Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/747

Rh SCAPULA. 2. P. ScAPTilis, a Roman citizen, wlio carried on the trade of a negotiator, or money-lender, in the province of Cilicia. The town of Salamis in Cyprus owed him a sum of money ; and in order to obtain from the Salaminians wliat was due to him, as well as the usurious interest which he chose to charge, App. Claudius, the predecessor of Cicero in the government of Cilicia, had made Scaptius praefectus in the town, and had also placed some troops of cavalry at his disposal, for the purpose of enforcing his claims. When Cicero succeeded Claudius in the province, M. Brutus, who was a friend of Scaptius, warmly recommended his interests to Cicero ; but the latter very properly declined to be a party to such infamous proceed- ings, recalled the cavalry from Cyprus, and refused the praefecture to Scaptius, on the ground that such an appointment ought not to be given to any ne- gotiator. Scaptius is mentioned at a subsequent period in Cicero's correspondence. (Cic. ad Ait. V. 21, vi. 1 — 3, XV. 13, Pseudo-Cic. ad Brut. i. 18.) P. SCA'PULA, a usurer, to whom C. Quintius owed mone)'^, B.C. 81. (Cic. pro Qui?2t. 4.) SCA'PULA, OSTO'RIUS. 1. P. Scapula OsTORius, succeeded A. Plautius as governor of Britain, about A. D. 50, with the title of propraetor. He had previously held the consulship, and his name is inserted in some of the Fasti as consul suffectus in A. D. 46. He is characterised by Tacitus as bello egregius, and carried on the war with success against several of the British tribes. Among others, he defeated the powerful tribe of the Silures, took prisoner their king Caractacus, and sent him in chains to Rome [Caractacus]. In consequence of this success he received the insignia of a triumph, but died soon afterwards in the province, worn out by the toils and anxieties of war, (Tac. Ann. xii. 31—39, Agr. 14.) 2. P. OsTORius Scapula, the son of the pre- ceding, fought under his father in Britain, in a. d. 50 ; and received the reward of a corona civica, for saving the life of a Roman citizen in battle. In a. d. 62, he appeared as a witness in favour of Antistius Sosianus, who was accused of having recited in his house some libellous verses against the emperor Nero ; but his services were repaid with ingratitude ; for, in A. D. 64, the same Sosianus accused him to the emperor. He was condemned to death, and put an end to his own life. (Tac.^wn. xii. 31, xiv. 48, xvi. 14, 15.) SCA'PULA, QUI'NTIUS. 1. T. Quintius Scapula, a zealous partisan of the Pompeians, passed over into Spain with Cn. Pompeius the elder, son of the triumvir, and took the most active part in organising the revolt against Caesar in that province. The soldiers elected him and Q. Aponius as their leaders ; but on the arrival of Sex. Pom- peius, who fled to Spain after the defeat of his party at the battle of Thapsus in Africa, Scapula surrendered the command to him. After the defeat of the Pompeians at Munda, in B. c. 45, Scapula, seeing that all was lost, fled to Corduba, and there burnt himself to death on a pyre which he had erected for the purpose, after partaking of a splen- did banquet. (Appian, B. C. ii. 87, 105 ; Dion Cass, xliii. 29, 30 ; Cic. ad Fam. ix. 13 ; Auctor, B. Hisp. 33.) 2. P. Quintius Scapula, mentioned by Pliny as an instance of sudden death. (Piin. H. N. vii. 63, 8. 54.) SCAURUS. 73^ SCARPUS, L. PINA'RIUS, was placed by Antonius over Cyrene and the neighbouring country with four legions, shortly before the battle of Actium. After the loss of this battle, Antonius sailed to Libya ; but Scarpus, Avho saw that the afiiiirs of his former patron were desperate, refused to receive him, put to death the messengers he had sent to him, and handed over his troops to Cor- nelius Gallus, the lieutenant of Augustus (Dion Cass. li. 5, 9 ; comp. Plut. Ant. QQ ; Oros. vi. 19). There are several coins of this Scarpus extant, some of them bearing the name of Antonius, and others that of Caesar (Octavianus). From the latter circumstance we may infer that he was re- appointed by Octavianus to the command of Libya, when Cornelius Gallus was placed over Egypt shortly afterwards. The following coin of Scarpus was struck when he served under Octavian. (Eckhel, vol. V. p. 272.) COIN OF L. PINARIUS SCARPUS. SCATO or CATO, VE'TTIUS, one of the Italian generals in the Marsic war, B. c. 90. He defeated the consul L. Julius Caesar, and then ad- vanced against Aesernia, which was obliged to sur- render through failure of provisions. He also defeated the other consul, P. Rutilius Lupus, who fell in the battle (Appian, B.C. i. 40, 41, 43). Cicero speaks of an interview at which he was present, between Vettius and Cn. Pompey {Phil. xii. 11); and it is therefore not improbable that the P. Ventidius, who is said by Appian to have been one of the Italian generals that defeated the army of Cn. Pompey, is the same person as the subject of this article. (Appian, B. C. i. 47, with the note of Schweigh.) We learn from Seneca {de Bene/, iii. 23), that Vettius was taken prisoner, and was stabbed to death by his own slave as he was being dragged before the Roman general, and that he was thus delivered from the ignominy and punishment that awaited him. There is some difficulty respecting the ortho- graphy of the cognomen of Vettius. Appian calls him Cato, and the Insteius Cato, mentioned by Velleius Paterculus (ii. 16) as one of the Italian generals in this war, is probably the same as this Vettius. In the best MSS. of Cicero {I. c), how- ever, we find Scato, which is probably the correct fonn, since Scato occurs as a Marsic cognomen in the oration " Pro Domo " (c. 44), and it was natural enough that the obscure name of Scato should be changed into the celebrated one of Cato. The praenomen of Vettius is also given differently. In Cicero {I.e.) it is Publius ; in Eutropius (v. 3), Titus ; in Seneca (/. c), Cai%i$ : the first of these is probably the most correct. SCAURPNUS, a celebrated grammarian, was the instructor of the emperor Alexander Severus. (Lamprid. A lea. Sev. 3.) SCAURUS signified a person who had a defect in his ankles or feet {Scaurum, pravis fultum mah talis., Hor. Sat. i. 3. 47), and was used, like many other words of a similar kind, as a ccgnomen in several Roman gentes.