Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1234

Rh 1222 VARRO. has given an account {Rheiniscfies Museum^ vol. i. p. 106, fol. Neue Folge, 1842), that a MS. of the Tliyestes was extant in the eighth century of our era. It is from this Codex that we learn that Rufus was the cognomen of Varius ; and it is fur- ther stated that the lliyestes was performed after the return of Augustus from the battle of Actium, and that the poet received a million of sesterces (sestertium decies) for it. (Hor, Sat. i. 9. 23, Carm. i. 6, Ar. Poet, 55 ; Martial, viii. 18, Quintil. x. 1. § 98 ; Macrob. Sat. ii. 4 ; Porphyr. ad Horat. Carm. i. 6 ; Donat. Vit. Virg. xv. § 56.) Weichert has collected with much industry, and combined with much ingenuity all that can be fixed with certainty, or surmised with probability concerning Varius, but he is obliged to acknowledge that with the exception of the few facts detailed above everything which has been advanced, rests upon simple conjecture. See his essay, " De Lucii Varii et Cassii Parmensis Vita et Carminibus," 8vo. Grim. 1836. [W. R.] VA'RRIUS, K. AEMFLIUS K. f. QUI- RINA, an architect, known by an extant inscrip- tion, in which he is described as Architectus Exercit., from which it appears that he devoted especial attention to military engineering, which, among the ancients, was always considered a branch of architecture. (Donati, Supplem. vol. i. p. 38, No. 1 ; Sillig, Catal. Artific. Appendix, s. V. ; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. ScJiorn, p. 422, 2d ed.) [P. S.] VARRO, ATACPNUS. [See below, Varro, P. Terentius.] VARRO, CINGO'NIUS, a Roman senator under Nero, supported the claims of Nymphidius to the throne on the death of Nero, and was put to death in consequence by Galba, being at the time consul designatus. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 45, Hist. i. 6, 37 ; Plut. Galb. 14, 15.) VARRO, RU'BRIUS. [Rubrius, No. 2.] VARRO, TERE'NTIUS. 1. C. Terentius Varro, consul B.C. 216 with L. Aemilius Paulus. Varro is said to have been the son of a butcher, to have carried on business himself as a factor in his early years, and to have risen to eminence by pleading the causes of the lower classes in opposi- tion to the opinion of all good men, (Liv. xxii. 25, foil. ; Val. Max. iii. 4. § 4.) Whether these tales are true or exaggerated, cannot be ascer- tained ; but it may be regarded as certain that he sprung from the lower classes, and was looked upon as the leading champion of the popular party. He cannot have been such a despicable person as Livy represents, for otherwise the senate would not have gone out to meet him after the battle of Cannae to return him thanks because he had not despaired of his country ; nor would he have been employed, as we shall find to have been the case, during the remainder of the war in important military commands. Varro is first mentioned in B. c. 21 7, when he supported the bill for giving to M. Minucius Rufus, the master of the horse, power equal to that of the dictator Q. Fabius Maximus. Varro had been praetor in the year before, and had previously filled the offices of quaestor and of plebeian and curule aedile. The people now re- solved to raise him to the consulship, thinking that it only needed a man of energy and decision at the head of an overwhelming force to bring the war to a close. The aristocracy offered in vain the greatest opposition to bis election ; he was not VARRO. only returned consul, but returned alone, in order that he might preside at the comitia for the elec- tion of his colleague. The other consul chosen was L. Aemilius Paulus, one of the leaders of the aristocratical party. The history of their campaign against Hannibal, which was terminated by the memorable defeat at Cannae, is related elsewhere. [Hannibal, p. 336.] The battle was fought by Varro against the advics of Paulus. The Roman army was all but annihilated. Paulus and almost all the officers perished. Varro was one of the few who escaped, and reached Venusia in safety, with about seventy horsemen. His conduct after the battle seems to have been deserving of high praise. He proceeded to Canusium, where the remnant of the Roman army had taken refuge, and there, with great presence of mind, adopted every precaution which the exigencies of the case re- quired. (Dion Cass. Fragm. xlix. p. 24, Reim.) His conduct was appreciated by the senate and the people, and his defeat was forgotten in the services he had lately rendered. On his return to the city all classes went out to meet him, and the senate retimied him thanks because he had not despaired of the commonwealth. (Liv. xxii. 25, 26, 35—61 ; Polyb. iii. 106— 116 ; Plut. Fab. 14 — 18 ; Appian, Annib. 17 — 26 ; Zonar.ix. 1 ; Val. Max. iii. 4. § 4 ; Oros. iv. 16 ; Eutrop. iii. 10 ; C'lc. Brut. 19, Cato, -20.) Varro continued to be employed in Italy for several successive years in important military com- mands till nearly the close of the Punic war. In B. c. 203, he was one of the three ambassadors sent to Philip in Macedonia, and three years after- wards (b. c. 200) was again sent on an embassy to Africa to arrange the terms of peace with Verraina, the son of Syphax. On his return in the course of the same year, Varro was appointed one of the triumvirs for settling new colonists at Venusia, (Liv. xxiii. 32, xxv. 6, xxvii. 35, xxx. 26, xxxi. 11, 49.) 2. A Terentius Varro, served in Greece in B.C. 189, and was elected praetor in B.C. 184, when he obtained Nearer Spain as his province. He carried on the war with success, defeated the Celtiberi in several battles, and on his return to Rome in b. c. 182, received the honour of an ovation, which is recorded in the Triumphal Fasti. In B. c. 1 72, Varro was sent on an embassy to the lllyrian king Gentius, and in b. c. 167 was one of the ten commissioners appointed to settle the affairs. of Macedonia, in conjunction with Aemilius Paulus • after the conquest of Perseus. (Liv. xxxvii. 48,-j 49, xxxix. 32, 38, 41, 56, xl. 2, 16.) 3. M. Terentius Varro, the celebrated an-j tiquary. See below. 4. M.Terentius Varro Lucullus, consul b.cJ 73, was brother of L. Lucullus, the conqueror oi Mithridates, and was adopted by M. Terentii Varro. An account of him is given under Ltl-I cull us. No. 6. 5. A. Terentius Varro Murbna, is fir mentioned in B. c. 69, when he was a witness ii the case of A. Caecina, whom Cicero defended in^ that year. Cicero mentions him in his correspond- ence as one of his friends. He belonged to the] aristocratical party, and served under Pompey in Greece, in B. c. 48. (Cic. pro Caec. 9, ad Fam. xiii. 22, xvi. 12 ; Caes. B. C. iii. 19.) 6. A Terentius Varro Murena, consul B. c. 23, is spoken of under Murena, No. 7.