But it is surely not unlikely that a writer of consideration like Miltiades, who had been engaged in the Montanist controversy, would be mentioned both by the anonymous writer and by Rhodon, in writing on the same side of the dispute. At any rate, if Jerome identified the anonymous writer with Rhodon, it does not appear that such identification was more than a conjecture, which weighs little against the silence of the earlier, and probably better informed Eusebius.

The fragments of the work against Marcion are given in the second volume of Galland's Bibliotheca Patrum, p. 144, and in Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. i. p. 349, &c. ; those from the work against the Montanists in the third volume of Galland, p. 273, under the name of Asterius Urbanus, to whom the editor ascribes them; and in the second volume of Routh, p. 73, &c., anonymously. Rhodon, in his work against the Marcionites, had promised to prepare a work in elucidation of the obscure passages of Scripture, the design of which had been formed by his instructor Tatian: but we have no evidence that Rhodon ever carried his purpose into effect. (Euseb. H. E. v. 16, 17; Hieron. de Viris Illustr. cc. 37, 39, 40; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 188, 189, s. v. Asterius Urbanus and Rhodon, vol. i. p. 85, ed. Oxon. 1740-1743; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 161, 168; Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. iii. p. 64; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacrés, vol. ii. p. 133; Lardner, Credib. part ii. book i. c. 28. § 14; Galland, Biblioth. Patrum, vol. ii. proleg. c. 5, vol. iii. proleg. c. 2.)

[J. C. M.]

RHO'DOPE (Podórn), the nymph of a Thracian well, was the wife of Haemus and mother of Hebrus, and is mentioned among the playmates of Persephone. (Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 423; Lucian, de Saltat. 51.) [L. S.]

|

Herodotus, but it appears clear that Sappho in her poem spoke of her under the name of Doricha. It is therefore very probable that Doricha was her real name, and that she received that of Rhodopis, which signifies the "rosy-cheeked," on account of her beauty. (Herod. ii. 134, 135; Athen. xiii. p. 596, b; Suid. s. v. 'Poda'vidos dvá@nua; Strab. xvii. p. 808; comp. Ov. Her. xv. 63.)

There was a tale current in Greece that Rhodopis built the third pyramid. Herodotus takes great pains (1. c.) to show the absurdity of the story, but it still kept its ground, and is related by later writers as an unquestionable fact. (Plin. H.N. xxxvi. 12. § 17; comp. Strab. I. c.) The origin of this tale, which is unquestionably false, has been explained with great probability by Zoega and Bunsen. In consequence of the name Rhodopis, the "rosy-cheeked," she was confounded with Nitocris, the beautiful Egyptian queen, and the heroine of many an Egyptian legend, who is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have built the third pyramid. [Comp. NITOCRIS, No. 2.] Another tale about Rhodopis related by Strabo (l. c.) and Aelian (V. H. xiii. 33), makes her a queen of Egypt, and thus renders the supposition of her being the same as Nitocris still more probable. It is said that as Rhodopis was one day bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up one of her sandals, flew away with it, and dropt it in the lap of the Egyptian king, as he was administering justice at Memphis. Struck by the strange occurrence and the beauty of the sandal, he did not rest till he had found out the fair owner of the beautiful sandal, and as soon as he had discovered her made her his queen. Aelian calls the king Psammitichus; but this deserves no attention, since Strabo relates the tale of the Rhodopis, who was loved by Charaxus, and Aelian probably inserted the name of Psammitichus, simply because no name was given in Strabo or the writer from whom he copied. (Comp. Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, vol. iii. pp. 236—238.)

RHODOS ('Pódos), was, according to Diodorus (v. 55), a daughter of Poseidon and Halia, and sometimes called Rhode. The island of Rhodes was believed to have derived its name from her. According to others, she was a daughter of Helios and Amphitrite, or of Poseidon and Aphrodite, or lastly of Oceanus (Pind. Olymp. vii. 24; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 923). She was a sea-nymph, of whom the following legend is related. When the gods distributed among themselves the various countries of the earth, the island of Rhodes was yet covered by the waves of the sea. Helios was absent at the time; and as no one drew a lot for him, he was not to have any share in the distribution of the earth. But at that moment the

RHO'DOPHON ('Podopwv), a Rhodian, was one of those who, when hostilities broke out between Perseus and the Romans, in B. c. 171, strove successfully to retain their countrymen in their alliance with Rome, and continued throughout the war to adhere firmly to the Roman cause. In B. c. 167, when the anger of the senate against the Rhodians had been with difficulty appeased by Astymedes and his fellow-ambassadors [comp. PHILOPHRON and POLYARATUS], Rhodophon and Theaetetus were appointed to convey to Rome the present of a golden crown. (Polyb. xxvii. 6, xxviii. 2, xxx. 5; comp. Liv. xlv. 20, &c.) [E. E.] RHODOPIS ('Podŵris), a celebrated Greek courtezan, was of Thracian origin. She was a fellow-slave with the poet Aesop, both of them belonging to the Samian Iadmon. She afterwards became the property of Xanthes, another Samian, who carried her to Naucratis in Egypt, in the reign of Amasis, and at this great sea-port, the Alex-island of Rhodes rose out of the sea, and with the andria of ancient times, she carried on the trade of an hetaera for the benefit of her master. While thus employed, Charaxus, the brother of the poetess Sappho, who had come to Naucratis in pursuit of gain as a merchant, fell desperately in love with the fair courtezan, and ransomed her from slavery for a large sum of money. She was in consequence attacked by Sappho in a poem, who accused her of robbing her brother of his property. She continued to live at Naucratis after her liberation from slavery, and with the tenth part of her gains she dedicated at Delphi ten iron spits, which were seen by Herodotus. She is called Rhodopis by

consent of Zeus he took possession of it, and by
the nymph of the isle he then became the father of
seven sons. (Pind. Ol. vii. 100, &c.; Ov. Met. iv.
204.)
[L. S.]

RHOECUS ('Poîkos), a centaur who, conjointly
with Hylaeus, pursued Atalanta in Arcadia, but
was killed by her with an arrow (Apollod. iii. 9.
§ 2; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 221; Aelian, V. H.
xiii. 1). This centaur is perhaps the same as the
one who is called Rhoetus by Latin poets. (RHOE-
TUS.)
[L. S.]

RHOECUS ('Poîkos), the son of Phileas or Philaeus, of Samos, an architect and statuary, be

ad Hom. p. 237). A second mythical personage
of this name is mentioned by Pausanias (ii. 6. §
4.)

[L. S.]

RI/CIMER, one of the most extraordinary characters in later Roman history, and worthy of being called the Roman "King-Maker," was the son of a Suevian chief who had married the daughter of Wallia, king of the West Goths. He spent his youth at the court of the emperor Valentinian, served with distinction under Aëtius, and was raised to the dignity of comes. talents, boundless ambition, and daring courage His rare urged him on to still higher eminence, and his treacherous disposition and systematic selfishness assisted him greatly in attaining his object. In A. D. 456, Ricimer gained a decisive naval victory off Corsica over a fleet of the Vandals, then at war with Avitus, and he defeated the land-forces of the Vandals near Agrigentum in Sicily. These victories made his name so popular that he resolved upon carrying out a scheme which he seems to have formed some time previously, namely, to depose Avitus, who had, ever since his accession, ceased to display his former great qualities, and had incurred the hatred and contempt of his subjects. After his return to Italy, Ricimer kindled a rebellion at Ravenna, gained the assistance of the Roman senate, and then set out to encounter Avitus, who approached from Gaul. A bloody battle was fought at Placentia, on the 16th (17th) October, 456, in which Avitus lost his crown and liberty. Ricimer made him bishop of Placentia, but soon afterwards contrived his death. Marcian, and after him Leo, emperors of the East, now assumed the title of Western emperors also; but the power was with Ricimer, who might have seized the diadem, in spite of the law that no barbarian should be Roman emperor, but preferred to give it to Majorian. He had previously obtained the title of patrician from Leo, who also gave consent to the nomination of Majorian (475). A proof that the real power remained in Ricimer given by Majorian himself, who in a letter to the senate, preserved in the Codex Theodosianus, says that he and

The ac

his father Ricimer" would take proper care of military affairs. Majorian having displayed uncommon energy, and, to Ricimer, most unexpected wisdom, the latter was filled with jealousy, and contrived the sudden and famous plot, in consequence of which Majorian lost his life by Ricimer's order (461). Ricimer put Vibius Severus Serpentinus on the throne in his stead. cession of the new emperor was not approved of by Leo, and was contested by Aegidius, in Gaul, a province where Ricimer had not succeeded in obtaining more than nominal power. The revolt of Aegidius, however, was absorbed by other intestine troubles in Gaul, and caused no danger to Italy. Severus died in 465, perhaps poisoned by Ricimer, and during eighteen months the empire was without an emperor, though not without a head, for that was always Ricimer's. mans, however, were displeased with his despotism, and requested Leo to give them an emperor. Anthemius was accordingly proposed and accepted, not only by the people, but also by Ricimer, who showed great diplomatic skill in this transaction: he made a sort of bargain with the successful candidate, and promised to lend him his assistance on condition that Anthemius should give him his daughter in marriage. This was accordingly com

ROMA.

plied with, and for some time the two supreme chiefs ruled peacefully together. Soon, however, Ricimer withdrew to Milan, ready to declare war their harmony was disturbed by jealousy, and against his father-in-law. St. Epiphanius reconciled them, and matters went on to their mutual satisfaction till 472, when Leo got rid of his overbear ing minister, Aspar. reflect upon his own safety, for he justly appre This event made Ricimer hended that the western emperor would follow the therefore forthwith sallied out from Milan with a example set by his colleague in the East. He picked and devoted army, and laid siege to Rome. Even before the city was taken, Ricimer offered thither to negotiate a peace between the rivals. the diadem to Olybrius, whom Leo had sent Anthemius was massacred some days after Rome had been taken by Ricimer and plundered by his warriors. Olybrius now reigned as emperor as far the King-Maker; but only forty days after the as was possible under the over-hanging sword of sack of Rome, Ricimer died of a malignant fever (18th August 472), after having made and unmade five Roman emperors. (The authorities quoted in the lives of ANTHEMIUS, AVITUS, MAJORIANUS, OLYBRIUS, and SEVERUS.) [W.P.]

by some Latin writers as a divinity worshipped ROBI'GUS (or fem. ROBI'GO) is described for the purpose of averting blight or too great heat from the young cornfields. The festival of the Robigalia was celebrated on the 25th of April, and was said to have been instituted by Numa (Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi. 16; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 151; Gellius, v. 12; Ov. Fast. iv. 907, 911). But considering the uncertainty of the ancients themselves as to whether the divinity was masculine or feminine, and that the Romans did not pay divine honours to any evil demon, it is highly probable that the divinity Robigus, or Robigo, is only an abstraction of the later Romans from the festival of the Robigalia. (Comp. Varro, de Re Rust. i. 2.) [L. S.] ROCUS, Q. CREPEREIUS. [CREPEREIUS.] ROCUS, ROMI'LIUS. [ROMILIUS.] fought under Crassus, the proconsul of Macedonia, ROLES, a king of some tribes of the Getae, was recognised by Augustus as a friend and ally. B. C. 29, against the neighbouring barbarians, and According to Leunclavius, the name is the same (Dion Cass. li. 24, 26.) as the Norman Rollo, and the German Rodolph,

city of Rome, and as such called Dea Roma. ROMA (Paun). 1. The personification of the Temples were erected to her, not only at Rome, but in other cities of the empire, such as Smyrna (Tac. Ann. iv. 56; Spartian. Hadr. 19). She was represented clad in a long robe, and with a helmet, in a sitting posture, strongly resembling the figures of the Greek Athena. She was in reality the genius of the city of Rome, and was worshipped as such from early times; but it seems that previous The Ro-to the time of Augustus, there was no temple dedicated to her in the city; but afterwards their number increased in all parts of the empire (Liv. xliii. 5; Tac. Ann. iv. 37; Dion Cass. li. p. 458; P. Vict. Reg. Urb. iv.). As Roma (pun) also signified strength," it is not impossible that the ode of Erinna, addressed to Roma, may be an ode to the personification of strength.

2. A Trojan captive, who advised her fellowcaptives on the coast of Italy to set fire to the fleet

of the Greeks. (Plut. Romul. 1; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 921.)

3. A daughter of Italus and Lucania, or a daughter of Telephus. In some traditions she was said to have been the wife of Aeneas or Ascanius, and to have given her name to the city of Rome. (Plut. Romul. 2.) [L. S.]

ROMA'NUS, a friend of the younger Pliny, to whom several of his letters are addressed (Ep. iv. 29, vi. 15, 33, viii. 8, ix. 7). Pliny had two friends of this name, Romanus Firmus and Voconius Romanus, and it is probable that some of the above letters are addressed to one of these persons, but it is impossible to say to which.

ROMA'NUS, FIRMUS, a friend and municeps of the younger Pliny, with whom the latter had been brought up, and to whom he addresses one of his letters, in which he offers to give him a sufficient sum of money to raise him to the equestrian rank. (Ep. i. 19.)

ROMA'NUS, FA/BIUS, one of the friends of the poet Lucan, accused Mela, the father of the poet, after the death of the latter, because Nero was anxious to obtain his property. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 17.)

ROMA'NUS HISPO, a Roman rhetorician, who earned an infamous character by undertaking prosecutions to please the early emperors. He is first mentioned at the commencement of the reign of Tiberius, when he supported the accusation of Caepio Crispinus against Granius Marcellus. In A. D. 62, he accused Seneca as one of the associates of C. Piso, but the accusation was retorted upon him by Seneca (Tac. Ann. i. 74, xvi. 17). Romanus Hispo constantly occurs as one of the declaimers in the Controversiae of the elder Seneca.

| his ship and made sail for Constantinople, he was accused of treachery by Leo Phocas. It must, however, be understood that both the accused and the accuser aimed at supreme power, and Romanus left the theatre of the war, probably for the purpose of being within reach of the throne, as well as of the man who wanted to place himself thereon. A civil war was on the point of breaking out, when Romanus, patronised and perhaps loved by the dowager empress, seized upon the chamberlain Constantine, one of the most influential adherents of Phocas, who avenged the captivity of his friend by taking up arms. Romanus, who had been appointed Magnus Hetaeriarcha, or commander in chief of the foreign body-guard of the emperor, worsted Phocas, and in reward was made Caesar in September, and crowned as Augustus and emperor on the 17th December, 919. He had previously given his daughter Helena in marriage to the young emperor Constantine, and shortly after his accession he conferred the rank of Augustus and Augusta upon his son Christopher and his wife Theodora. Romanus was now the legitimate colleague of Constantine VII., over whom he exercised such authority as to cause many plots against his life, and sometimes open rebellions, which he succeeded in quelling.

The following are the principal events of his reign. The great schism of the church, which had lasted ever since the deposition of the patriarch Euthymius and the famous fourth wedlock of the emperor Leo VI., was at last healed, in 920, through the intervention of Pope John X.; and by an edict of Constantine VII. of the same year, a fourth marriage was declared anti-canonical, and made punishable. In 921 another of those interminable wars with the Bulgarians, or perhaps only ROMAʼNUS, JU'LIUS, a Roman poet, whose a fresh and formidable invasion, drew the attention name is prefixed to an epigram on Petronius Ar- of Romanus towards the Danube, but the Bulbiter in the Latin Anthology (ii. 235, ed. Bur-garians saved him the trouble of going so far away mann, No. 1544, ed. Meyer). This Julius, how ever, as Niebuhr points out (Kleine Schriften, p. 347), is not an ancient writer, but Julius Sabinus, otherwise called Julius Pomponius Laetus, who died in the year 1497. (Comp. Meyer, Annot. ad Anthol. Lat. vol. ii. p. 122.)

ROMA NUS, VOCO'NIUS, a fellow-student and an intimate friend of the younger Pliny, was the son of an illustrious Roman eques, and his mother belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Nearer Spain (Plin. Ep. ii. 13). If we may trust the testimony of his friend, Voconius was a distinguished orator, and possessed great skill in composition. Several of Pliny's letters are addressed to him. (Ep. i. 5, ii. 1, ix. 28.)

ROMA'NUS I., LECAPE'NUS ('Papavòs o Aakarηνós), Byzantine emperor from A. D. 919 -944, was the son of Theophylactus Abastactus, a brave warrior, who had once saved the life of the emperor Basil. Romanus served in the imperial fleet, distinguished himself on many occasions, and enjoyed the esteem of his fellow-soldiers on account of his rare bravery. One of his men having been attacked by a lion, Romanus, who was near, rushed to his assistance and killed the monster in single combat. When the young Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus, ascended the throne, Romanus was high admiral, and commanded the fleet on the Danube in the war with the Bulgarians, but as he suddenly withdrew with

from Constantinople by advancing thither with all their force, and ravaging the country. This war became still more formidable when Simeon, the king of the Bulgarians concluded, in 923, an alliance with the Arabs. But we purposely refrain from giving the details of these barbarous wars, presenting little more than an uninterrupted series of bloodshed and devastations without profit to either party. A remarkable interview between Romanus and Simeon, which took place in 926, under the walls of Constantinople, put a temporary end to these troubles. In the previous year the patrician John Radinus worsted and destroyed the fleet of the famous pirate chief Leo, of Tripolis, who had sacked Thessalonica twenty-two years previously. In 927 King Simeon died, after having ruined Bulgaria through his very victories, and was succeeded by his son Peter, who was less warlike, though not less courageous than his father; for he entered the Byzantine territory at the head of a strong army, proposing to the emperor to choose between war and peace, on condition of his giving him his grand-daughter in marriage, a proposition which Romanus the more eagerly accepted, as he wanted all his forces to check the progress of the Arabs. His possessions in Italy also required protection against the petty Lombard princes. In 901 Christopher died, the eldest son of Romanus and husband of Sophia, the daughter of Nicetas magister palatii, who a short time previously had been sent into a convent for a conspiracy against the emperor.

Romanus, so wise in many respects, compromised | father, was no sooner independent than she excited himself extremely in 933, by making his son Theophylactus, a lad of sixteen, patriarch of Constantinople, after first obtaining the approbation of Pope John XI. Theophylactus proved a very miserable prelate. From 934 to 940 the empire enjoyed an almost universal peace, Italy excepted, where the petty warfare with the Lombard princes went on as before. But in 941 Constantinople was in terror at the sudden appearance of a Russian fleet of 10,000 boats, commanded by Prince Ingor, who cast anchor at the very entrance of the Bosporus, and whose troops ravaged the neighbouring country. Romanus, however, equipped in all haste a small number of galleys (15?) lying in the Golden Horn, with which Theophanes boldly attacked the Russians, destroyed a great number of their boats, and compelled Ingor to fly. Theophanes soon afterwards obtained a second victory over the rest of the fleet on the coast of Thrace, and of this formidable armada very little came back to Russia. Ingor died soon afterwards, and in 945 his wife Olga came to Constantinople to receive baptism: she was christened Helena, and is held in the utmost veneration in the Russian church.

Down to this period Constantine Porphyrogenitus, although the legitimate emperor by descent, had only enjoyed the title of his rank, and he now resolved upon having the power also. To this effect he excited the ambition of the two surviving sons of Romanus, Stephanus and Constantine, both Augusti, who in their turn were tired of the autocracy of their aged father. A conspiracy was set on foot, headed by Stephanus, who had the assistance of several energetic and distinguished men. Sure of success, he suddenly seized upon the person of his father, and with secret despatch had him carried to the island of Protea, at the entrance of the Propontis, where Romanus was thrown into a convent and had his head shaved forth with, as he was thus rendered incompetent to reign (20th of December, 944). The sons of Romanus, however, did not reap the fruits of their treachery, for Constantine VII. was proclaimed sole emperor, after the unnatural children of the deposed emperor had enjoyed the title of co-emperors during the short space of five weeks. They were then arrested and sent to Protea, where a touching interview took place between them and their unfortunate father. Stephanus died nineteen years afterwards in exile, and Constantine survived his captivity only two years, when he was massacred in an attempt at making his escape. Romanus lived a quiet monkish life in his convent, and died a natural death on the 15th of June, 948. (Cedren. p. 614, &c.; Leo. Diacon. p. 492, &c.; Manass. p. 111, &c.; Zonaras, vol. ii. p. 186, &c.; Glycas, p. 300, &c. all in the Paris editions.) [W. P.]

ROMA'NUS II., or the Younger, Byzantine emperor from A. D. 959-963, the son and successor of Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus, was born in 939, and succeeded his father on the fifteenth of November 959. His short reign offers a few events of note. Endowed with great personal beauty and bodily strength, he preferred gymnastics, hunting, and other pleasures to the duties of an emperor, which he left to his minister Bringas. His wretched wife Theophano, who had persuaded him to poison his

Romanus against his own family; his five sisters
were compelled to leave the palace, and confined
in the same convent where Sophia, the widow of
Christophorus Augustus had then been during
thirty years; but the empress dowager, Helena,
possessed too much energy to yield to her daughter-
in-law, and she accordingly remained in the palace,
but she died soon afterwards of a broken heart.
Although Romanus never showed himself in the
field, he had two renowned generals by whom
some glorious deeds were done, namely, the two
brothers Nicephorus and Leo Phocas. Nicephorus
recovered the flourishing island of Creta, after a
long siege of its capital Candia, and after the
Arabs had ruled there during 150 years (961);
and Leo was successful against the Arabs in Asia.
After the fall of Candia, and the splendid triumph
of Nicephorus in Constantinople, the two brothers
joined their forces against the Arabs, and obtained
most signal victories over them. A rumour having
spread of the death of Romanus, Nicephorus ap-
proached the capital through fear of Bringas; but
the rumour was false, and Nicephorus remained in
Asia, observing Constantinople. Events showed
the prudence of this step; for Romanus, already
exhausted by his mode of life, was despatched by
poison administered to him by his own wife Theo-
phano. He died on the 15th of March, 963, at
the age of twenty-four. Ambition, and perhaps
the secret advice of the eunuch Bringas, urged
Theophano to commit the foul deed. Romanus
married first Bertha, afterwards called Eudoxia,
the natural daughter of Hugo, king of Italy, who
died a child before the marriage was consummated.
By his second wife Anastasia, afterwards called
Theophano, a woman of base extraction, he left
two sons, Basil II. and Constantine VIII, who
followed him on the throne, and two daughters,
Theophano, who married Otho II. emperor of Ger-
many, an excellent woman, who became the an-
cestress of most of the reigning houses in Europe,
and Anna Posthuma, who married Wladimir, first
Christian prince of Russia. (Cedren. p. 642, &c.;
Zonar. vol. ii. p. 196, &c.; Manass. p. 115, Glyc.
p. 304; Leo Diacon. p. 500, &c. in the Paris
editions.)
[W. P.]

ROMA'NUS III., ARGYRUS or ARGYROPU'LUS ('Pwuavòs d'Apyupòs or ó ApyupóTovλos), Byzantine emperor from A. D. 1028-1034, was the son of Leo Argyrus Dux, and belonged to a distinguished family. Romanus obtained such military glory in the reign of Coustantine VIII., that this prince appointed him his successor, and offered him the hand of one of his daughters, a few days before he died. Romanus was married to Helena, a virtuous woman, whom he tenderly loved, and declined both the crown and the bride. Constantine, however, left him the choice between his offer, or the loss of his eyes. Even then Romanus did not yield to the tempta tion, and would have declined it again but for the prayers of his own wife, who implored him to accept both, and rather sacrifice her than the empire. Their marriage was accordingly dissolved; and Romanus, now married to the princess Zoe, succeeded Constantine on the 12th of November, 1028. He was a brave, well-instructed man, perhaps learned; but he over-valued himself, and thought himself the best general and the best scholar of his time. Numerous acts of liberality