Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/448

 the latter escaped with his life. In B.C. 51 the war against Caesar was renewed by the Bellovaci, Atrebates, and other tribes. Commius, who was again one of the chief commanders, went over to the Germani for help, and came back with five hundred horsemen. On the defeat and submission of the Gaulish tribes, he retired for a time to his friends among the Germani. In the winter of the same year (B.C. 51) he returned, and was still anxious to head a revolt; but his own tribe had now submitted, and he had to content himself with the leadership of a band of predatory horsemen who intercepted the supplies intended for the winter quarters of the Romans in Belgium. Marc Antony, who was now in command in that part of the country, sent Caius Volusenus Quadratus, his prefect of horse, in pursuit of Commius. Some fighting took place, and on one occasion Volusenus, who was eager to attack his old enemy in person, received a wound in the thigh from the lance of Commius. The latter mounted on a swift horse evaded the pursuit of the Romans. In the same year (B.C. 51) Commius tendered his submission to Antony, declaring (it is said) that he would do anything that was required of him, provided only that he should never again be brought into the presence of a Roman. These words, according to the colouring given them by Hirtius (viii. 48), were expressive of abject terror on the part of Commius; more probably they were an expression of contempt and disgust (cf. viii. 23). Front inus relates a curious incident, difficult to date and perhaps not worthy of credit, namely that Commius once fled from Gaul to Britain, and induced Caesar, who was following him at a distance, to desist from the pursuit by the stratagem of hoisting his sails before he was actually out at sea. According to De Saulcy (Annuaire) and Hucher (Rev. Num.), certain Gaulish silver coins (obverse, helmeted head; reverse, free horse) inscribed with the words COMMIOS or COMIOS were issued by Commius when chieftain of the Atrebates (see the engraving in, l'art gaulois, pi. 62, 2; Rev. Num. 1863, pi. xvi. 9; and specimens in Brit. Mus.) Numismatic evidence renders it probable that after his submission to Antony Commius retired to Britain and there acquired the sovereign power over several tribes. Three British chieftains, Tinc[ommius] (ruler in Hampshire and Sussex), Verica (king in Sussex and Surrey), and Eppillus (ruler in Kent), severally issued gold coins inscribed with their individual names accompanied by the title ' son of Commius ' (on this interpretation now quite certain of ., &c.. see in Num. Chron. vol. xvii., N.S. (1877), p. 315), in all probability this Commius. Evans conjectures that he acquired dominion over the tribes of Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, and Surrey, and that after his death his kingdom was broken up and divided among his three sons. To Commius himself there are no coins which can be attributed with certainty, though gold pieces of the type engraved by Evans, pi. i. 10, p. 157 (cf., Anc. Brit. Coins of Sussex, pp. 51, 52), may possibly be his.  COMPOTISTA or COMPUTISTA, ROGER (fl. 1360?), was a monk of Bury St. Edmund's, of which abbey he ultimately became prior. He is known chiefly through his compilation of a biblical dictionary, which appears to have enjoyed a wide popularity, and is preserved in several manuscripts. Two are in the Bodleian Library (Cod. Bodl. 238, ff. 200 b, col. 1262 a, col. 1, and Cod. Laud. 176) and one at Magdalen College, Oxford (Cod. cxii. f. 172;, Catalogue of Oxford Manuscripts, Magdalen College, pp. 58 b, 59 a). The title of this book is 'Expositiones vocabulorum Bibliæ' (or 'de singulis libris Bibliæ'); and the prologue states that it was compiled for the use of novices by Roger Compotista, and 'corrected' or edited by his brother-monk, Reginald of Walsingham, to whom the prologue is addressed (Cod. Bodl. 238, f. 213 b, col. 1).

Bale says that Roger was the author of three other works, 'Postillationes Evangeliorum,' 'De Excommunicatione maiori,' and 'Constitutiones Cantuarienses,' all of which he says he found at Magdalen College. The Magdalen manuscript of the 'Expositiones vocabulorum' contains a fragment of a 'Liber Constitutionum Cantuariensium,' but separated from it by other matter, and without the least indication that it is by Roger Compotista except the fact that it is included in the same volume with a genuine work by him. Of the other two works ascribed to him no traces are known to exist. 