Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1245

Rh VATTA. obtained possession of Phaselis in Pamphylia, as well as other places of less importance, in his march through the country; and he then penetrated into Cilicia, where he took the strong fortress of Corycus on the coast. Having thus subdued the strongholds of the pirates on the coast, he resolved to carry his arms against the robber-tribes in the interior of the country, and for this purpose crossed Mount Taurus, which was the first time that a Roman army had passed these mountains. His arms were chiefly directed against the Tsauri, and he laid siege to their capital, Isaura, of which he obtained possession by diverting the course of a river, and thus depriving the inhabitants of water, who were in consequence compelled to surrender. This was reckoned his most brilliant success : his army gave him the title of Imperator, and he ob- tained the surname of Isauricus. After giving Ciiicia and the surrounding country the organiza- tion of a Roman province, he sailed home and entered Rome in triumph in b. c. 74. His triumph was a brilliant one. The people flocked to see the formidable Nicon, and the other leaders of the pirates, who walked in the procession, and also the rich booty which he had obtained in the cap- tured cities and which he congcientiously deposited in the public treasury, without appropriating any portion to himself, after the fashion of most pro- consuls. But brilliant as his success had been, it was not complete ; the pirates were only repressed for a time, and their ravages soon became more formidable than ever. ( Liv. Epit. 90, 93 ; Oros. V. 23 ; Flor. iii. 6 ; Eutrop. vi. 3 ; Strab. xiv. pp. 667, 671 ; Frontin. Strat iii. 7. § 1 ; Cic. Verr. i. 21, iii. 90, v. 26, 30, de Leg. Agr. i. 2, ii. 19 ; Val. Max. viii. 5. § 6 ; comp. Drumann, Gescldchte Roms, vol. iv. pp. 396, 397.) Servilius, after his return, was regarded as one of the leading members of* the senate, and is fre- quently mentioned in the orations and letters of Cicero in terms of great respect. In B. c. 70 he was one of the judices at the trial of Verres ; in B.C. 66 he supported the rogation of Manilius for conferring upon Pompey the command of the war against the pirates ; in B. c. 63 he was a candidate for the dignity of pontifex maximus, but was defeated by Julius Caesar, who had served under him in the war against the pirates ; in the same year he assisted Cicero in the suppression of the Catili- narian conspiracy, and spoke in the senate in favour of inflicting the last penalty of the law upon the conspirators ; in B. c. 57 he joined the other nobles in procuring Cicero's recall from banishment ; in B. c. 56 he opposed the restoration of Ptolemy to his kingdom ; and in b. c. 55 he was censor with M. Valerius Messala Niger. The other oc- casions on which his name occurs do not require notice. He took no part in the civil wars, pro- bably on account of his advanced age, and died in b. c. 44, the same year as Caesar. By the Leges Annales, which were strictly enforced by Sulla, Servilius must have been at the least 43 years of age at his consulship, B. c. 79, and must therefore have been about 80 at the time of his death. The respect in which he was held by his contempo- raries is shown by a striking tale, which is related by Valerius Maximus and Dion Cassius. (Cic. Verr. i, 21, pro Leg. Man. 23, ad Att. xii. 21, rfe Prov. Cons. 1, post Red. ad Quir. 7, post Red. in Sen. 1 0, ad Fam. i. 1, xvi. 23, Philipp ii. 5 ; Val. Max. viii. 5. § 6 ; Dion Cass. xlv. 16.) VOL. III. VAT INI US. 1233 2. P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus, the pnn of the preceding, made Cato his model in younger life, and was reckoned by Cicero among the boni or the supporters of the aristocratical party. (Cic. ad Att. ii. 1. § 10, ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. § 2.) In b. c. 54 he was praetor, when he opposed C. Pomptinua in his endeavour to obtain a triumph. [Pomp- tin us.] On the breaking out of the civil war he deserted the aristocratical party, and in the follow- ing year (b. c, 48) was chosen consul along with Julius Caesar. He was left behind at Rome, while Caesar crossed over to Greece to prosecute the war against Pompey, and in the course of this year he put down with a strong arm the revolutionary attempts of the praetor M. Caelius Rufus, a history of which is given elsewhere [Vol. III. p. 672, b.]. In B.C. 46 he governed the province of Asia as proconsul, during which time Cicero wrote to him several letters {ad Fam. xiii. 66 — 72). After the death of Caesar in B. c. 44, he supported Cicero and the rest of the aristocratical party, in opposi- tion to Antonius, and took a leading part in the debates in the senate during the war at Muiina. (Dion Cass. xli. 43, xlii. 17, 23 ; Appian, B. C. ii. 48 ; Caes. B.C. iii. 21 ; Cic. ad Fam. xii. 2, Phil. vii. 8, ix. 6, xi. 8, xii. 2, 7, xiv. 3, 4.) But he soon changed sides again, though the particulars are not recorded : it was probably when Octavian, who was betrothed to his daughter Servilia (Suet Octav. 62), deserted the cause of the senate, which he had never seriously espoused. Servilius became reconciled to Antonius, probably through the in- fluence of Octavian : accordingly his name did not appear in the proscription lists, and he is called in the letters to Brutus which go under the name of Cicero, " homo furiosus et insolens." On the formation of the triumvirate in b. c. 43, Octavian broke his engagement with Servilia in order to marry Claudia, the daughter of Fulvia, the wife of Antonius ; and it was probably as a compensation for this injury that Servilius was promised the consulship in b. c. 41 with L. Antonius as his col- league. He was at Rome in b. c. 41, when L. An- tonius took possession of the city in the war against Octavian, usually called the Perusinian. Servilius does not appear to have espoused the cause of his colleague, but owing to his want of energy he of- fered no opposition to him. (Pseudo-Cic. ad Brut. ii. 2 ; Dion Cass, xlviii. 4, 13; Suet, Tib. 5.) VATICA'NUS, an agnomen of T. Romilius Rocus, consul B. c. 455, and a member of the first decemvirate [Romilius], and also of P. Sextius Capitolinus, consul b. c. 452, and likewise a mem- ber of the first decemvirate. [Capitolinus, p. 606, a.] VATI'NIUS. 1. P. Vatinius, the grand- father of the celebrated tribune [No. 2], was said to have informed the senate in B. c. 1 68, that as he was returning one night from the praefectura of Reate to Rome he was met by two youths on white horses (the- Dioscuri), who announced that king Perseus was taken on that day. The tale went on to say that Vatinius was first thrown into prison for such rash words, but that, when the news came from Aemilius Paulus that the king had really fallen into his hands on the day named by Vatinius, the senate bestowed upon the latter a grant of land and exemption from military service. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 2, iii 5.) 2. P. Vatinius, grandson of the preceding, played a leading part in the party strifes of the 4 K