Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1250

Rh 1238 VENTIDIUS. in different ways ; the latter usually represented them as beings with wings at their heads and shoulders (Ov. Met. i. 264, &c. ; Philostr. Icon. i. 24), On the chest of Cypselus, Boreas in the act of carrying off Oreithyia, was represented with serpents in the place of legs (Pans. v. 1.9. § 1). The most remarkable monument representing the winds is the octagonal tower of Andronicus Cyr- rhestes at Athens. Each of the eight sides of the monument represents one of the eight principal winds in a flying attitude. A moveable Triton in the centre of the cupola pointed with his staff to the wind blowing at the time. All these eight figures have wings at their shoulders, all are clothed, and the peculiarities of the winds are indicated by their bodies and various attributes. (Hirt, MytJiol. Bilderh. p. 140, i&c.) Black lambs were offered as sacrifices to the destructive winds, and white ones to favourable or good winds. (Aristoph. Ran. 845 ; Virg. Aen. iii. 117.) Bo- reas had a temple on the river Ilissus in Attica (Herod, vii. 189 ; comp. Pans. viii. 27. § 9), and between Titane and Sicyon there was an altar of the winds, upon which a priest offered a sacrifice to the winds once in every year. (Paus. ii. 12. § 1.) Zephyrus had an altar on the sacred road to Eleusis. (i. 37. § 1.) [L. S.] P. VENTI'DIUS BASSUS. "This man was a native of Picenum, and having fought against the Romans, when the allies were at war with them, he was made prisoner by Pompeius Strabo, and appeared in his triumphal procession in chains : after this, being manumitted, he was admitted into the Senate in course of time, and was then made praetor in the time of Caesar, and attained to such honour as to conquer the Parthians and to enjoy a triumph for his victory." (Dion Cass, xliii. 51.) Pompeius Strabo triumphed B. c. 89, and Ventidius B. c. 38, fifty years later, whence we must infer that he was quite a youth when he was captured by the Romans. A. Gel- lius (xv. 4 ; with which compare Val. Max. vi. 9. § 9 ; Juv. vii. 199), who has a short chapter on Bassus, says that he was of mean parentage, and that when Pompeius Strabo took Asculum, Bassus and his mother were made prisoners ; and that Bassus lay in his mother's lap when she appeared in the triumphal procession. When he grew up to man's estate, he got a poor living by under- taking to furnish mules and vehicles for those magistrates who went from Rome to administer a province. This early occupation of Bassus was not forgotten when he became consul, and the Romans, who have ahvaj'^s had a taste for satire, reminded Bassus of that which was not his dis- grace but his honour, in the following verse, which is recorded by Gellius : Nam mulos qui fricabat consul factus est. Plancus, in a letter to Cicero (ad Fam. x. 1 8), calls Bassus, Ventidius Mulio, in allusion to his early occupation. In this humble employment Bassus became known to C. Julius Caesar, whom he accompanied into Gaul ; but he is not mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries. In the civil war he executed Caesar's orders with ability, and became a favourite of his great commander. He obtained the rank of tribunus plebis, a seat in the Roman senate, and he was made a praetor for b. c. 43. After Caesar'i death Bassus sided with M. An- VENTIDIUS. tonius in the war of Mutina (e. c. 43). During the siege of Mutina he raised two legions in the colonies of Caesar, and a third in Picenum, his native country, and he stayed there, says Appian, waiting to see how things would turn out. He afterwards conducted his legions through the Apen- nines without any opposition from Caesar Octavi- anus, who had already defeated Antonius before Mutina, and he joined Antonius at Vada Sabatia on the Ligurian coast. (Cic. ad Fain. x. 33 and 34, xi. 10.) After the reconciliation between Antonius and Octavianus near Bononia, Ventidius was made consul suffectus with C. Carrinas (b. c. 43), Octa- vianus having resigned his consulship, and Q. Pe- dius having died. (Veil. Pat. ii. 65, Dion Cass, xlvii. 15.) In B.C. 42 Ventidius was one of the lesfates of Antonius in Gallia Transalpina, with Q. Fufius Calenus, and stopped some soldiers of Caesar Octavianus from crossing the Alps, whom Caesar had sent into Spain. (Dion Cass, xlviii. 10.) This took place during the quarrel of Caesar with Fulvia and the consul L. Antonius, the brother of Marcus. Ventidius and the other legate of Anto- nius made no great effort to relieve L. Antonius when he was besieged by Caesar in Perusia (Ap- pian, Bell. Civ. V. 31, 35) ; but there appear to have been some reasons why they could not safely move from their position. After the capture of Perusia (b. c. 40) Ventidius kept his forces to- gether, and was joined by those of Plancus, who had run away. In this year M. Antonius and Caesar came to terms. While M. Antonius was engaged in Italy (b. c. 39), he sent Bassus as his legatus into Asia to oppose Labienus, whom he pursued to the moun- tains of Taurus, where Labienus waited for the Parthians, and Bassus for re-inforcements. Ven- tidius, being afraid of the Parthian cavalry which had arrived, posted himself on high ground, where he was attacked by the Parthians, whom he re- pelled and defeated. The Parthians made their escape towards Cilicia, followed by Bassus, who halted when he came in sight of the camp of Labienus. The men of Labienus, being discouraged by the defeat of the Parthians, he attempted to escape by night ; but many of his men were cut off, and the rest came over to Bassus. Labienus was caught in Cilicia by Demetrius, a freedman of Caesar, and put to death. (Dion, xlviii. 39, 40 ; Florus, iv. 9.) Bassus sent forward Popedius Silo to occupy the passes of Amanus, but Barzaphanes, or, as Dion calls him, Pharnapates, who com- manded under Pacorus, was in possession of the passes, and Silo was in great danger of being de- stroyed with his troops, when Bassus came to his assistance and defeated Barzaphanes, who fell in the battle. Bassus now took possession of all Syria easily, except Aradus, and Palestine also. Bassus exacted large sums from King Antigonua, , Antiochus of Commagene, and Malchus, a Naba-1 thaean chieftain, on the ground of their having aided Pacorus. The senate conferred no honoursi on Bassus for his victories, because he was only*1 acting as the legatus of Antonius. In the following year (Dion Cass. xlix. 19, 21' Pacorus collected his troops and advanced towarc Syria. The troops of Ventidius were dispersed ij winter quarters, and he wished to gain time. H« contrived to deceive Pacorus by making him be-j lieve that he feared that the Parthians would noM cross the Euphrates at the Zeugma, the usual place ;]