Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1283

Rh VISCELLINUS. ficence, his soldiers elected Tantalus as their ge- neral ; but the latter was no match for a Roman consul, and before the end of the year was obliged to submit to Caepio. [Caepio, No. 6.] The war with Viriathus lasted eight years, according to Appian {Hisp. 75), who dates its commencement ' from the time that Viriathus became the leader of the Lusitanians. Other writers, however, say that the war lasted fourteen years, which must be com- puted from the beginning of the Celtiberian war, B. c. 153. (Appian, Hisp. 60 — 75 ; Eutrop. iv. 16 ; Oros. v. 4 ; Flor. ii. 17 ; Liv. Epit 54 ; Frontin. ii. 5. § 7, ii. 13. § 4, iii. 10. § 6, iii. 11. § 4, iv. 5. § 22 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 1 ; Aurel. Vict, de Vir. Ill 71 ; Val. Max. ix. 6. § 4 ; Diod. Exc. ex xxxii. pp. 591, 597, ed. Wess. ; Dion Cass. Fragm. 7^, p. 33, ed. Reimar.) VIRIDOMARUS. 1. Or Britomartus, the leader of the Gauls, slain by Marcellus. [Mar- cell us, No. 4, p. 928, a.] 2. Or ViRDUM.ARUs, a chieftain of the Aedui, whom Caesar had raised from a low rank to the highest honour. He and Eporedorix came with the cavalry of the Aedui to the assistance of Caesar in his war against Vercingetorix in b. c. 52, and they at first used their influence to prevent the Aedui from joining the rest of the Gauls in the general revolt from Rome. Shortly afterwards, however, both Viridomarus and Eporedorix revolted themselves, but were much mortified when the Gauls chose Vercingetorix as their commander-in- chief, as they had hoped to obtain that honour for themselves. (Caes. B. G. vii. 38—40, 54, 55, 63.) VIRIDOVIX, the chieftain of the Unelli, was conquered by Q. Titurius Sabinus, Caesar's legatus, in B. c. h^. (Caes. B. G. iii. 17—19 ; Dion Cass. xxxix. 45.) VIRIPLACA, "the goddess who soothes the anger of man," was a surname of Juno, describing her as the restorer of peace between married people. She had a sanctuary on the Palatine, into which women went when they thought them- selves wro)iged by their husbands. They frankly told the goddess their grief, and the latter disposed their minds to become reconciled to their husbands. (Fest. p. 62 ; Val. Max. ii. 1. § 6.) [L. S.] VFRIUS LUPUS. [Lupus.] VIRTUS, the Roman personification of manly valour. She was represented with a short tunic, her right breast uncovered, a helmet on her head, a spear in her left hand, a sword in the right, and standing with her right foot on a helmet. There was a golden statue of her at Rome, which Alaricus, king of the Goths, melted down. (Liv. xxvii. 25, xxix. 11 ; Val. Max. i. 1. § 8 ; Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 23; Zosim.v. 21.) [L. S.] VISCELLFNUS, SP. CA'SSIUS, celebrated as the author of the first agrarian law at Rome, to which he fell a martyr. He was thrice consul and twice triumphed. His first consulship was in b. c. 502, in the eighth year of the republic, when he had Opiter Virginius Tricostus as a colleague. Ac- cording to Dionysius (v. 49) Cassius carried on war against the Sabincs, whom he defeated with such great loss near Cures, that they were obliged to sue for peace, and surrender to the Romans a large portion of their land. Cassius in consequence ob- tained a triumph on his return to Rome, which is confirmed by the Capitoline Fasti. Livy, on the other hand, says (ii. 17) nothing about a war with the Sabines, but relates that the two consuls carried VISCELLINUS. 1271 on war against the Aunmci, and took Pometia. But as the war against the Aurunci aud the capture of Pometia is repeated by Livy (ii. 22, 25, 26) under B. c. 495, these events ought probably to be placed in the latter year, in accordance with Dionysius (vi. 29). In the following year, B. c. 501, Cassius was appointed first magister equitum to the first dictator, T. Larcius Flavus ; but in some authorities a dif- ferent year is given for the first dictatorship. After the battle of the lake RegiUus in B. c. 498 or 496, Cassius is said to have urged in the senate the de- struction of the Latin towns. (Liv. ii. 18 ; Dionys. V. 75, vi. 20.) In B. c. 493 he was consul a second time with Postumus Cominius Auruncus ; and they entered upon their consulship during the secession of the plebeians to the Sacred Mount. The second consulship of Cassius is memorable by the league which he formed with the Latins. As soon as the plebeians had become reconciled to the patricians, and had returned to Rome, Cominius marched against the Volscians, while his colleague remained at Rome to ratify the league with the Latins. Ac- cording to Niebuhr the campaign of Cominius against the Volscians is only an inference adopted by Livy from the absence of the consul, who, he supposes, had left Rome in order to take the oath to the treaty among the Latins. In the same year Cassius consecrated the temple of Ceres, Bacchus, and Proserpine, which the dictator A. Postumius Albus had vowed in b. c. 498. (Liv. ii. 33 ; Cic. de Rep. ii. 33, pro Balb. 23 ; Dionys. vi. 49, 94, 95 ; respecting the league with the Latins, see Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. ii. p. 38, foil.) In B. c. 486 Cassius was consul a third time with Proculus Virginius Tricostus Rutilus. He marched against the Volscians and Hernicans, but no battle took place as the enemy sued for a peace. Notwithstanding he obtciined a triumph over these people on his return to Rome, which is recorded in the triumphal Fasti. Whether he really marched against these people or not, may be doubted ; but that he fonned a league with the Hernicans, ad- mits of no question. By his league with the Latins in his second consulship, and with the Her- nicans in his third, he had again formed that con- federacy to which Rome owed her power under the later kings. Livy says (ii. 41) that Cassius de- prived the Hernicans of two thirds of their land ; but this is a complete misconception. It is much more probable that by this treaty the Hernicans were placed on equal terms with the Romans and the Latins, and that each of the three nations was entitled to a third part of the lands conquered in war by their mutual arms. After the treaty with the Hernicans Cassius proposed his celebrated agrarian law. The account of this law given by Dionysius cannot be safely trusted: according to Niebuhr it betraj^s distinct marks of a writer of the second half of the seventh century of the city, and is compiled with great ignonance of the ancient times. The law must have been simply a restora- tion of the old law of Servius Tullius, and must have directed that the portion of the patricians in the public land should be strictly defined, that the remainder should be divided among the plebeians, and that the tithe should again be levied from the lands possessed by the patricians. The patricians, headed by the other consul, Virginius, made the most vehement opposition to the law ; but it seems almost certain that it was legally passed, though 4 M 4