Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/805

Rh SERVILIA GENS. ServiHa was the favourite mistress of the dictator Caesar, and seems to have fascinated him more by her genius than her personal charms. Caesar's love for her is mentioned as early as b. c. 63 (Plut. Cat. 24, Brut. 5), and continued, apparently unabated, to the time of his death, nearly twenty years after- wards. The scandal-mongers at Rome related various tales about her, which we maj' safely dis- believe. Thus she is said to have introduced her own daughter, Junia Tertia, to Caesar's embraces, when her own charms were growing faded ; and it was further currently reported that Brutus was Servilia's son by Caesar. The latter tale, at least, we can prove to be false, as Caesar was only fifteen years older than Brutus, the former having been born in b. c. 100, and the latter in B. c. 85. Caesar made Servilia a present of several confiscated estates after the civil wars. She survived both her lover and her son. After the battle of Philippi Antony sent her the ashes of her son. The tri- umvirs left her unmolested, and Atticus assisted and consoled her in her troubles. (Suet. Cues. 50 ; Plut. Cat. 24, Brut. 2, 5, 53 ; Appian, B. C. ii. 112, iv. 135 ; Cic. ad Fam. xii. 7, ad Ait. xiv. 21, XV. 11, 12 ; Corn. Nep. Att. 11 ; Drumann, Geschiclde Roms, vol. iv. p. 15, &c.) 3. The sister of No. 2, was the second wife of L. Lucullus, consul B. c 74, who married her on his return from the Mithridatic War, after he had divorced his first wife, Clodia. She bore Lucullus a son, but, like her sister, she was faithless to her husband ; and the latter, after putting up with her conduct for some time from regard to M. Cato Uticensis, her half-brother, at length divorced her. On the breaking out of the civil war in b. c. 49, she accompanied M. Cato, with her child, to Sicily, and from thence to Asia, where Cato left her behind in Rhodes, while he went to join Pompey. (Plut. Lucull. 38, Cat. 24, 54 ; Drumann, Geschiclde Roms, vol. iv. p. 174.) 4. The daughter of Barea Soranus, accused and condemned with her father in A. d. 66. [Barea.] SERVFLIA GENS, originally patrician, but subsequently plebeian also. The Servilia gens was one of the Alban houses removed to Rome by Tullus Hostilius, and enrolled by him among the patricians (Liv. i. 30.) It was, consequently, one of the minores gentes. Like other Roman gentes, the Servilii of course had their own sacra ; and they are said to have worshipped a triens, or copper coin, which is reported to have increased or dimi- nished in size at various times, thus indicating the increase or diminution of the honours of the gens (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 13. s. 38). The Servilia gens was very celebrated during the early ages of the republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the republic, and even in the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was P. Ser- vilius Priscus Structus, in B. c. 495, and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Q. Servilius Silanus, in A. d. 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years. The Servilii were divided into numerous families ; of these the names in the republican period are : — Ahala, Axilla, Caepio, Casca, Geminus, Glaucia, Globulus, Priscus (with the agnomen Fidenas), Rullus, Structus, TuccA, Vatja (with the agnomen Isauricus). SERVILIUS. 793 The cognomens of the Servilii under the empire are given below. A few persons of the name are mentioned without any cognomen : they are spoken of under Servilius. The only surnames found on coins are those of Ahala, Caepio, Casca, Rullus. There are likewise several coins of the Servilia gens, which bear no surname upon them : of these two specimens are annexed, but it is quite impos- sible to determine to whom they refer. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 308, &c.) COINS OF servilia GENS. SERVILIA'NUS, an agnomen of Q. Fabius Maximus, consul B.C. 142, because he originally belonged to the Servilia Gens. [Maximus Fa- Bius, No. 11.] SERVI'LIUS. 1. C. Servilius, P. f., was one of the triumvirs for settling the colonies of Pla- centia and Cremona, and was taken prisoner by the Boii in the first year of the second Punic war, B. c. 218. He remained in captivity for fifteen years, and was eventually released by his own son, the consul C. Servilius, in B. c. 203. (Liv. xxi. 25, XXX. 19.) 2. C. Servilius, C. f. P. n., son of the preceding, is first mentioned in b. c. 212, when he was sent into Etruria to purchase corn for the use of the Roman garrison in the citadel of Tarentum, which was then besieged by Hannibal. He succeeded in forcing his way into the harbour, and supply- ing the garrison with the corn. In B. c. 210 he was elected pontifex in the place of T. Otacilius Crassus, in b, c. 209 plebeian aedile, and in B. c. 208 curule aedile. In the last year, wliile holding the office of curule aedile, he was appointed magister equitum by the dictator T. Manlius Tor- quatus. He was praetor B. c. 206, when he ob- tained Sicily as his province, and consul B. c. 203 with Cn. Servilius Caepio. Livy, in speaking of his consulship (xxix. 38, xxx. 1 ), as well as sub- sequently, calls him C. Servilius Geminus ; but in the Capitoline Fasti his name is given C. Ser- vilius C. F. P. NEPOS. It is therefore probable that his cognomen Geminus is a mistake. C. Ser- vilius obtained Etruria as his province, and from thence marched into Cisalpine Gaul, where he re- leased his father from captivity, as has been al- ready related. Livy mentions that a rogatio was proposed to the people to release Servilius from the consequences (jie C Servilio fraudi essei) of having acted contrary to the laws in having been tribune of the plebs and a<.dile of the plebs, while his