Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/539

Rh PRISCUS. ments of Oalba were doubtful, he dropped the accu- sation. On the murder of Galba at the beginning of the following year (a. d. 69), he obtained from Otho the corpse of the emperor, and took care that it was buried (Plut. Galb. 28). In the course of the same year he was nominated praetor for the next year, and as praetor elect ventured to oppose Vitellius in the senate. After the death of Vitellius in December, A. d. QQ, Priscus again attacked his old enemy Eprius Marcellus. The contest between them arose respecting the manner in which the am- bassadors were to be chosen who were to be sent to Vespasian ; Priscus maintaining that they should be appointed by the magistrates, Marcellus that they should be chosen by lot, fearing that if the former method were adopted he might not be ap- pointed, and might thus appear to have received some disgrace. Marcellus carried his point on this occasion. Priscus accused him, shortly afterwards, «f having been one of the informers under Nero, but he was acquitted, in consequence of the support which he received from Mucianus and Domitian. Although Vespasian was now emperor, and no one was left to dispute the throne with him, Priscus did not worship the rising sun. During Vespasian's continued absence in the East, Priscus, who was now praetor (a. d. 70), opposed various measures which had been brought forward by others with a view of pleasing the emperor. Thus he maintained that the retrenchments in the public expences, which were rendered necessary by the exhausted state of the treasury, ought to be made by the senate, and not left to the emperor, as the consul elect had proposed ; and he also brought forward a motion in the senate that the Capitol should be rebuilt at the public cost, and only with assistance from Vespasian. It may be mentioned, in passing, that later in the year Priscus, as praetor, dedicated the spot on which the Capitol was to be built. (Tac. Hist. iv. 53.) On the arrival of the emperor at Rome, Priscus was the only person who saluted him by his private name of Vespasian ; and, not content with omitting his name in all the edicts which he published as praetor, he attacked both the person and the office of the emperor. Such conduct was downright folly ; he could not by smart speeches and insulting acts restore the republic ; and if his sayings and doings have been rightly reported, he had only himself to thank for his fate. Thus we are told by one of his admirers that Vespasian having forbidden him on one occa- sion from appearing in the senate, he replied, " You can expel me from the senate, but, as long as I am a member of it, I must go into the house." — " Well, then, go in, but be silent." — "Don't ask me for ray opinion, then, and I will be silent." — "But I must ask you." — "Then I must say what seems to me just." — " But if you do I will put you to death."* — " Did I ever say to you that I was immortal ? You do your part, and I will do mine. Yours is, to kill ; mine, to die without fear ; yours is, to banish ; mine, to go into exile without sorrow." (Epictet. Dissert, i. 2.) After such a specimen of the way in which he bearded the emperor, we cannot be surprised at his banish- ment. His wife Fannia followed him a second time into exile. It appears that his place of banishment was at no great distance from the capital ; and he had not been long in exile before he was executed by order of Vespasian. It would seem that the emperor was persuaded by some of PRISCUS. 527 the enemies of Priscus to issue the fatal mandate j for shortly afterwards he sent messengers to recall the executioners ; and his life would have been saved, had it not been for the false report that he had already perished. The life of Priscus was written by Herennius Senecio at the request of his widow Fannia ; and the tyrant Domitian, in con- sequence of this work, subsequently put Senecio to death, and sent Fannia into exile for the third time. Priscus left a son, who is called simply Helvidius, without any surname, and is therefore spoken of under Helvidius. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 28, xvi. 28, 33, 35, Hist. ii. 91, iv. 5—9, 43, 44, Agric. 2, Dial, de Orat. 5 ; Dion Cass. Ixv. 7, Ixvi. 12, Ixvii. 13 ; Suet. Vesp. 15 ; Plin. Ep. vii. 19.) PRISCUS, JAVOLE'NUS. [Javolenus.] PRISCUS, JU'LIUS, a centurion, was ap- pointed by Vitellius (a. d. %%) praefect of the praetorian guards on the recommendation of Fabius Valens. When news arrived that the army, which had espoused the side of Vespasian, was marching upon Rome, Julius Priscus was sent with Alphenus Varus at the head of fourteen praetorian cohorts and all the squadrons of cavalry to take possession of the passes of the Apennines, but he and Varus disgracefully deserted their post and returned to Rome. After the death of Vitellius, Priscus put an end to his life, more, says Tacitus, through shame than necessity. (Tac. Hist. ii. 92, iii. hb, 61, iv. 11.) PRISCUS, JU'NIUS, praetor in the reign of Caligula, was put to death by tliis emperor on ac- count of his wealth, though accused as a pretext of other crimes. (Dion Cass. lix. 18.) PRISCUS, C. LUTO'RIUS,aRoman eques, composed a poem on the death of Germanicus, which obtained great celebrit}-, and for which he was liberally paid by Tiberius. When Drusus fell ill, in A. D. 21, Priscus composed another poem on his death, anticipating, if he died, a still more handsome present from the emperor, as Drusus was his own son, while Germanicus had been only his son by adoption. Priscus was led by his vanity to recite this poem in a private house in presence of a distinguished company of women of rank. He was denounced in consequence to the senate ; and this body, anxious to punish the insult to the imperial family, condemned Priscus to death, without consulting Tiberius, and had him executed forthwith. The proceeding, how- ever, displeased Tiberius, not through any wish to save the life of Priscus, but because the senate had presumed to put a person to death without asking his opinion. He therefore caused a decree of tlie senate to be passed, that no decrees of the body should be deposited in the aerarium till ten days had elapsed ; and as they could not be carried into execution till this w8^ done, no one could in future be executed till ten days after his condem- nation. (Tac.^wrt. iii. 49 — 51 ; Dion Cass. Ivii. 20.) It is recorded of this Lutorius Priscus that lie paid Sejanus the enormous sum of 50,000,000 sesterces [quinquenties sesiertium) for an eunuch of the name of Paezon. (Plin. H. N. vii. 39. s. 40.) PRISCUS, Q. MU'STIUS, consul suffectus, A. D. 163 (Fasti). PRISCUS, NERATIUS. [Neratius.] PRISCUS, Q. NO'NIUS, consul A. D. 149 with Ser. Scipio Orfitus (Fasti). PRISCUS, NO'VIUS, was banished by Nero, in A. D. 66 f in consequence of his being a friend of