Blasio

a surname of the Cornelia and Helvia gentes.

I. Cornelii Blasiones.

1. Cn. Cornelius Cn. N. Blasio, L. F., who is mentioned nowhere but in the Fasti, was consul in B. C. 270, censor in 265, and consul a second time in 257. He gained a triumph in 270, but we do nlot know over what people.

2. Cn. Cornelius Blasio, was praetor in Sicily in B. C. 194. (Liv. 34.42, 43.)

3. P. Cornelius Blasio, was sent as an ambassador with two others to the Carni, Istri, and Iapydes, in B. C. 170. In 168 he was one of the five commissioners appointed to settle the disputes between the Pisani and Lunenses respecting the boundaries of their lands. (Liv. 43.7, 45.13.)

There are several coins belonging to this family. The obverse of the one annexed has the inscription Blasio Cn. F., with what appears to be the head of Mars: the reverse represents Dionysus, with Pallas on his left hand in the act of crowning him and another female figure on his right. (Eckhel, v. p. 180.)

II. Helvii Blasiones.

1. M. Helvius Blasio, plebeian aedile in B. C. 198 and praetor in 197. He obtained the province of further Spain, which he found in a very disturbed state upon his arrival. After handing over the province to his successor, he was detained ill the country a year longer by a severe and tedious illness. On his return home through nearer Spain with a guard of 6000 soldiers, which the praetor Ap. Claudius had given him, he was attacked by an army of 20,000 Celtiberi, near the town of Illiturgi. These he entirely defeated, slew 12,000 of the enemy, and took Illiturgi. This at least was the statement of Valerius Antias. For this victory he obtained an ovation (B. C. 195), but not a triumph, because he had fought under the auspices and in the province of another. In the following year (194) he was one of the three commissioners for founding a Roman colony at Sipontum in Apulia. (Liv. 32.27, 28, 33.21, 34.1.0, 45.)

2. Helvius Blasio, put an end to his own life to encourage his friend D. Brutus to meet his death firmly, when the latter fell into the hands of his enemies, in B. C. 43. (D. C. 46.53.)