Mucianus

was the son of P. Mucius Scaevola, consul B. C. 175, and brother of P. Mucius Scaevola, who was consul B. C. 133, in the year in which Tib. Gracchus lost his life. (Plut. Tib. Gracchus, 9.) Mucianus was adopted by P. Licinius Crassus Dives, who was the son of P. Licinius Crassus Dives, consul B. C. 205. This at least is Drumann's opinion, who thinks that it is more probable that he was adopted by the son than by the father. On being adopted he assumed, according to Roman fashion. the name of Crassus, with the addition of Mucianus, which indicated his former gens. Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 1.56) speaks of his being a candidate for the aedileship; and he gives an anecdote of Serv. Sulpicius Galba, who was a distinguished orator, pressing Crassus hard on a question of law, and of Crassus being compelled to support his legal opinion against the equitable arguments of Servius by referring to the writings of his brother, P. Mucius, and of Sext. Aelius.

Mucianus attained the dignity of pontifex maximus, and A. D. 131 he was elected consul, in which year he left Rome to conduct the war against Aristonicus in Asia, who maintained his claim to the kingdom of Perganius against the will of Attalus III., who had bequeathed it to the Romans. Crassus was the first pontifex maximus, according to Livy (Liv. Epit. 59) who went beyond the limits of Italy; but this is not true, unless Scipio Nasica was deprived of his office, for Nasica was pontifex maximus B. C. 133, after the death of Tib. Gracchus, and retired to Asia, where he soon died. (Plut. Tib. Gracchus, 21.) Crassus succeeded Nasica in the pontificate. Crassus was unsuccessful in the war. He was attacked at the siege of Leucae by Aristonicus, and defeated. Between Elaea and Smyrna he was overtaken by the Thracian body-guard of Aristonicus; and to avoid being made prisoner, he provoked one of the Thracians to kill him. His head was carried to Aristonicus.

The historian Sempronius Asellio (Gellius, 1.13) says that Crassus possessed five things, which of all good things are the greatest and the chief. He was most wealthy, noble, eloquent, most learned in the law, and pontifex maximus. The same historian records an instance of the unreasonable severity with which he punished at the siege of Leucae a deviation from the strict letter of his orders. Crassus had two daughters; the elder lieininia, was the wife of C. Sulpicius Galba, the son of Serv. Sulpicius Galba, consul B. C. 144. (Cic. Brut. 26, 33.) The younger Licinia was the wife of C. Sempronius Gracchus (Plut. Tib. Gracchus, 21; Dig. 24. tit. 3. s. 66), according to Plutarch, whose opinion is supported by the passage in the Digest.

Crassus was both an orator and a lawyer. As an orator, however, he is considered by Cicero to have been inferior to his contemporary P. Sulpicius Galba. He was, however, a distinguished speaker, an eminent jurist (Cic. de Orat. 1.37, 56, Brut. 26), and a man of exemplary industry, which is shown by the fact of his mastering the various dialects of Greek, when he was in Asia, so completely, as to be able to make his decrees in the dialect which the suitor had adopted. (V. Max. 8.7.6.) No legal work of his is mentioned.

Crassus is mentioned by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.40, &c.) in the following terms:-- "Etiam Lucius Crassus, frater Publii Mucii, qui Mucianus dictus est. Hunc Cicero ait jurisconsultorum disertissimum." Grotius considers the words "frater . . . dictus est," to be an interpolation, and that the L. Crassus is not Mucianus, because he is called Lucius, and because the description does not suit him. But it is remarked by Zimmern that Cicero calls Mucianus " in numero disertissimorum" (De Orat. 1.56), and he says the same in substance in another passage (Brut. 26). Besides this, L. Crassus, who must be taken to be Crassus the orator, if the reading of Grotius is right, was not a jurist. The criticism of Grotius is therefore groundless. The authorities for the life of Mucianus are contained in Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Licinii Crassi, No. 21. [G.L]

three times consul in A. D. 52, 70, and 75 respectively, must have passed by adoption from the Mucian to the Licinian gens. His character is drawn in a few strokes by the masterly hand of Tacitus. (Hist. 1.10.) He was alike distinguished for good and for evil, for luxurious indulgence and energetic work, for affability and haughtiness; when he had nothing to attend to, he revelled in excessive pleasures; but when business required his attention, he displayed great abilities. Thus his public conduct deserved praise, his private condemnation. As a youth, he courted with assiduity the favour of the powerful, and succeeded in obtaining the consulship in the reign of Claudius, A. D. 52; but having squandered his property, and becoming likewise an object of suspicion to Claudius, he went into retirement in Asia, and there lived, says Tacitus, as near to the condition of an exile as afterwards to that of an emperor. We gather from Pliny (Plin. Nat. 12.1. s. 5) that the place of his retirement was Lycia, into which he was sent as legatus by Claudius, as a kind of honourable banishment. Under Nero he was again received into the favour of the imperial court; and at the death of that emperor, A. D. 68, he had the command of the province of Syria, with four legions, while Vespasian was in the neighbouring country of Judaea, at the head of three. Up to Nero's death Mucianus and Vespasian had not been on good terms; but after that event they were induced, by the interposition of friends, to become reconciled to one another, and to act together for their mutual advantage; and their reconciliation was rendered real and lasting by the mediation of Titus, to whom Mucianus became much attached. Mucianus and Vespasian both took the oath of allegiance to Otho; but when the civil war broke out between him and Vitellius, Vespasian resolved to seize the imperial throne. In this resolution he was warmly encouraged by Mucianus, who hoped to have a great share in the exercise of the imperial power while Vespasian bore the name. When Vespasian at length, after great hesitation, assumed the imperial title, Mucianus immediately administered to his own soldiers the oath of allegiance to the new emperor; and it was resolved that he should march into Europe against Vitellius, while Vespasian and Titus remained behind in Asia. Mucianus used great efforts to provide his army with everything that was necessary; he liberally contributed from his own purse, and unmercifully plundered the provincials to obtain a sufficient supply of money. However, there was little occasion for his services, for the Vitellians were entirely defeated by Antonius Primus [Primus], of whom, in consequence, Mucianus became very jealous. Mucianus marched through Phrygia and Cappadocia, and arrived in Europe just in time to repress a rising of the Dacians, who had seized both banks of the Danube. Primus had entered Rome before Mucianus; but on the arrival of the latter he had to surrender all the power into his hands. Domitian, the son of Vespasian, was nominally at the head of affairs; but Mucianus was the real sovereign, and lived in almost regal splendour. Still, although he boasted haughtily of the services he had rendered to Vespasian, his fidelity never seems to have wavered; and all his various measures were calculated to support and strengthen the new dynasty. When Vespasian was on his way to Italy, Mucianus went to Brundisium to meet him, accompanied by the principal Roman nobles. The services of Mucianus had been so great, that Vespasian continued to show him his favour, although his patience was not a little tried by the arrogance of his subject. The last circumstance recorded of Mucianus is that he persuaded Vespasian to banish the philosophers from Rome. He seems to have died in the reign of Vespasian, as his name does not occur either under Titus or Domitian. Works

Mucianus was not only a general and a statesman, but an orator and an historian. His powers of oratory are greatly praised by Tacitus, who tells us that Mucianus could address an auditory even in Greek with great effect. Collection of speeches from the republican period

He made a collection of the speeches of the republican period, which he arranged and published in eleven books of Acta and three of Epistolae. History

The subject of his history is not mentioned; but, judging from the references which Pliny makes to it, it appears to have treated chiefly of the East, and to have contained considerable information on all geographical subjects. Further Information

Tac. Hist. 1.10, 76, 2.4, 5, 76_84, 3.8, 46, 53, 78, 4.4, 11, 39, 80, 85; Suet. Vesp. 6, 13; D. C. 65.8, 9, 22, 66.2, 9, 13; Joseph. B. J. 4.10, 11; Plin. Nat. 12.1. s. 5, 28.2. s. 5, 34.7. s. 17, et passim; Vossius, De Hist. Lat. 1.27, p. 140, Lug. Bat. 1651; Westermann, Gesch. d. Römischen Beredtsamkeit, § 82, n. 19.

M. NO'NIUS A'RRIUS, consul A. D. 201, in the reign of Septimius Severus. (Fasti.)

or Mutia'nus, surnamed SCHOLA'STICUS, lived in the middle of the sixth century of our aera. Works Translations of the Homilies of St. Chrysostom

He translated into Latin, at the request of Cassiodorus, the thirty-four homilies of St. Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews. He had also previously made a Latin translation of the treatise of Gaudentius on Music [Gaudentius], as we learn from Cassiodorus, who calls Mucianus " vir disertissimus." (Cassiod. Divin. Lect. 8.) The translation of the above-mentioned homilies of Chrysostom is still extant, and has been highly praised by Savil and the other editors of and commentators on Chrysostom. Editions

It was first printed at Cologne, 1530, 8vo., and subsequently appeared in the Latin editions of the works of this father, in which Mucianus is erroneously called Mutius. In the Greek editions of the Homilies the translation of Hervetus is usually given; but Montfaucon has also printed in the twelfth volume of his edition the version of Mucianus. Further Information

Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. pp. 558, 559.

(1) P. Licinius Crassus Dives Muciānus, the son of P. Mucius Scaevola, and adopted by P. Licinius Crassus Dives. He was consul B.C. 131, and carried on the war against Aristonicus in Asia, but was defeated by the latter. He succeeded Scipio Nasica as pontifex maximus. He was distinguished both as an orator and a lawyer.

(2) C. Licinius Muciānus, three times consul in A.D. 52, 70, and 75. On Nero's death, in 68, Mucianus had the command of the province of Syria; and he rendered efficient aid to Vespasian, when the latter resolved to seize the imperial throne. As soon as Vespasian was proclaimed emperor, Mucianus set out for Europe to oppose Vitellius; but the Vitellians were entirely defeated by Antonius Primus before Mucianus entered Italy. Antonius, however, had to surrender all power into the hands of Mucianus upon the arrival of the latter at Rome. Mucianus was an orator and an historian. His powers of oratory are greatly praised by Tacitus. He made a collection of the speeches of the republican period, which he published in eleven books of Acta and three of Epistolae. The subject of his history is not mentioned; but it appears to have treated chiefly of the East. He is frequently quoted by Pliny the Elder. See Peter, Hist. Reliq. p. cccli.; and Brunn, De Gaio Licinio Muciano (Leipzig, 1870).