Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/31

 most of the Persians, made his escape from the town ; but he fell into the hands of the Apsinthian Thracians, and was sacrificed by them to Pleistorus, one of their gods (Her. ix. 115, 118, 1 19). [E.E.]

OEOCLUS (OJfoKAos), a son of Poseidon by Ascra, who in conjunction with the Aloadae, is said to have built the town of Ascra in Boeotia, (Paus. ix. 29. § 1.)

OEO'LYCUS (OtoAuKos), a son of Theras of Sparta, and brother of Aegeus, Avas honoured at Sparta with an heroum. (Herod, iv. 149 ; Paus. iii. 15. §6.) [L.S.]

OEO'NUS (Olwvos), a son of Licymnius of Midea in Argolis, was the first victor at Olympia, in the foot-race. (Pind. 01 xi. 76, &c. ; ApoUod. ii. 7. § 3 ; Paus. iii. 15. § 3.) He is said to have been killed at Sparta by the sons of Hippo- coon, but was avenged by Heracles, whose kins- man he was, and was honoured with a monument near the temple of Heracles. (Paus. I. c.) [L. S.]

OESALCES, brother of Gala, king of the Nu- midian tribe of the Massylians, whom he succeeded on the throne, according to the Numidian law of inheritance. He was at the time of very advanced age, and died shortly after, leaving two sons, Ca- pusa and Lacumaces. (Liv. xxix. 29.) [E. H. B.]

OETOLINUS. [Linus.]

OETOSYRUS (OlToavpos), the name of a Scythian divinity whom Herodotus identifies with the Greek Apollo. (Herod, iv. 59.) [L. S.]

OE'TYLUS (OtrvXos), a son of Amphianax, and grandson of Antimachus of Argos. The La- conian town of Oetylus was believed to have received its name from him, and he there enjoyed heroic honours. (Paus. iii. 25. § 7.) [L. S.]

OFELLA, a man of sound sense and of a straightforward character, whom Horace contrasts with the Stoic quacks of his time. (Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 3.) The old editions of Horace have Ofellus, which Bentley proposed to change into Ofella, remarking that Ofella and Ofellius were known Roman names, but that Ofellus occurs nowhere else. The conjecture of Bentley is now confirmed by manuscript authority.

OFELLA, Q. LUCRETIUS, originally be- longed to the Marian party, but deserted to Sulla ; and although he had not hitherto distinguished himself in any way (Dion Cass, xxxiv. Fragm. 134), Sulla appointed him to the command of the army employed in the blockade of Praeneste, where the younger Marius had taken refuge in B. c. 82. Praeneste was obliged to surrender in the course of the year, and the younger Marius put an end to his own life. Relying on these services, Ofella be- came a candidate for the consulship in the follow- ing year, although he had not yet been either quaestor or praetor, thus acting in defiance of Sulla's law De Magistratibus. Sulla at first attempted to dissuade him from becoming a candidate ; but as he persisted in his purpose, and entered the forum supported by a large party, Sulla sent a centurion to kill him in the middle of the forum, and informed the people that he had commanded the execution of Ofella, because he refused to obey his commands. After saying this, Sulla told them the following tale, which is preserved by Appian : — " The lice were very troublesome to a countryman, as he was ploughing. Twice he stopped his ploughing, and purged his jacket. But he was still bitten ; and in order that he might not be hindered in his work, he burnt the jacket. And I advise those who have been twice humbled not to make fire necessary the third time." (Appian, B. C. i. 88, 94, 101 ; Plut. 8ull. 29, 33 ; Liv. Epit. 88, 89 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 27, who erroneously says that Ofella had been praetor.) The name of the centurion that put Ofella to death was L. Bellienus. He was afterwards brought to trial for this murder by Julius Caesar and con- demned. (Ascon. in Tog. Cand. p. 92, ed. Orelli ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 10.) The orator, who is cha- racterised by Cicero {Brut. 48) as coniionibus aptior quam judiciis, is probably the same as the subject of this article, though the name in Cicero is corrupt.

OFELLUS. [Ofella.]

OFI'LIUS or OFE'LLIUS. The name occurs in inscriptions in both forms ; but in writers we generally find OfiHus.

. Ofilius Calavius, a Campanian in the time of the Samnite wars. [Calavius, No. 3.]

. Ofillius {'OcplWios), as he is called by Appian (B. C. v. 128), a tribune of the soldiers in the army of Octavian, b. c. 38.

. M. Ofilius Hilarus, whose painless death is recorded at length by Pliny. {H.N. vii. 53. s. 54.)

. Ofellius {'O(piios a philosopher men- tioned by Arrian {Epid. iii. 22. § 27).

OFI'LIUS, A., a Roman jurist, is named by Pomponius (Dig. 1, tit. 2. s. 2. § 44) Gains Aulus Ofilius, but the praenomen Gains appears to be some blunder of a copyist. Ofilius was one of the pupils of Servius Sulpicius, and the master of Tubero, Capito and Labeo. He was a friend of Cicero, who, on one occasion, cites his opinion as opposed to that of Trebatius {ad Fam. vii. 21, ad Ait. xiii. 37). He was also a friend of the Dictator Caesar. Ofilius belonged to the eques- trian order, but he obtained a high reputation for legal knowledge. " He wrote," says Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 44), "many treatises on the Jus Civile," among which De Legibus vicesimae {manumissionum), and De Jurisdidione. The fifth book of his Jus Partitum is cited (Dig. 32. s. 55), and the sixteenth book of a work on actions (33. tit, 9. s. 3. §§ 5, 8), and a treatise ad- dressed to Atticus (50. tit. 16. s. 234. § 2), who is probably T. Pomponius Atticus. Ofilius is often cited in the Digest. " Ofilius," says Pomponius, "edictura praetoris primus diligenter composuit," which probably means an arrangement of the edictal law, like the later work of Julian, or it might be a commentary upon it. Caesar had conceived a design of arranging the Jus Civile^ to which his connection with Ofilius may have contributed. (Ziramem, Geschichte desRom. Privatrechts ; Puchta- Cursus, ^c vol. i. p. 427 ; Grotius, Vit. Juris- consult.) [G. L.]

OGO'A ('07ci$a), the Carian name of Zeus at Mysala, in whose temple a sea-wave was seen from time to time. (Paus. viii. 10. § 3.) Strabo (xiv. p. 659) calls the god of Mysala, in the Carian dialect, Osogo. [L. S.]

OGU'LNIA GENS, plebeian, is most known through one of its members being the proposer of the law, which opened the two great ecclesiastical corporations to the plebeians. The first and only person in this gens who obtained the consulship is Q. Ogulnius Gallus, who was consul B. c. 269. Gallus is the only cognomen of the Ogulnii : the others, who have no surname, are given below.