Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1247

Rh UCALEGON. tolerably good terras, though probably neither of them forgot or forgave the injuries he had received from the other. Soon afterwards Vatirxius went to Gaul, where we find him serving as one of Caesar's legates in B. c. 51, He accompanied his patron in the civil war, and during the campaign in Greece, b. c. 48, was sent by Caesar with pro- posals of peace to the Pompeian army. He was not present at the battle of Pharsalia, as he had shortly before returned to Brundusium by Caesar's orders ; and about the same time as the battle of Pharsalia, he vigorously defended Brundusium against D. Laelius, who had attacked it with part of the Pompeian fleet. In return for these ser- vices Caesar raised Vatinius to the consulship, which he held for a few days as consul suifectus at the end of December b. c. 47. At the beginning of the following year he was sent into Illyricum to oppose M. Octavius, who held that country with a considerable force for the Pompeian party. Va- tinius carried on the war with success in Illyricum, was saluted as imperator by his soldiers, and ob- tained the honour of a supplicatio from the senate in B. c. 45. At this time some letters passed be- tween him and Cicero, in which they wrote to one another with apparent cordiality. (Cic. ad Fam. V. 9 — 11.) Vatinius was still in Illyricum at the time of Caesar's death, B. c. 44, and at the be- ginning of the following year was compelled to surrender Dyrrhachium and his army to Brutus who had obtained possession of Macedonia, be- cause his troops declared in favour of Brutus (Dion Cass, xlvii. 21 ; Liv. Epit 118 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 69) ; though Cicero {Phil. x. 6) and Appian (B. C. iv. 75), probably with less truth, speak of it as a voluntary act on the part of Vatinius. At any rate Vatinius did not forfeit the favour of the tri- umvirs ; for we learn from the Capitoline Fasti that he triumphed on the last day of December, B. c. 43. This is the last time we hear of Va- tinius. (Cic. in Vatinium, passim, pro Sest. 53, 63, 65, ad Q. Fr. ii. 4, iii. 9. § 5, ad Alt. ii. 6, 7, Hirt. B.G. viii. 46, Caes. B. C. iii. 19, 100 ; Appian, Illyr. 13, B.C. iv. 75 ; Dion Cass. xlii. 55, xlvii. 21 ; Liv. Epit. 118 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 69 ; Cic. Phil. X. 5, 6.) 3. Vatinius, of Beneventum, was one of the vilest and most hateful creatures of Nero's court, equally deformed in body and in mind. He was originally a shoemaker's apprentice, next earned his living as one of the lowest kinds of scurrae or buffoons, and finally obtained great power and wealth by accusing the most distinguished men in the state, Dion Cassius relates a saying of his which pleased Nero exceedingly. Well knowing the emperor's detestation of the senate, he said to him on one occasion, " I hate you, Caesar, because you are a senator." (Tac. Ann. xv. 34, Dial, de Orat. 11, Hist. i. 37 ; Dion Cass, Ixiii, 15.) A certain kind of drinking-cups, having nasi or nozzles, bore the name of Vatinius, probably be- cause he brought them into fashion, Juvenal alludes to a cup of this kind in the lines (v, 46, foil.) : — " Tu Beneventani sutoris nomen habentem Siccabis calicem nasorum quatuor," «&c,, and Martial also in the Epigram (xiv, 96) : — " Vilia sutoris calicem monumenta Vatini Accipe ; sed nasus longior ille fuit," UCA'LEGON {OuKaheyui')^ one of the elders VEGETIUS. 1235 at Troy, whose house was burnt at the destruction of the city. (Hom, II. iii. 147 : Virg. Aen. ii. 312.) ''[L-S,] VECCUS, or BECCUS, JOANNES (Be/c/cos, Be/cos, or Be/cwj/), an ecclesiastic of some celebrity in the latter part of the thirteenth cen- tury of our era. From the office of ChaHophylax in the great church of Constantinople, he was ele- vated to the patriarchate of that city, by Michael Palaeologus, in a, D. 1274, on account of his friendly dispositions towards the Latin Church. Veccus had at first been warmly opposed to the Latins, but his feelings towards them were changed by the perusal of the writings of Nicephorus Blemmyda. He continued patriarch of (.'onstanti- nople until the death of the emperor Michael, in a, d. 1283, when the ultra-Greek party regained their ascendancy, and Veccus found it necessary to resign his episcopate. He spent the remainder of his life in suffering persecution from the now dominant party, sometimes in exile and sometimes in prison, where he died in a. d. 1298. The most virulent of his opponents and persecutors was George of Cyprus. [Georgius, No, 20.] There are numerous writings by Veccus, chiefly on the points at issue between the Greek and Latin Churches, and in defence of his own conduct in seeking for their reconciliation. Several of these works are published in the Graecia Orthodoxa of Leo AUatius ; others exist only in MS. This brief notice of Veccus is thought to be sufficient for the object of this work ; for a full account of his life and writings, the reader is re- ferred to the authorities now quoted. (Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 1276, vol, ii, pp, 319, foil. ; Fa- bric, Bibl. Grace, vol. xi. pp, 344, foil. ; Schriickh, Christlidie Klrcliengeschichte, vol. xxix. pp. 435, foil., 446, foil., 455, foil.) [P. S.J VECTIE'NUS. [Vettienus.] VE'CTIUS. All persons of this name are given under Vettius, which appears the more cor- rect form. P. VE'DIUS, a great scamp, but nevertheless a friend of Ponipey's, (Cic, ad Ait. vi. 1. § 25.) VE'DIUS A'QUILA. [Aquila.] VE'DIUSPO'LLIO. [PoLLio,] VEGETIUS, FLA'VIUS RENA'TUS, de- signated as Vir Illustris, to which some MSS, add the title of Comes, is the author of a treatise Bet Militaris Instituta, or Epitome Rei Militarise dedi- cated to the emperor Valentinian, known to be the second of that name, from an allusion con- tained in the body of the work (i, 20) to Gratian, and to the unfortunate contests with the Goths. The materials were derived, according to the de- claration of the writer himself (i. 8) from Cato the Censor, De Disciplina militari, from Cornelius Celsus, from Frontinus, from Paternus, and from the imperial constitutions of Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian. The work is divided into five books. The first treats of the levying and training of re- cruits, including instructions for the fortification of a camp ; the second of the different classes into which soldiers are divided, and especially of the organisation of the legion ; the third of the opera- tions of an army in the field ; the fourth of the attack and defence of fortresses ; the fifth of marine warfare. In the earlier editions the whole of the above matter was comprehended in four books ; but Scriverius, on the authority of the best MSS., set apart as a fifth book all the chapters 4 K 2