father of Lucretia, whose rape by Sex. Tarquinius led to the dethronement of Tarquinius Superbus and the 4 F 3