Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/522

Rh 510 POSTUMIA. their leaders on several occasions, and was one of the four prelates despatched in 410 by the ortho- dox party in Africa to Honorius, for the purpose of soliciting a repeal of the law which had been passed in favour of their heretical opponents. He next took a prominent part in the councils held against Caelestius and Pelagius. In a. d. 430 he was driven from Calama by the Vandals, sought refuge at Hippo, and while that city was besieged, watched over the deathbed of his preceptor and friend. Prosper relates in his chronicle (a. d. 437) that Possidius, along with Novatus and Severianus, strenuously resisted the efforts of Genseric to pro- pagate the doctrines of Arianism, and it is gene- rally believed, that having been expelled from Africa, after the capture of Carthage (a. d. 439), he made his way to Italy, and there died. Two tracts by Possidius are still extant. 1. Vita Augustini. 2. Indiculus Scriptorum Au- gustini. These are attached to all the best editions of Augustine. The best edition of the Vita, in a separate form, is that of Salinas, 8vo. Rom. 1731, and Aug. Vindel. 1768; of the Indiculus, that published at Venice, Bvo. 1735. [W. R.] POSSIS (IIoo-o-is), a Greek writer, mentioned only by Athenaeus, who cites two of his works, namely, the third book of his history of the Amazons {'AfiaCovis, vii. p. 296, d.), and the third book of his history of Magnesia {MaytnjTiKd, xii. p. 533, d.). POSTVERTA or POSTVORTA, is properly a surname of Carraenta, describing her as turning backward and looking at the past, which she re- vealed to poets and other mortals. In like manner the prophetic power with which she looked into the future, is indicated by the surnames Antevorta, Prorsa (i. e. Proversa), and Porrima. Poets, how- ever, have personified these attributes of Carmenta, and thus describe them as the companions of the goddess. (Ov. Fast. i. 633 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 7 ; Gellius, xvi. 16 ; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 339.) [L. S.] POSTU'MIA. 1. A Vestal virgin, accused of incest in B.C. 419, in consequence of the elegance of her dress and the freedom of her remarks, but acquitted, with an admonition to be more careful in her conduct for the future. (Liv. iv. 44.) 2. The wife of Ser. Sulpicius, was a busy in- triguing woman, and did not bear a good character. She is said to have been one of the mistresses of Julius Caesar (Suet. Jul. 50), and Cicero suspected that it was her charms which drew his legatus Pon.'ptinus from Cilicia to Rome. (Cic. ad Att. V. 21. § 9.) Her name frequently occurs in Cicero's correspondence at the time of the civil wars (ad Fam. iv. 2, ad Att. x. 3. A, x. 14, xii. 11, &c.). POSTU'MIA, PO'NTIA. [Pontia, No. 2.] POSTU'MIA GENS, patrician, was one of the most ancient patrician gentes at Rome, and frequently held the highest offices of the state, from the banishment of the kings to the downfal of the republic. The most distinguished family in the gens was that of Albus or Albinus, but we also find at the commencement of the republic dis- tinguished families of the names of Megellus and TuBERTUs, The first of the Postumii, who obtained the consulship, was P. Postumius Tu- bertus, in b. c. 503, only six years after the expul- sion of the kings. Regillensis is properly an agnomen of the Albini, and accordingly persons with this surname are given under Albinus. In POSTUMUS. the Punic wars, and subsequent! ', we also find the surnames Pyrgensis, Tempsanus, and Tvai- PANUS. A few Postumii are mentioned without any surname : these are given below. POSTU'MIUS. 1. A. Postumius, tribunus militum in b. c. 180. (Liv. xl. 41.) 2. C. Postumius, tribunus militum in b. c. 168. (Liv. xlv. 6.) 3. Postumius, a soothsayer, who predicted sutcess to Sulla, and told him to keep him in chains, and put him to death if matters did not turn out well. Plutarch (Sull. 9) says that this occurred when Sulla was marching upon Rome, in B. c. 88 ; whereas Cicero (de Div. i. 33) and Valerius Maximus (i. 6. § 4) relate that it happened before the battle in which Sulla defeated the Samnites. 4. M. Postumius, quaestor of Verres in his government of Sicily, B.C. 73. (Cic. Verr. ii. 18.) 5. Cn. Postumius, was one of the supporters (subscriptores) of Ser. Sulpicius in his prosecution of Murena for bribery in B. c. 63. He had been a candidate for the praetorship in the same year. (Cic. joro Mur. 26, 27, 33.) 6. T. Postumius, an orator mentioned by Cicero with praise {Brut. 77), may perhaps have been the same person as the following, 7. Postumius, a friend of Cicero, belonged to the Pompeian party, and on the breaking out of the civil war, in B. c. 49, was appointed by the senate to succeed Furfanius Postumus in Sicily ; but as he refused to go to the province without Cato, Fannius was sent in his stead. (Cic. ad Att. vii. 15. § 2.) Cicero mentions him as one of his friends in B. c. 46 (ad Fam. vi. 12. § 2, xiii. 69). He speaks of him again as one of the procuratores of the games of Octavius in B. c. 44 (ad Att. xv. 2. § 3). 8. Postumius, a legate of Caesar, whom he sent over from Greece to Italy in b. c. 48, to hasten the passage of his troops. ( Appian, B. C. ii. 58.) 9. P. Postumius, a friend of M. Marcellus, wlio was murdered at Athens in b.c. 45. (Servius, ap. Cic. ad Fam. iv. 12. § 2.) 10. Q. Postumius, a Roman senator, was torn to pieces by order of Antony, because he meditated deserting to Augustus in B.c. 31. (Dion Cass. 1. 13.) POSTU'MIUS, architect. [Pollio.] POSTUMULE'NUS, is only known as a friend of Trebianus or Trebonius (Cic. ad Fam. vi. 10). PO'STUMUS, which signifies a person born after the death of his father, was originally a prae- nomen (Varr. L. L. v. 60, ed. Muller), but was also used as a cognomen, of which several instances occur in the persons mentioned below. PO'STUMUS, a Roman, to whom Horace ad- dresses one of his odes (ii. 14). Nothing is known of him, but he may have been the same person as the Postumus to whom Propertius addresses one of his elegies (iii. 12). PO'STUMUS, stands second on the list of the thirty tyrants enumerated by Trebellius Pollio [see AuREOLUs]. His full name was M. Cassianus Latinius Postumus. Of humble origin, he owed his advancement to merit, was nominated by Valerian, who entertained the strongest conviction of his worth, governor of Gaul, and was entrusted spe- cially with the defence of the Rhenish frontier. By his aid Gallienus was enabled to repulse foi some years the attacks of the barbarians ; but on setting out for lUyria (a.d. 257), in order to quell