Priscus

• I Of the first Tarquin: Priscus Tarquinius est dictus, quia prius fuit quam Superbus Tarquinius, Paul. ex Fest. p. 226 Müll.; Liv. 1, 34.—
• II Tarquinius Numicius Priscus, Liv. 2, 63.—
• III Helvidius Priscus, Suet. Vesp. 15.—
• IV Two Latin poets: Priscus uterque, Ov. P. 4, 16, 10 Burm. ad loc.

artists.

1. Attius, a Roman painter, who lived under the Flavian emperors (about A. D. 70), and was one of the best artists of the period. In conjunction with Cornelius Pinus, he adorned with paintings the temple of Honos et Virtus, when it was restored by Vespasian. Of these two artists Priscus approached nearest to the ancients. (Plin. Nat. 35.10. s. 37.)

2. Of Nicomedia, an architect and military engineer, who lived under Septimius Severus. (D. C. 74.11, 75.11.) [P.S]

(Πρίσκος,), one of the earliest and most important Byzantine historians, was surnamed Panites, because he was a native of Panium in Thrace. We know little of his life in general, but much of a short, though highly interesting and important period of it, viz. from A. D. 445-447, when he was ambassador of Theodosius the Younger at the court of Attila. The embassy consisted of several persons. In later years he and one Maximinus transacted diplomatic business for the emperor Marcian, in Egypt and Arabia. He died in or about A. D. 471. Niebuhr thinks he was a heathen. Works Account of Attila

Priscus wrote an account of his embassy to Attila, enriched by digressions on the life and reign of that king, the Greek title of which is Ἱστορία Βιζαντικὴ καὶ κατὰ Ἀττήλαι. which was originally divided into eight books, according to Suidas. This is the most valuable account we have on Attila, and it is deeply to be regretted that only fragments of it have come down to posterity : it was written after the death of Theodosius, which took place in A. D. 450. Priscus is an excellent and trustworthy historian, and his style is remarkably elegant and pure. Μελεταὶ Ῥητορικαί, Declamationes Rhetoricae

Suidas says that he also wrote Μελεταὶ Ῥητορικαί, Declamationes Rhetoricae and Epistolae, which are lost. Impact

Jornandes and Juvencus, the author of the Life of Attila, borrowed largely from the History of Priscus, whose name is often mentioned by them, as well as by other Byzantine writers, as, for instance, by Evagrius, who calls him Πατρίσκος, and by Theophanes, who calls him Περσικός, both apparently mistakes or corruptions of the text. Editions

The fragments of the History were first edited in Greek by David Hoeschel, Augsburg, 1603, 4to; a Latin translation with notes, by Cantoclarus or Chanteclair, Paris, 1609, 8vo; the same reprinted together with the text, and revised by Fabrot in the Paris edition of Excerptae de Legationibus, together with Dexippus, Menander, and others; the same also in Labbe's Protrepticon, Paris, 1648, fol. The latest and best edition, together with the other writers who have furnished the materials for the Excerpta de Legationibus, is, by Niebuhr, in the Bonn Collection of the Byzantines, 1829, 8vo. Further Information

Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vii. p. 539, 540; Hanckius, de Script. Byzant. ; Niebuhr's Notes on Priscus, in his edition mentioned above ; Suidas, s. v. Πρίσκος Πανίτης. [W.P]

brother of the emperor Philippus I. Having received the command of the Syrian armies, by his intolerable oppression he gave rise to the rebellion of Iotapianus. [Iotapianus.] (Zosim. 1.18, 21.). [W.R]

a friend of the younger Pliny, who has addressed several of his letters to him; one on the death of Martial, another respecting the health of Fannia, &c. (Ep. 2.13, 3.21, 6.8, 7.8, 19). Pliny himself nowhere in the letters mentions his gentile name, but we find him called in the superscription of one of the letters, Cornelius Priscus : if this superscription is correct, he is probably the same as the Cornelius Priscus, who was consul in A. D. 93 [see below]. Some modern writers, among whom is Heineccius, thinks that the Priscus to whom Pliny wrote is the same as the jurist Neratius Priscus, who lived under Trajan and Hadrian, and who was, therefore, a contemporary of Pliny. [Neratius.]

accused Caesius Cordus, proconsul of Crete, of the crimes of repetundae and majestas, in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 21. (Tac. Ann. 3.38, 70.)

consular tribune B. C. 399 and 396, is spoken of under Atilius, No. 1. The surname of Priscus is only given to him in the Capitoline Fasti.

[Attalus, p. 411.]

a Roman eques, was appointed by Tiberius the minister of a new office which he instituted, and which was styled a voluptatibus. (Suet. Tib. 42.)

consul, with Pompeius Collega, in A. D. 93, the year in which Agricola died. (Tac. Agr. 44.) See above Priscus, the friend of Pliny.

a legatus, the commander of a legion in the war against Civilis, A. D. 70. (Tac. Hist. 4.79.)

[Fulcinius.]

1. A legate of a legion under T. Ummidius Quadratus, governor of Syria, was sentby the latter across the Taurus, in A. D. 52, in consequence of the disorders that had arisen through the conduct of Julius Pelignus, the governor of Cappadocia (Tac. Ann. 12.49). This Priscus must have been a different person from the celebrated Helvidius Priscus mentioned below, since the latter did not obtain the quaestorship till the reign of Nero, and the legates of the legions were usually chosen at that time from persons of higher rank in the state.

2. The son-in-law of Thrasea Paetus, and, like him, distinguished by his love of liberty, which he at length sealed with his blood. He was born at Tarracina * This statement depends only upon a correction of the text of Tacitus (Tac. Hist. 4.5). Some manuscripts have Tarentium or Tarentinae municipio ; but we find in the Florentine manuscript, Carecinae municipio, which has been altered, with much probability, into Tarracinae municipio., and was the son of a certain Cluvius, who had filled the post of chief centurion (primipilus). His name shows that he was adopted by an Helvidius Priscus, perhaps by the Helvidius who is mentioned above. In his youth he devoted himself with energy to the higher branches of study, not, says Tacitus, to disguise an idle leisure under a pompous name, but in order to enter upon public duties with a mind fortified against misfortune. He chose as his teachers of philosophy those who taught that nothing is good but what is honourable, nothing bad but what is disgraceful, and who did not reckon power, nobility, or any external things, either among blessings or evils. In other words he embraced with ardour the Stoic philosophy. So distinguished did he become for his virtue and nobleness of soul, that when quaestor he was chosen by Thrasea Paetus as his son-in-law; and by this connection he was still further strengthened in his love of liberty. He was quaestor in Achaia during the reign of Nero, and by the way in which he discharged the duties of his office, gained the love of the provincials. (Comp. Schol. ad Juv. 5.36.) Having obtained the tribuneship of the plebs in A. D. 56, he exerted his influence to protect the poor against the severe proceedings of Obultronius Sabinus, the quaestor of the treasury. The name of Priscus is not mentioned again for a few years. His freedom of speech and love of independence could not prove pleasing to the court, and he, therefore, was not advanced to any of the higher offices of the state. It appears that he and his fatherin-law were even imprudent enough to celebrate in their houses republican festivals, and to commemorate the birth-days of Brutus and Cassius.

"Quale coronati Thrasea Helvidinsque bibebant Brutorum et Cassii natalibus." (Juv. 5.36.)

These proceedings reached the ears of the emperor ; Thrasea was put to death [Thrasea], and Priscus banished from Italy (A. D. 66). He retired with his wife, Fannia, to Apollonia in Macedonia, where he remained till the death of Nero. He was recalled to Rome by Galba (A. D. 68), and one of his first acts was to bring to trial Eprius Marcellus, the accuser of his father-in-law; but as the sentiments of Galba were doubtful, he dropped the accusation. On the murder of Galba at the beginning of the following year (A. D. 69), he obtained from Otho the corpse of the emperor, and took care that it was buried (Plut. Galb. 28). In the course of the same year he was nominated praetor for the next year, and as praetor elect ventured to oppose Vitellius in the senate. After the death of Vitellius in December, A. D. 69, Priscus again attacked his old enemy Eprius Marcellus. The contest between them arose respecting the manner in which the ambassadors were to be chosen who were to be sent to Vespasian; Priscus maintaining that they should be appointed by the magistrates, Marcellus that they should be chosen by lot, fearing that if the former method were adopted he might not be appointed, and might thus appear to have received some disgrace. Marcellus carried his point on this occasion. Priscus accused him, shortly afterwards, of having been one of the informers under Nero, but he was acquitted, in consequence of the support which he received from Mucianus and Domitian.

Although Vespasian was now emperor, and no one was left to dispute the throne with him, Priscus did not worship the rising sun. During Vespasian's continued absence in the East, Priscus, who was now praetor (A. D. 70), opposed various measures which had been brought forward by others with a view of pleasing the emperor. Thus he maintained that the retrenchments in the public expences, which were rendered necessary by the exhausted state of the treasury, ought to be made by the senate, and not left to the emperor, as the consul elect had proposed; and he also brought forward a motion in the senate that the Capitol should be rebuilt at the public cost, and only with assistance from Vespasian. It may be mentioned, in passing, that later in the year Priscus, as praetor, dedicated the spot on which the Capitol was to be built. (Tac. Hist. 4.53.) On the arrival of the emperor at Rome, Priscus was the only person who saluted him by his private name of Vespasian ; and, not content with omitting his name in all the edicts which he published as praetor, he attacked both the person and the office of the emperor. Such conduct was downright folly; he could not by smart speeches and insulting acts restore the republic; and if his sayings and doings have been rightly reported, he had only himself to thank for his fate. Thus we are told by one of his admirers that Vespasian having forbidden him on one occasion from appearing in the senate, he replied, "You can expel me from the senate, but, as long as I am a member of it, I must go into the house."--"Well, then, go in, but be silent."--"Don't ask me for my opinion, then, and I will be silent."--"But I must ask you."--"Then I must say what seems to me just."--"But if you do I will put you to death."--"Did I ever say to you that I was immortal? You do your part, and I will do mine. Yours is, to kill; mine, to die without fear; yours is, to banish; mine, to go into exile without sorrow." (Epictet. Dissert. 1.2.) After such a specimen of the way in which he bearded the emperor, we cannot be surprised at his banishment. His wife Fannia followed him a second time into exile. It appears that his place of banishment was at no great distance from the capital; and he had not been long in exile before he was executed by order of Vespasian. It would seem that the emperor was persuaded by some of the enemies of Priscus to issue the fatal mandate ; for shortly afterwards he sent messengers to recall the executioners; and his life would have been saved, had it not been for the false report that he had already perished.

The life of Priscus was written by Herennius Senecio at the request of his widow Fannia; and the tyrant Domitian, in consequence of this work, subsequently put Senecio to death, and sent Fannia into exile for the third time. Priscus left a son, who is called simply Helvidius, without any surname, and is therefore spoken of under Helvidius. Further Information

Tac. Ann. 13.28, 16.28, 33, 35, Hist. 2.91, 4.5-9, 43, 44, Agric. 2, Dial. de Orat. 5; D. C. 65.7, 66.12, 67.13; Vesp. 15; Plin. Ep. 7.19.

[Javolenus.]

a centurion, was appointed by Vitellius (A. D. 69) praefect of the praetorian guards on the recommendation of Fabius Valens. When news arrived that the army, which had espoused the side of Vespasian, was marching upon Rome, Julius Priscus was sent with Alphenus Varus at the head of fourteen praetorian cohorts and all the squadrons of cavalry to take possession of the passes of the Apennines, but he and Varus disgracefully deserted their post and returned to Rome. After the death of Vitellius, Priscus put an end to his life, more, says Tacitus, through shame than necessity. (Tac. Hist. 2.92, 3.55, 61, 4.11.)

praetor in the reign of Caligula, was put to death by this emperor on account of his wealth, though accused as a pretext of other crimes. (D. C. 59.18.)

a Roman eques, composed a poem on the death of Germanicus, which obtained great celebrity, and for which he was liberally paid by Tiberius. When Drusus fell ill, in A. D. 21, Priscus composed another poem on his death, anticipating, if he died, a still more handsome present from the emperor, as Drusus was his own son, while Germanicus had been only his son by adoption. Priscus was led by his vanity to recite this poem in a private house in presence of a distinguished company of women of rank. He was denounced in consequence to the senate; and this body, anxious to punish the insult to the imperial family, condemned Priscus to death, without consulting Tiberius, and had him executed forthwith. The proceeding, however, displeased Tiberius, not through any wish to save the life of Priscus, but because the senate had presumed to put a person to death without asking his opinion. He therefore caused a decree of the senate to be passed, that no decrees of the body should be deposited in the aerarium till ten days had elapsed; and as they could not be carried into execution till this was done, no one could in future be executed till ten days after his condemnation. (Tac. Ann. 3.49_51; D. C. 57.20.) It is recorded of this Lutorius Priscus that he paid Sejanus the enormous sum of 50,000,000 sesterces (quinquenties sestertium) for an eunuch of the name of Paezon. (Plin. Nat. 7.39. s. 40.)

consul suffectus, A. D. 163 (Fasti).

[Neratius.]

consul A. D. 149 with Ser. Scipio Orfitus (Fasti).

was banished by Nero, in A. D. 66, in consequence of his being a friend of Seneca. He was accompanied in his exile by his wife Artoria Flacilla. (Tac. Ann. 15.71.) We learn from the Fasti that D. Novius Priscus was consul A. n. 78, in the reign of Vespasian. He was probably the same person as the one banished by Nero.

consul B. C. 469 with A. Virginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus, fought against the Volscians with success, and took Ceno, one of their towns. (Liv. 2.63; Dionys. A. R. 9.56.)

[See above, Priscus, the Byzantine writer.]

banished by Nero, A. D. 66. (Tac. Ann. 15.71.)

The Prisci were an ancient family of the Servilia gens, and filled the highest offices of the state during the early years of the republic. They also bore the agnomen of Structus, which is always appended to their name in the Fasti, till it was supplanted by that of Fidenas, which was first obtained by Q. Servilius Priscus Structus, who took Fidenae in his dictatorship, B. C. 435 [see below, No. 6], and which was also borne by his descendants [Nos. 7 and 8].

1. P. Servilius Priscus Structus, consul B. C. 495 with Ap. Claudius Sabinus Regillensis. This year was memorable in the annals by the death of king Tarquin. The temple of Mercury was also dedicated in this year, and additional colonists were led to the colony of Signia, which had been founded by Tarquin. The consuls carried on war against the Volscians with success, and took the town of Suessa Pometia; and Priscus subsequently defeated both the Sabines and Aurunci. In the struggles between the patricians and plebeians respecting the law of debt, Priscus was inclined to espouse the side of the latter, and published a proclamation favourable to the plebeians; but as he was unable to assist them in opposition to his colleague and the whole body of the patricians, he incurred the enmity of both parties. Further Information

Liv. 2.21_27; Dionys. A. R. 6.23_32 ; V. Max. 9.3.6; Plin. Nat. 35.3.

2. Q. Servilius Priscus Structus, a brother of No. 1, was magister equitum, in B. C. 494, to the dictator, M'. Valerius Maximus. (Dionys. A. R. 6.40.)

3. Sp. Servilius Priscus Structus, consul B. C. 476, with A. Virginius Tricostus Rutilus. In consequence of the destruction of the Fabii at the Cremera in the preceding year, the Etruscans had advanced up to the very walls of Rome, and taken possession of the hill Janiculus. In an attempt which Priscus made to take this hill by assault, he was repulsed with great loss, and would have sustained a total defeat, had not his colleague Virginius come to his assistance. In consequence of his rashness on this occasion, he was brought to trial by the tribunes, as soon as his year of office had expired, but was acquitted. (Liv. 2.51, 52; Dionys. A. R. 9.25, &c.)

4. Q. Servilius Priscus Structus, probably son of No. 2, was consul B. C. 468, with T. Quintius Capitolinus Barbatus, and again B. C. 466, with Sp. Postumius Albus Regillensis. In each year Priscus commanded the Roman armies in the wars with the neighbouring nations, but did not perform anything worth recording. (Liv. 2.64, 3.2; Dionys. A. R. 9.57, 60.)

5. P. Servilius Sp. F. P. N. Priscus Structus, son of No. 3, was consul B. C. 463, with L. Aebutius Elva, and was carried off in his consulship by the great plague which raged at Rome in this year. (Liv. 3.6, 7; Dionys. A. R. 9.67, 68 ; Oros. 2.12.)

6. Q. * Livy (4.21) calls him A. Servilius, in speaking of his dictatorship of B. C. 435, but Q. Servilius when he mentions his dictatorship of B. C. 418 (4.46), as well as when he speaks of him elsewhere (e. g. 4.26). There can, therefore, be no doubt that the name of Quintus is to be preferred, which we find also in the Capitoline Fasti. Servilius SP. N. Priscus Structus Fidenas, P. F., son of No. 5, was appointed dictator B. C. 435, in consequence of the alarm excited by the invasion of the Veientes and Fidenates, who had taken advantage of the plague, which was then raging at Rome, to ravage the Roman territory, and had advanced almost up to the Colline Gate. Servilius defeated the enemy without difficulty, and pursued the Fidenates to their town, to which he proceeded to lay siege, and which he took by means of a mine. From the conquest of this town he received the surname of Fidenas, which was afterwards adopted by his children in the place of Structus. Servilius is mentioned again in B. C. 431, when he called upon the tribunes of the plebs to compel the consuls to elect a dictator in order to carry on the war against the Volsci ard Aequi. In B. C. 418 the Roman army was defeated by the Aequi and the Lavicani, in consequence of the dissensions and incompetency of the consular tribunes of that year. Servilius was therefore appointed dictator a second time; he carried on the war with success, defeated the Aequi, and took the point of Lavici, where the senate forthwith established a Roman colony. (Liv. 4.21, 22, 26 45-47.)

7. Q. Servilius Q. F. P. N. (Priscus) Fidenas, the son of No. 6, was consular tribune six times, namely in B. C. 402, 398, 395, 390, 388, 386. (Liv. 5.8, 14, 24, 36, 6.4, 6.) He was also interrex in B. C. 397. (Liv. 5.17.) There can be no doubt that this Servilius was the son of No. 6, both from his praenomen Quintus, and his surname Fidenas, as well as from the circumstances that he is designated in the Capitoline Fasti, Q. F. P. N. A difficulty, however, arises from the statement of Livy, that the C. Servilius, who was consular tribune in B. C. 418, was the son of the conqueror of Fidenae (Liv. 4.45, 46); but this is probably a mistake, since the consular tribune of B. C. 418 is called, in the Capitoline Fasti, C. Servilius Axilla., Q. F. C. N. Besides which, if he were the son of the conqueror of Fidenae, he must have been a younger son, as his praenomen shows; and in that case the younger son would have obtained one of the highest dignities in the state sixteen years before his elder brother.

8. Q. Servilius Q. F. Q. N. (Priscus) Fidenas, the son of No. 7, was consular tribune three times, namely, in B. C. 382, 378, 369. (Liv. 6.22. 31, 36.)

9. Sp. Servilius Priscus, censor B. C. 378, with Q. Cloelius Siculus (Liv. 6.31). As this Servilius does not bear the surname of Fidenas, he probably was not a descendant of the conqueror of Fidenae.

consul A. D. 169, with P. Coelius Apollinaris (Fasti).

consul A. D. 159, with Plautius Quintillus, two years before the death of the emperor Antoninus (Fasti). He was one of the generals sent by his successor, M. Aurelius, to conduct the war against the Parthians, A. D. 162-165. He took Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, and rescued the whole of that country from the Parthian power. (Capitolin. Anton. Phil. 9, Verus, 7; Dio Cass. lxxi. Fragm. p. 1201, ed. Reimarus.)

[Tarquinius.]

had been a legate of Statilius Taurus, in Africa, whom he accused, in order to gratify Agrippina, the wife of the emperor Claudius, who was anxious to obtain possession of his pleasure grounds. Taurus put an end to his life before sentence was pronounced; and the senate expelled Priscus from its body as an informer. He was restored, however, to his former rank by Nero, and appointed governor of Bithynia; but was condemned in A. D. 61, on account of extortion in his province, to the great delight of the senate. (Tac. Ann. 12.59, 14.46.)

consul suffectus in A. D. 109. (Fasti.)

PRISCUS, L. VALE'RIUS MESSA'LA THRA'SEA, was distinguished alike by his birth and wisdom during the reign of Septimius Severus. He was consul in A. D. 196, and about seventeen years afterwards fell a victim to the cruelty of Caracalla. (D. C. 77.5.)

a person mentioned by the younger Pliny. (Plin. Ep. 6.12.)

(Πρίσκος). A Byzantine historian who was a native of Panium in Thrace, and was one of the ambassadors sent by Theodosius the Younger to Attila, A.D. 445. He died about 471. Priscus wrote an account of his embassy to Attila, enriched by digressions on the life and reign of that chief. The work was in eight books, but only fragments of it have come down to us. Priscus was an excellent and trustworthy historian, and his style was remarkably elegant and pure. The fragments are published with those of Dexippus and others, by Bekker and Niebuhr (Bonn, 1829), and by Müller in his Frag. Hist. Graec.

The son-in-law of Thrasea Paetus, and, like him, distinguished by his love of virtue, philosophy, and liberty. He was quaestor in Achaia during the reign of Nero, and tribune of the plebs A.D. 56. When Thrasea was put to death by Nero (66), Priscus was banished from Italy. He was recalled to Rome by Galba (68); but in consequence of his freedom of speech and love of independence, he was again banished by Vespasian, and was shortly afterwards put to death by order of this emperor. His life was written by Herennius Senecio at the request of his widow Fannia; and the emperor Domitian, in consequence of this work, subsequently put Senecio to death, and sent Fannia into exile (Pliny , Epist. vii. 19, 5; Dio Cass. lxvii. 13). Priscus left a son, Helvidius, who was put to death by Domitian.

The Prisci were an ancient family of the Servilia gens, and filled the highest offices of the state during the early years of the republic. They also bore the agnomen of Structus, which is always appended to their name in the Fasti, till it was supplanted by that of Fidenas, which was first obtained by Q. Servilius Priscus Structus, who took Fidenae in his dictatorship, B.C. 435, and which was also borne by his descendants.

Tarquinius. See Tarquinius.