Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1241

Rh VARUS. and it is conjectured that he may have been the jurist's son. It is impossible to determine what credit is due to the scholiast on Horace : he must have found the story somewhere, or have invented it. Indeed he and other scholiasts do sometimes favour us with a commentary which tells us nothing more than the text. On this question, a note of Wieland (No. 12) to his translation of the Satires of Horace may be consulted. The fact of an Alfonus being a native of Cremona, and of an Alfenus having been a pupil of Servius,and a learned jurist, and of an Alfenus having been consul, is quite enough to enable a scholiast with the assist- ance of the passage in Horace to fabricate the whole story of Alfenus, as he has given it. There are fifty -four excerpts in the Digest from the forty books of the Digesta of Alfenus ; but it is conjectured that Alfenus may have acted only as the editor of a work of Servius. It appears from tlie fragments of Alfenus, that he was acquainted with the Greek language, and these fragments show that he wrote in a pure and perspicuous style. A passage which appears in the Digest (5. tit. 1. s. 76), shows that he was not a stranger to the speculations of the philosophers. According to Gellius (vi. 5), Alfenus was somewhat curious in matters of antiquity, and Gellius quotes a passage from the thirty-fourth book of his Digest in which Alfenus mentions one of the terms of a treaty be- tween the Romans and the Carthaginians. Alfenus is often cited by the later jurists. The fragments in the Digest are taken from the second to the seventh book of the Digest, and there are frag- ments from the eighth book taken from the epitome by Paulus. The entire number of books appears from the Florentine Index ; the passage in Gel- lius quotes the thirty-fourth book ; and a passage of Paulus (Dig. 3. tit. 5. s. 21) cites the thirty-ninth book. Whether the epitome of Paulus went further than the eighth book or not, is uncertain. The epitome of Paulus is sometimes cited, " Libri epi- tomarum Alfeni Digestorum," sometimes with the omission of the word "Digestorum," and some- times tlius, " Libri Dig. Alfeni a Paulo epitoma- torum." The passage in Gellius (vi. 5), " Alfenus ... in libro Digestorum trigesimo et quarto, Conjecta- neorum (Conlectaneorum is perhaps the better reading) autem secundo," &c., has given rise to some discussion. It is clear that the passage in the Conlectanea is attributed to Alfenus, for the words are " Alfenus says in the Digest and in the Conlectanea ;" and it is also clear that only one passage is meant ; or at most the same passage is referred to as being in two different works. But apparently only one work is meant, and therefore we must conclude that the Digesta, which consisted of forty books, contained a subdivision called the Collectanea. Some critics have conjectured that the Conlectanea is the compilation of Aufidius Namusa [Namusa], so that the passage cited by Gellius appeared both in the original work of Alfenus, and in the copious compilation of Namusa, which is made from Alfenus and other pupils of Servius. (Grotius, Vitae Jurisconstdt. ; Puchta, Inst. i. 428 ; Zimmern, Geschichtc des Rom. Privut- rechts, i. 295.) [G. L.] VARUS, ALFE'NUS or ALFE'NIUS, per- haps a descendant of the jurist, was one of the generals of Vitellius, in the civil war in a. d. Qd. He served imder Fabius Valens as praefect of the VARUS. 1229 camp, when the latter marched with the Vitellian troops from Germany to Italy, and he fought at the decisive battle of Bedriaciun, which secured the empire for Vitellius. When Caecina, who had been sent to oppose the generals of Vespasian, deserted the cause of Vitellius, the latter appointed Varus praefectus praetorio in place of P. Sabinus, who was a friend of the traitor Caecina. After the defeat of the Vitellian troops at Cremona, Varus was sent, along with Julius Priscus, at the head of the praetorian cohorts and some other troops to guard the passes of the Apennines ; but on the approach of the Vespasian army, the soldiers of Varus and Priscus deserted in such numbers to the enemy, that they were obliged to abandon their camp and return to Rome. Varus survived the fall of his master, and also, according to the words of Tacitus, ignaviae infamiaeque suae superfuit, (Tac. Hist. ii. 29, 43, iii. 36, B5, 61, iv. 11.) VARUS, A'RRIUS, served as praefectus of a cohort under Corbulo in the war against the Par- thians A. D. 54, in which he obtained the character of a brave and skilful officer. He was said to have calumniated Corbulo to Nero, and to have been advanced in consequence to the rank of chief centurion {primum pilum adepio). At the death of Nero he held this rank in the seventh legion, which was stationed in Pannonia under the com- mand of Antonius Primus, whom he cordially sup- ported, when the latter espoused the cause of Vespasian, and resolved to march into Italy against Vitellius. After Vitellius had been slain, and Primus had obtained possession of Rome, Varus was appointed commander of the praetorian troops (Praefectus Praetorio), and received the insignia of the praetorship. Upon the arrival of Mucia- nus shortly afterwards, who was jealous both of Primus and of Varus, the latter was deprived of the command of the praetorian troops, which was assumed by Mucianus himself, but Varus, as a compensation, was made Praefectus Annonae. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 9, Hist. iii. 6, 16, 52, iv. 2, 4, 11, 39, 68.) VARUS, A'TIUS. 1. P. Atius Varus, a zealous partisan of Pompey in the civil war. He had already held the office of praetor, but in what year is uncertain, and had obtained Africa as his province. (Caes. B. C. i. 31 ; Cic. pro Ligar. 1.) On the breaking out of the civil war at the begin- ning of B. c. 49, he was stationed in Picenum at the head of a considerable force. At first he took up his quarters at Cingulum, and afterwards at Auximum ; but on Caesar's approach, the inhabit- ants of Auximum declared themselves so strongly in favour of Caesar, that Vanis was obliged to evacuate the town, and on his retreat was deserted by most of his own troops. While stationed at Auximum he had levied soldiers throughout Pice- num, and with some of these levies he joined Pompey in Apulia. When Pompey resolved to leave Italy, Varus crossed over into Africa, and took possession of the province, which was then governed by Q. Ligarius, who was only the legate of Considius Longus. [Ligarius.] In conse- quence of his having been propraetor of Africa a iew years previously. Varus was well acquainted with the coimtry and the people, and was thus able to raise two legions without much difficulty. Meantime L. Aelius Tubero, who also belonged to the Pompeian party, and who had been appointed by the senate to succeed Considius Longus in the