the enemies of Priscus to issue the fatal mandate ; 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 consequence 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. lxv. 7, Ixvi. 12, lxvii. 13; Suet. Vesp. 15; Plin. Ep. vii. 19.) PRISCUS, JAVOLE'NUS. [JAVOLENUS.] PRISCUS, JULIUS, a centurion, was appointed by Vitellius (A. D. 69) 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. 55, 61, iv. 11.)

PRISCUS, JU'NIUS, praetor in the reign of Caligula, was put to death by this emperor on account of his wealth, though accused as a pretext of other crimes. (Dion Cass. lix. 18.)

ments of Galba were doubtful, he dropped the accusation. 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. 69, Priscus again attacked his old enemy Eprius Marcellus. The contest between them arose respecting the manner in which the ambassadors 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 appointed, and might thus appear to have received some disgrace. Marcellus carried his point on this occasion. Priscus accused him, shortly afterwards, of 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-ever, displeased Tiberius, not through any wish to 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 my 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 banishment. 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

99

PRISCUS, C. LUTO'RIUS, a Roman eques, composed a poem on the death of Germanicus, which obtained great celebrity, 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, 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

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 the 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 was done, no one could in future be executed till ten days after his condemnation. (Tac. Ann. iii. 49–51; Dion Cass. Ivii. 20.) It is recorded of this Lutorius Priscus that he paid Sejanus the enormous sum of 50,000,000 sesterces (quinquenties sestertium) 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, in consequence of his being a friend of

4. Q. SERVILIUS PRISCUS STRUCTUS, probably *Livy (iv. 21) calls him A. Servilius, in son of No. 2, was consul B. c. 468, with T. Quin-speaking of his dictatorship of B. c. 435, but tius Capitolinus Barbatus, and again B. c. 466, Q. Servilius when he mentions his dictatorship of with Sp. Postumius Albus Regillensis. In each B. c. 418 (iv. 46), as well as when he speaks of year Priscus commanded the Roman armies in the him elsewhere (e. g. iv. 26). There can, therewars with the neighbouring nations, but did not fore, be no doubt that the name of Quintus is to be perform anything worth recording. (Liv. ii. 64, preferred, which we find also in the Capitoline ii. 2; Dionys. ix. 57, 60.)

interior, and even formed the scheme of disarming the inhabitants and of reducing the whole country to the form of a province. Passing onwards, every foe was swept away from the frontiers of Rhaetia and Noricum, which now enjoyed complete se405,curity, the Goths upon the Thracian borders, overawed by his name, tendered submission or were admitted to alliance, the robber hordes of Isauria and the savage Blemmyes of Ethiopia were crushed or dispersed, a treaty was concluded with the Persians at their own eager solicitation, while, in addition to the conquest of foreign foes, the rebellions of Saturninus at Alexandria, of Proculus and Bonosus in Gaul, were promptly suppressed. The emperor on his return to the metropolis celebrated a well-earned triumph, and determined forthwith to devote his whole energies to the regulation of the civil government. The privileges restored by his predecessor to the senate were confirmed, agriculture was promoted by the removal of various pernicious restrictions, large bodies of barbarians were transplanted from the frontiers to more tranquil regions, where they were presented with allotments of land in order that they might learn to dwell in fixed abodes, and to practise the occupations and duties of civilised life, while in every direction protection and encouragement were extended to industry. But the repose purchased by such unremitting exertion proved the cause of ruin to Probus. Fearing that the discipline of the troops might be relaxed by inactivity and ease, he employed them in laborious works of public utility, and was even rash enough to express the hope that the time was fast approaching when soldiers would be no longer necessary. Alarmed by these ill-judged expressions, and irritated by toils which they regarded as at once painful and degrading, a large body of men who were employed under his own inspection in draining the vast swamps which surrounded his native Sirmium, in a sudden transport of rage made an attack upon the emperor, who, having vainly attempted to save himself by taking refuge in a strong tower, was dragged forth and murdered by the infuriated mutineers.

prodigious memory. He has no great credit, so far
as style is concerned, in his pupil Eunapius, but the
names of Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen
(Sozomen, H. E. vi. 17), fully bear out his high
reputation as a teacher of rhetoric. (Compare
Suidas, s. v.; Clinton, Fast. Rom. pp. 401,
449, 469; Westermann, Geschichte der Griech.
Beredt. p. 237.)
[W. M. G.]
PROBA, FALCO'NIA. [FALCONIA.]
PROBUS, M. AURELIUS, Roman emperor
A. D. 276-282, was a native of Sirmium in
Pannonia. His mother is said to have been of
more noble extraction than his father Maximus,
who after having served as a centurion with good
reputation was raised to the rank of tribune, and
died in Egypt, bequeathing a very moderate for-
tune to his widow and two children, a son and
a daughter. Young Probus, at an early age,
attracted the attention, and gained the favour of
Valerian, from whom, in violation of the ordinary
rules of military service, he received while almost
a boy the commission of tribune. Letters have
been preserved by Vopiscus, addressed by the
prince to Gallienus, and to the praetorian prefect,
in which he announces the promotion of the youth,
whom he praises warmly, and recommends to their
notice. Nor did he prove unworthy of this pa-
tronage. He conducted himself so gallantly in the
war against the Sarmatians beyond the Danube,
that he was forthwith entrusted with the command
of a distinguished legion, and was presented in a
public assembly with various military rewards,
among others with the highest and most prized of
all decorations, a civic crown, which he had earned
by rescuing a noble youth, Valerius Flaccus, a
kinsman of the emperor, from the hands of the
Quadi. His subsequent exploits in Africa, Egypt,
Arabia, Scythia, Persia, Germany, and Gaul,
gained for him the esteem and admiration of Gal-
lienus, Aurelian, and the second Claudius, all of
whom expressed their feelings in the most earnest
language, while his gentle though firm discipline,
the minute care which he evinced in providing for
the wants and comforts of the soldiers, and his
liberality in dividing spoils, secured the zealous
attachment of the troops. By Tacitus he was
named governor of the whole East, and declared to
be the firmest pillar of the Roman power, and,
upon the death of that sovereign, the purple was
forced upon his acceptance by the armies of Syria.
The downfal of Florianus speedily removed his
only rival, and he was enthusiastically hailed by
the united voice of the senate, the people, and the
legions.

The whole reign of Probus, which lasted for about six years, presents a series of the most brilliant achievements. His attention was first turned to Gaul, which had become disturbed upon the overthrow of Postumus, and after the death of Aurelian had been ravaged, occupied, and almost subjugated by the Germans. By a succession of victories the new ruler recovered sixty important cities, destroyed 400,000 of the invaders, and drove the rest across the Rhine. Following up his success, he penetrated into the heart of Germany, compelled the vanquished tribes to restore the whole of the plunder which they had borne away, and to furnish a contingent of 16,000 recruits, which were distributed in small numbers among the different armies of the empire; he established a line of posts stretching far into the

History has unhesitatingly pronounced that the character of Probus stands without a rival in the annals of imperial Rome, combining all the best features of the best princes who adorned the purple, exhibiting at once the daring valour and martial skill of Aurelian, the activity and vast conceptions of Hadrian, the justice, moderation, simple habits, amiable disposition, and cultivated intellect of Trajan, the Antonines, and Alexander. We find no trace upon record of any 'counterbalancing vices or defects, and we can detect no motive which could have tempted the writers who flourished soon after his decease to employ the language of falsehood or flattery in depicting the career of an obscure Illyrian soldier, unconnected by blood or alliance alike with those who went before him, and with those who succeeded him on the throne.

Our chief authority is the biography, in the Augustan History, of Vopiscus, who complains that even when he wrote, the great achievements of this extraordinary man were rapidly sinking into ob livion, obliterated doubtless by the stirring events and radical changes in the constitution which fol lowed with such rapidity the accession of Diocletian. By the aid, however, of the books and state papers which he had consulted in the Ulpian

PROBUS, a name borne by several celebrated Roman grammarians, whom it is difficult to distinguish from each other.

1. M. VALERIUS PROBUS, of Berytus, who having served in the army, and having long applied without success for promotion, at length betook himself, in disgust, to literary pursuits. He belongs to the age of Nero, since he stands last in order in the catalogue of Suetonius, immediately after Q. Remmius Palaemon, who flourished in the reigns of Tiberius, Caius, and Claudius; this is fully confirmed by the notice of Jerome in the Eusebian chronicle under Olympiad CCIX. I. (A. D. 56-7): "Probus Berytius eruditissimus grammaticorum Romae agnoscitur." Chance led him to study the more ancient writers, and he occupied himself in illustrating (emendare ac distinguere et adnotare curavit) their works. He published a few trifling remarks on some matters of minute controversy (nimis pauca et exigua de quibusdam minutis quaestiunculis edidit), and left behind him a considerable body of observations (silvam) on the earlier forms of the language. Although not in the habit of giving regular instructions to pupils, he had some admirers (sectatores), of whom he would occasionally admit three or four to benefit by his lore. To this Probus we may, with considerable probability, assign those annotations on Terence, from which fragments are quoted in the Scholia on the dramatist. (Sueton. de illus. Gramm. 24; Schopfen, de Terentio et Donato eius interprete, 8vo. Bonn, 1821, p. 31.)

the Valerius Probus of Gellius is one and the same person with the Probus Berytius of Suetonius and Hieronymus, for although Gellius, who speaks of having conversed with the pupils and friends of Valerius Probus, did not die before A. D. 180, it is by no means impossible, as far as we know to the contrary, that Probus Berytius might have lived on to the beginning of the second century, although the words of Martial (Ep. iii. 2, 12) cannot be admitted as evidence of the fact. This view has been adopted and ably supported by Jahn in the Prolegomena to his edition of Persius, 8vo. Lips. 1843 (p. cccxxxvi. &c.). The chief difficulty, however, after all, arises from the chronology. Probus of Berytus is represented by Suetonius as having long sought the post of a centurion, and as having not applied himself to literature until he had lost all hopes of success; hence he must have been well advanced in life before he commenced his studies, and consequently, in all probability, must have been an old man in A. D. 57, when he was recognised at Rome as the most learned of grammarians. Moreover, a scholar who in the age of Nero undertook to illustrate Virgil, could scarcely with propriety have been represented as devoting himself to the ancient writers, who had fallen into neglect and almost into oblivion, for such is the meaning we should naturally attach to the words of Suetonius.

3. The life of Persius, commonly ascribed to Suetonius, is found in many of the best MSS. of the Satirist with the title Vita A. Persii Flacci de Commentario Probi Valerii sublata. Now since this biography bears evident marks of having been composed by some one who lived at a period not very distant from the events which he relates, we may fairly ascribe it to the commentator on Virgil.

4. The name of the ancient scholiast on Juvenal was, according to Valla, by whom he was first published, Probus Grammaticus. (See In D. Junii Jur. Satt. Comment. vetusti post Pothoei Curas, ed. D. A. G. Cramer, 8vo. Hamb. 1823, p. 5.)

The

5. In the "Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui," 4to. Hannov. 1605, p. 1386-1494, we find a work upon grammar, in two books, entitled M. Valeri Probi Grammaticae Institutiones, with a preface in verse, addressed to a certain Coelestinus. first book treats briefly of letters, syllables, the parts of speech and the principles of prosody. The second book, termed Catholica, comprises general rules for the declension of nouns and verbs, with a few remarks on the arrangement of words and examples of the different species of metrical feet, corresponding throughout so closely with the treatise of M. Claudius Sacerdos [see PLOTIUS MARIUS], that it is evident that one of these writers must have copied from the other, or that both must have derived their materials from a common source. The text of this Probus has lately received important improvements from a collation of the Codex Bobiensis, now at Vienna, and appears under its best form in the "Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum of Lindemann, 4to. Lips. 1831, vol. i. pp. 39-148. The lines to Coelestinus are included in the Anthol. Lat. of Burmann, vol. i. addend. p. 739, or No. 205, ed. Meyer.

2. VALERIUS PROBUS, termed by Macrobius "Vir perfectissimus," flourished some years before A. Gellius, and therefore about the beginning of the second century. He was the author of commentaries on Virgil, and possessed a copy of a portion at least of the Georgics, which had been corrected by the hand of the poet himself. These are the commentaries so frequently cited by Servius; but the Scholia in Bucolica et Georgica, now extant, under the name of Probus, belong to a much later period. (Gell. i. 15. § 18, iii. 1. § 5, ix. 9. § 12, 15, xiii. 20. § 1, xv. 30. § 5; Macrob. Sat. v. 22; Heyne, de antiq. Virgil. interprett. 6. In the same collection by Putschius, p. 1496 subjoined to his notices "De Virgilii editionibus.")-1541, is contained M. Valerii Probi Grammatic It must not be concealed, that many plausible de Notis Romanorum Interpretandis Libellus, an reasons, founded upon the notices contained in the explanation of the abbreviations employed in inNoctes Atticae, may be adduced for believing that scriptions and writings of various kinds.