Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/835

Rh SILIA GENS. he is likened to Socrates. (Plat. Sympos. 32 ; Xenoph. Sympos. 5. § 7.) When he was drunk and asleep, he was in the power of mortals who might compel him to prophesy and sing by sur- rounding him with chains of flowers. (Aelian, V. II. iii. 18; Philostr. Imag. i. 22, Vit. JpoU. vi. 27; Ov. Met. xi. 91.) Silenus had a temple at Elis, where Methe (Drunkenness) stood by his Bide handing him a cup of wine. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. p. IG-l, &c.; C. 0. MuUer, Ancient Art and its Remains, § 386.) [L. S.] SILE'NUS {^eiK-qvos or SiAtjj/os), literary. 1. A native of Calatia (SetA-T/vos o KaKaTiav6s an historical writer. Athenaeus (xii. p. 542, a), quotes from the third book of a work by him, entitled 2t/ceAt/cc£. The same work is probably referred to by Diogenes Laertius (ii. 3, 11). He also wrote upon Roman history, and is mentioned by Dionysius of Halicarnassus {Ant. Rom. i. 6), who charges him with a want of care and accu- racy, and by Livy (xxvi. 49) when speaking of the operations of Scipio Africanus the elder, in Spain. This Silenus is, doubtless, identical with liiKavos 6 (Tvyypacpfvs, mentioned by Strabo (iii. p. 172), who remarks that he, as well as Arte- midorus, was ignorant of the reason why the foun- tain in the temple of Hercules at Grades rose when the tide fell, and fell when the tide rose. It is probably this writer also who is quoted by Stephanus (s. v. FlaAj/cij), and by Pliny (H. N. iv. 22). Photius also (s. v. '2,apS6vios jeAois), mentions what Silenus says ev /3' t£v ivepl lupa- Koaaas. Cicero (de Div. i. 24) quotes from Sile- nus (of whom he remarks : is autem diligentissime res Hannihalis persecutus est) an account of a dream that Hannibal had after the capture of Saguntum. (Comp. Corn. Nep. Hannib. extr.) 2. It was probably a different writer from the last who is quoted several times by Athenaeus and others as the author of a work on foreign words {yXQcraai). Athenaeus mentions him fre- quently along with Cleitarchus. (Athen. xi. pp. 468, a. 475, d. 478, e. 482, f. xiv. p. 644, f., &c. ; comp. Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. i. 1299; Eustath. ad Od. vii. 102, p. 1571.) Silenus also compiled a collection of fabulous histories. (Tzetzes in Ly- cophr. 786 ; Schol. Hom. Od. i. 75, where he is called a Chian, as he is also by Eustathius, ad Od. xix. 407, p. 1871, and Eudocia, pp. 43, 312, 394 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graecis, p. 498, ed. Wester- mann.) [C. P. M.] SILE'NUS, an architect who wrote a work on the Doric order, de Symmetriis Doricorum. He was apparently of an early age and a little later than the scene painter Agatharchus, who was con- temporary with Aeschylus. (Vitruv. vii. praef. § 12.) [P. S.] P. SILI'CIUS, as he is called by Plutarch, or SiLicius Coronas, as Dion Cassius names him, a Roman senator, and one of the judices appointed to try the conspirators against the life of Caesar in B. c. 43, in accordance with the Lex Pedia. [Pe- Dius, No. 1.] Although Octavianus was present with his arn-y, Silicius ventured to vote for the acquittal of M, Brutus, in consequence of which he •was afterwards proscribed by the triumvirs, and put to death. Appian erroneously calls him Icilius (Dion Cass. xlvi. 49 ; Plut. Brut. 27 ; Appian, B. C. iv. 27). SI'LIA GENS, plebeian, did not attain much importance till quite the latter end of the republic, SILIUS. 823 although a person of this name is mentioned as early as B. c. 409. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was P. Silius Nerva, in B. c. 20. The different cognomens of the Silii are given below in alphabetical order. Nerva is the only cognomen tliat occurs on coins of the gens. SI'LIO, UMBO'NIUS, governor of Baetica under Claudius, was recalled from his province, and expelled from the senate because he had offended some of the emperor's freedmen, though accused, for the sake of form, of another crime (Dion Cass. Ix. 24). SI'LIUS. 1. Q. Silius, one of the quaestors elected for the first time from the plebs in B. c. 409 (Liv. iv. 54). 2. T. Silius, served under Caesar in Gaul, and was sent by him against the Veneti in B. c. 56 (Caes. B. G. iii. 7). 3. A. Silius, a friend of Cicero, is frequently mentioned by him in his correspondence with Atticus in b. c. 45. (Cic. ad Att. x. 13, xii. 18, 22, 24, 25, xiii. 50.) 4. P. Silius, governed Bithynia and Pontus as propraetor in B.C. 51, at the same time as Cicero governed Cilicia as proconsul, Bibulus Syria, and Thermus Asia. Silius was a friend of Atticus (Cic. ad Att. vi. 1. § 13, vii. 1. § 8). Several of Cicero's letters are addressed to this Silius. He consulted Cicero on a legal point in b. c. 44, the explanation of which has exercised the ingenuity of modern jurists. (Cic. ad Fain. vii. 21, ad Att. XV. 23, 24 ; P. E. Huschke, De Causa^ Siliana, Rostochii, 1 824, and also in his Studien, Breslau, 1 830, vol. i.) This Silius was probably the father of P. Silius Nerva, consul in ,b. c. 20. [Silius Nerva.] 5. C. Silius P. f. P. n., was consul a. d. 13, with L. Munatius Plancus (Dion Cass. Ivi. 28 ; Suet. Aug. 101 ; Frontin. de Aquaed. 102 ; Fasti Capitol.). He was appointed at the end of his year of office legatus of Upper Germany, where he was at the death of Augustus, in the month of August in the following year. He served under Germanicus in his campaigns in Germany, and on account of his success obtained the triumphal or- naments in A. D. 15. Germanicus sent him against the Chatti in the following year, but the result of that expedition is not mentioned by Tacitus. In A. D. 21 he defeated Julius Sacrovir, who, in con- junction with Julius Floras, had excited an insur- rection in Gaul, and had collected a formidable army among the Aedui and the surrounding people [Sacrovir]. But his friendship with Germanicus caused his ruin. He had also excited the sus- picions of the jealous emperor by the successes he had obtained, by the long continuance of his com- mand, and by the boastful manner in which he had spoken of his services. He was accordingly accused of repetundae and majestas in A. d. 24, and anticipated his condemnation by a voluntary death. His wife Sosia Galla was involved in the accusations brought against him, and was sentenced to banishment. [Galla, Sosia.] (Tac. Ann. i. 31, ii. 6, 7, 25, iii. 42—45, iv. 18, 19 ; Dion Cass. Ix. 31.) 6. C. Silius, son of No. 5, the most beautiful of the Roman youths, was passionately loved by Messalina, the wife of the emperor Claudius. She made no secret of her affection for him, and visited his house openly, with a large retinue. She com- 36 4