Blaesus

• a cognomen in the Sempronian gens, Stat. S. 2, 1, 191; Tac. A. 1, 16; 1, 18; 1, 21 al.; 6, 40.
• —Hence, Blaesĭānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a Blaesus, Mart. 8, 38, 14.

(Βλαῖσος), an ancient Italian poet, born at Capreae, who wrote serio-comic plays (σπουδογέλοιοι) in Greek. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Καπριη.) Two of these plays, the Μεσοτρίβας and Σατοῦρνος, are quoted by Athenaeus (iii. p. 111c., xi. p. 487c.), and Hesychius refers to Blaesus (s. vv. Μοκκωνώσις, Μολγῷ, Φυλατός), but without mentioning the names of his plays. Casaubon supposed that Blaesus lived under the Roman empire; but he must have lived as early as the 3rd century B. C. as Valckenär (ad Theocr. p. 290a.) has shewn, that Athenaeus took his quotations of Blaesus from the Γλώσσαι of Pamphilus of Alexandria, who was a disciple of Aristarchus; and also that Pamphilus borrowed a part of his work explaining the words in Blaesus and similar poets from the Γλώσσαι Ἰταλικαί of Diodorus, who was a pupil of Aristophanes of Alexandria. (Comp. Schweigh. ad Athen. iii. p. 111c.)

"a stammerer," was the name of a plebeian family of the Sempronia gens under the republic. It also occurs as a cognomen of the Junii and of one Pedius under the empire.

1. C. Sempronius Ti. F. Ti. N. Blaesus, consul in B. C. 253 in the first Punic war, sailed with his colleague, Cn. Servilius Caepio, with a fleet of 260 ships to the coast of Africa, which they laid waste in frequent descents, and from which they obtained great booty. They did not, however, accomplish anything of note; and in the lesser Syrtis, through the ignorance of the pilots, their ships ran aground, and only got off, upon the return of the tide, by throwing everything overboard. This disaster induced them to return to Sicily, and in their voyage from thence to Italy they were overtaken off cape Palinurus by a tremendous storm, in which 150 ships perished. Notwithstanding these misfortunes, each of them obtained a triumph for their successes in Africa, as we learn from the Fasti. (Plb. 1.39; Eutrop. 2.23; Oros. 4.9; Zonar. 8.14.) Blaesus was consul a second time, in 244 (Fasti Capit.), in which year a colony was founded at Brundusium. (Vell. 1.14.)

2. Sempronius Blaesus, quaestor in B. C. 217 to the consul Cn. Servilius Geminus, was killed, together with a thousand men, in a descent upon the coast of Africa in this year. (Liv. 22.31.)

3. C. Sempronius Blaesus, tribune of the plebs in B. C. 211, brought Cn. Fulvius to trial on account of his losing his army in Apulia. (Liv. 26.2; comp. V. Max. 2.8.3.)

4. Cn. Sempronius Blaesus, legate in B. C. 210 to the dictator Q. Fulvius Flaccus, by whom he was sent into Etruria to command the army which had been under the praetor C. Calpurnius. (Liv. 27.5.) It is not improbable that this Cn. Blaesus may be the same as No. 3, as Cn. is very likely a false reading for C., since we find none of the Sempronii at this period with the former praenomen, while the latter is the most common one.

5. P. Sempronius Blaesus, tribune of the plebs in B. C. 191, opposed the triumph of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, but withdrew his opposition through the remonstrances of the consul. (Liv. 36.39, 40.)

6. C. Sempronius Blaesus, plebeian aedile in B. C. 187, and praetor in Sicily in 184. In 170, he was sent with Sex. Julius Caesar as ambassador to Abdera. (Liv. 39.7, 32, 38, 43.6.)

a Roman jurist, not earlier than Trebatius Testa, the friend of Cicero: for Blaesus is cited by Labeo in the Digest (33. tit. 2. s. 31) as reporting the opinion of Trebatius. Various conjectures have been made without much plausibility for the purpose of identifying the jurist with other persons of the same name. Junius Blaesus, proconsul of Africa in A. D. 22, was probably somewhat later than the jurist. (Majansius, vol. ii. p. 162; G. Grotii, Vita Ictorum, 9.18.) [J.T.G]

1. The governor of Pannonia at the death of Augustus, A. D. 14, when the formidable insurrection of the legions broke out in that province, which was with difficulty quelled by Drusus himself. The conduct of Blaesus in allowing the soldiers relaxation from their ordinary duties was the immediate cause of the insurrection, but the real causes lay deeper. Through the influence of Sejanus, who was his uncle, Blaesus obtained the government of Africa in 21, where he gained a victory over Tacfarinas in 22, in consequence of which Tiberius granted him the insignia of a triumph, and allowed him the title of Imperator--the last instance of this honour being conferred upon a private person. We learn from Velleius Paterculus, who says that it was difficult to decide whether Blaesus was more useful in the camp or distinguished in the forum, that he also commanded in Spain. (D. C. 57.4; Tac. Ann. 1.16, &c., 3.35, 58, 72-74; Vell. 2.125.) It appears from the Fasti, from which we learn that his praenomen was Quintus, that Blaesus was consul suffectus in 28; but he shared in the fall of Sejanus in 31, and was deprived, as was also his son, of the priestly offices which he held. His life, however, was spared for the time; but when Tiberius, in 36, conferred these offices upon other persons, Blaesus and his son perceived that their fate was sealed, and accordingly put an end to their own lives. (Tac. Ann. 5.7, 6.40.)

2. The son of the preceding, was with his father in Pannonia when the legions mutinied in A. D. 14, and was compelled by the soldiers to go to Tiberius with a statement of their grievances. He was sent a second time to Tiberius after the arrival of Drusus in the camp. He also served under his father in 22 in the war against Tacfarinas in Africa; and he put an end to his own life, as mentioned above, in 36. (Tac. Ann. 1.19, 29, 3.74, 6.40.)

3. Probably the son of No. 2, was the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis in A. D. 70, and espoused the party of the emperor Vitellius, whom he supplied when in Gaul with everything necessary to support his rank and state. This liberality on the part of Blaesus excited the jealousy of the emperor, who shortly after had him poisoned on the most trumpery accusation, brought against him by L. Vitellius. Blaesus was a man of large property and high integrity, and had steadily refused the solicitations of Caecina and others to desert the cause of Vitellius. (Tac. Hist. 1.59, 2.59, 3.38, 39.)

was expelled the senate in A. D. 60, on the complaint of the Cyrenians, for robbing the temple of Aesculapius, and for corruption in the military levies; but he was re-admitted in 70. (Tac. Ann. 14.18, Hist. 1.77.)