Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/21

 xH. 40 ; Flonis, iv. 2. § 31 ; Oros. vi. 15.) Oc- tavius afterwards proceeded to attack the town of Salonae in Dalmatia, but was repulsed with con- siderable loss, and thereupon joined Pompey at Djrrhachium. After the battle of Pharsalia, Octavius, who still possessed a considerable fleet, set sail for Illyricum with the hope of securing it for the Pompeian party. At first he met with great success, and defeated Gabinius, who had been sent by Caesar into Illyricum with reinforce- ments for the army, which was already there ; but he was soon afterwards driven out of the country (b. c. 47) by Cornificius and Vatinius, and compelled to fly to Africa, where the Pompeian party were making a stand. (Hirt, B. Alex. 42 — 46 ; Dion Cass. xlii. 11.) After the battle of Thapsus (b.c. 46), Octavius was in the neigh- bourhood of Utica in command of two legions, and claimed to have the supreme command with Cato. (Plut. Cat. min. Q6.) He is not mentioned again till the battle of Actium (b.c. 31), when he commanded along with M. Insteius the middle of Antony's fleet. (Plut. Ant. 65.)

. C. Octavius, the younger son of No. 1, and the ancestor of Augustus, remained a simple Koman eques, without attempting to rise any higher in the state. (Suet. Aug. 2 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 59.)

. C. Octavius, son of the preceding, and great-grandfather of Augustus, lived in the time of the second Punic war, in which he served as tribune of the soldiers. He was present at the fatal battle of Cannae (b.c. 216), and was one of the few who survived the engagement. When the Carthaginians were forcing into the lesser Roman camp, Octavius and another tribune, Sempronius Tuditanus, cut their way through the enemy, with a few soldiers, and arrived in safety at Canusium. (Frontin. Strat. iv. 5. § 7 ; comp. Liv. xxii. 52.) Octavius also served in Sicily under the praetor L. Aemilius Papus (b.c. 205), but what part he took in the other campaigns in the war is not mentioned. When M. Antonius wished to throw contempt upon Augustus, he called this C. Octavius a freedman and a rope-maker {restio but whether he or his family ever had any thing to do with a manufactory of ropes, is quite uncertain. (Suet. Aug. 2.)

. C. Octavius, son of the preceding, and grandfather of Augustus, lived quietly at his villa at Velitrae, content with the municipal honours of his native town, and not aspiring to the dignities of the Roman state. He possessed considerable property, which he probably augmented by money- lending, since Antonius and Cassius Parmensis called Augustus the grandson of a banker or money-lender. (Suet. Aug. 2, 4, 6.)

. C. Octavius, son of the preceding and father of Augustus, was likewise said by the enemies of Augustus to have been a money-lender, and to have been employed in the Campus Martius as one of the agents for bribing the electors. But there is probably no truth in these reports. The riches left him by his father enabled him, without difficulty, to obtain the public offices at Rome, although he was the first of his family who had aspired to them. We learn from an inscription, which is given below, that he was successively tribune of the soldiers twice, quaestor, plebeian aedile with C. Toranius, judex quaestionum, and praetor. Of his history up to the time of his praetorship we have no further information ; we are only told that he filled the previous dignities with great credit to himself and obtained a reputation for integrity, ability, and uprightness. Velleius Paterculus characterizes him (ii. 59) as gravis., sandm, innocens, and dives, and adds that the estimation in which he was held gained for him, in marriage, Atia, the daughter of Julia, who was the sister of Julius Caesar. Thus, although a novus homo, he was chosen first praetor in b. c. 61, and discharged the duties of his office in so admirable a manner that Cicero recommends him as a model to his brother Quintus. (Cic. ad Qu. F. i. 1. § 7.) In the following year he succeeded C. Antonius in the government of Macedonia, with the title of proconsul, and on his way to his province he cut to pieces, in the Thurine district, in consequence of orders from the senate, a body of runaway slaves, who had been gathered together for Catiline, and had previously belonged to the army of Spartacus. He administered the affairs of his province with equal integrity and energy. The manner in which he treated the provincials was again recommended by Cicero as an example to his brother Quintus. He routed the Bessi and some other Thracian tribes, who had disturbed the peace of the province, and received in consequence the title of imperator from his troops. He returned to Italy at the latter end of b. c. 59, in full expectation of being elected to the consulship, but he died suddenly at the beginning of the following year, B. c. 58, at Nola, in Campania, in the very same room in Avhich Augustus afterwards breathed his last. Octavius was married twice, first to An- charia, by whom he had one daughter [Ancharia], and secondly to Atia, by whom he had a daughter and a son [Atia]. His second wife, and his three children, survived him. (Suet. Aug. 3, 4 ; Nicol. Damasc. Vit. August, c. 2, ed. Orelli ; Veil. Pat. ii. 59 ; Cic. ad Att. ii. 1, ad Qu. F. i. 1. § 7, ii. 2. § 7, Fhilipp. iii. 6 ; Tac. Ann. i. 9.) The following is the inscription which has been above referred to : —

C. OCTAVIVS. C. F. C. N. C. P. R(VFVS). PATER AVGVSTI. TR. mil. BIS. Q. AED. PL, CVM. CTORANIO. IVDEX QVAESTIONVM. PR. PROCOS. IMPERATOR APPELLATVS EX PROVINCIA MACEDONIA.

. OcTAViA, the elder daughter of No. 14, by Ancharia. [Octavia, No. 1.]

. Octavia, the younger daughter of No. 14, by Atia. [Oc:tavia, No. 2.]

. C. Octavius, the son of No. 14, by Atia, was subsequently called C. Julius Caesar Octa- vianus, in consequence of his adoption by his great-uncle, C. Julius Caesar. The senate, at a later period, conferred upon him the title of Augustus, under which name his life is given. [Augustus.]

. Cn. Octavius Rufus, quaestor, b. c. 107, was sent into Africa with pay for the army of Marius, and returned to Rome, accompanied by the ambassadors, whom Bocchus sent to the senate. (Sail. Jug. 104.) The cognomen in most of the MSS. of Sallust is Ruso, for which, however, we ought probably to read Rufus, as the former cog- nomen is unknown in the Octavia gens. From the fact that this Cn. Octavius filled the office of quaestor, it is not impossible that he may be the same Cn. Octavius, who was consul b. c. 87. [See above, No. 6.]

. L. Octavius, a legate of Pompey in the war against the pirates, b. c. 67, was sent by Pompey into Crete to receive the submission of