Geminus

(Γεμῖνος). This name comes down to us in the manuscripts of Proclus, with a circumflex on the penultimate syllable. Gerard Vossius believes, nevertheless, that it is the Latin word : Petavius and Fabricius admit the circumflex without other comment than reference to Proclus. Any one is justified in saying either Geminus or Geminus, according to his theory.

Of the man belonging to this dubious name we know nothing but that, from a passage in his works relative to the Egyptian annus vagus of 120 years before his own time, it appears that he must have been living in the year B. C. 77. He was a Rhodian, and both Petavius and Vossius suspect that he wrote at Rome; but perhaps on no stronger foundation than his Latin name and his Greek tongue, which make them suppose that he was a libertus. Proclus mentions him (p. 11 of Grynoeus) as distinguishing the mathematical sciences into νοητά and αἴδθητα, in the former of which he places geometry and arithmetic, in the latter mechanics, astronomy, optics, geodesy, canonics, and logic (no doubt a corruption of loyistics, or computation; Barocius has ars supputatrix). Again (p. 31) Works

Proclus mentions him as author of a geometrical work containing an account of spiral, conchoid, and cissoid lines. But Delambre (Astr. Anc. vol. i. p. 211) saw reason to question the skill of Geminus both in arithmetic and geometry. Εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὰ Φαινόμενα

The only work of Geminus now remaining is the Εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὰ Φαινόμενα, which many wrongly make to be a commentary on the Phaenomena of Aratus. The work on the sphere attributed to Proclus is not much more than an abridgment of some chapters of Geminus. The book of the latter is a descriptive treatise on elementary astronomy, with a great deal of historical allusion. There is a full account of it in Delambre (l.c.). The total rejection of the supposed effects of the risings and settings of the stars, &c. upon the weather is creditable to Geminus. Editions

The work was first published by Edo Hildericus, Gr. Lat., Altorf, 1590, 8vo. This edition was reprinted at Leyden, 1603, 8vo. H. Briggs diligently compared the edition with a manuscript at Oxford, and handed the results to Petavius, who made a similar comparison with another manuscript of his own, and published a corrected edition (Gr. Lat.) in his Uranologion, Paris, 1630. fol.

The most recent edition is that in Halma's edition of Ptolemy, Paris, 1819, 4to. Other work

Petavius also informs us that another work of Geminus was sent to England in manuscript, with other portions of the library of Barocius (the editor of Proclus, we presume). Further Information

Proclus; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 31, &c.; Petavius, Uranologion ; Weidler, Hist. Astron. ; Delambre, Astron. Anc. [A. De M.]

son of M. Aurelius and Faustina, twin brother of the emperor Commodus. He died when a child of four years old. [M. Aurelius.] [W.R]

a praetor of Achaia, but at what time is unknown. (Tac. Ann. 4.43.) [L.S]

was appointed by Nero, in A. D. 63, one of the three consulars who had to superintend the public vectigalia and to prosecute those who had before managed them badly. In the reign of Galba he was praefect of the city. (Tac. Ann. 15.18, Hist. 1.14.) [L.S]

In B. C. 35, when Octavianus, after subduing the Pannonians, retired to Rome, he left Fufius Geminus, with a part of his army, behind in Pannonia. Soon after the departure of Octavianus, the Pannonians rose again; but Geminus succeeded in compelling them, by several battles, to remain quiet, although he had at first been driven by them from the town of Siscia. (D. C. 49.36.) He seems to be the same person as the one whom Florus (4.12.8) calls Vibius. Whether he stood in any relation to C. Fufius Geminus, who was consul in A. D. 29, is unknown. (Tac. Ann. 5.1.) [L.S]

consul in A. D. 29, with C. Fufius Geminus. (Tac. Ann. 5.1.) [L.S]

1. P. Servilius Cn., Q. F. N. Geminus, was consul in B. C. 252, with C. Aurelius Cotta. Both consuls carried on the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians, and some towns were taken by them. Himera was among the number; but its inhabitants had been carried off by the Carthaginians. In B. C. 248 he was consul a second time, with his former colleague, and besieged Lilybaeum and Drepana, while Carthalo endeavoured to make a diversion by a descent upon the coast of Italy. (Zonar. 8.14, 16.)

2. Cn. Servilius Geminus, P. F. Q. N., a son of No. 1, was consul in B. C. 217, with C. Flaminius. He entered his office on the ides of March, and had Gaul for his province. He afterwards gave up his army to the dictator, Q. Fabius, and while his colleague fought the unfortunate battle of lake Trasimenus, Cn. Servilius sailed with a fleet of 120 ships round the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica in chase of the Carthaginians; and having received hostages everywhere, he crossed over into Africa. On his voyage thither he ravaged the island of Meninx, and spared Cercina only on the receipt of ten talents from its inhabitants. After he had landed with his troops in Africa, they indulged in the same system of plunder; but being careless and unacquainted with the localities, they were taken by surprise and put to flight by the inhabitants. About one thousand of them were killed, the rest sailed to Sicily, and the fleet being there entrusted to P. Sura, who was ordered to take it back to Rome, Cn Servilius himself travelled on foot through Sicily; and being called back by the dictator, Q. Fabius Maximus, he crossed the straits, and went to Italy. About the autumn he undertook the command of the army of Minucius, and, in conjunction with his colleague M. Atilius Regulus, he carried on the war against Hannibal, though he carefully avoided entering into any decisive engagement. His imperium was prolonged for the year 216; and before the battle of Cannae he was the only one who agreed with the consul L. Aemilius Paullus in the opinion that a battle should not be ventured upon. However, the battle was fought, and Cn. Servilius himself was found among the dead. (Liv. 21.57, 22.1, 31, 32, 43, 49; Plb. 3.75, 77, 88, 96, 106, 114, 116; Appian, Annib. 8, 12, 16, 18, 19, 22-24; Cic. Tusc. 1.37.)

3. M. Servilius Palex Geminus, C. F. P. N., was elected augur in B. C. 211, in the place of Spurius Carvilins, who had died; and in B. C. 203 he was curule aedile, and, conjointly with his colleague, he dedicated a golden quadriga on the Capitol. In the year same he was magister equitum to the dictator, P. Sulpicius Galba, with whom he travelled through Italy, to examine the causes which had led several towns to revolt against Rome. In B. C. 202 he was consul with Tib. Claudius Nero, and obtained Etruria for his province, which he occupied with his two legions, and in which his imperium was prolonged for the year following. In B. C. 200 he was one of the ten commissioners to distribute land in Samnium and Appulia among the veterans of Scipio. In B. C. 197 he was one of the triumvirs appointed for a period of three years, to establish a series of colonies on the western coast of Italy. In B. C. 167, during the disputes as to whether a triumph was to be granted to Aemilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedonia, M. Servilius addressed the people in favour of Aemilius Paullus. (Liv. 26.23, 29.38, 30.24, 26, 27, 41, 31.4, 32.29, 34.4.5, 45.36, &c.)

4. M. Servilius Geminus was consul in A. D. 3, with L. Aelius Lamia (V. Max. 1.8.11); but it must be observed that his cognomen, though mentioned by Valerius Maximus, does not occur in the Fasti. [L.S]

a Roman historian who seems to have lived about the time of Cicero. The exact nature of his work is uncertain, although we know that in it he spoke of the time of Sulla. (Suet. Jul. 9.) Plutarch (Plut. Caes. 22) mentions an historian whom he calls Γανύσιος, and whom Vossius (de Hist. Lat. 1.12) considers to be the same as our Tanusius. Seneca (Epist. 93) speaks of one Tamusius as the author of annals; and it is not improbable that this is merely a slight mistake in the name, for Tanusius; and if this be so, Tanusius Geminus wrote annals of his own time, which are lost with the exception of a fragment quoted by Suetonins. [L.S]

a poet of the Greek Anthology. There are ten epigrams in the Anthology under the name of Geminus (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 279; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. ii. p. 254), of which the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and tenth are inscribed, in the Vatican MS. simply Γεμίνου, and the eighth Γαιμίνου: the first is inscribed, in the Planudean Anthology, Τυλλίου Γεμίνου, and the seventh has the same heading in the Vatican MS: the 9th is inscribed, in the Planudean, Τυλλίου Γεμίνου, and, in the Vatican, Τυλλίου Σαβήνου (i. e. Sabini). It is doubtful whether the Tullius, whose epigrams were included in the collection of Philip, was Tullius Geminus or Tullius Laurea. Most of the epigrams of Geminus are descriptions of works of art. They are written in a very affected manner. (Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. xiii. p. 897; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 498.) [P.S]

[Cicurinus.]

(Γεμῖνος). A Rhodian astronomer who flourished about B.C. 77, and wrote an extant work (Εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὰ Φαινόμενα), a descriptive treatment of elementary astronomy. The text is given in Halma's edition of Ptolemy (Paris, 1819).