A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AURELIUS.

poisoned L. Verus never seems to have obtained or
deserved the slightest credit, we may perhaps by a
close scrutiny detect a few weaknesses. The deep
sorrow expressed upon the death of Faustina, and
the eagerness with which he sought to heap honours on the memory of a wicked woman and a
faithless wife, who rivalled Messalina, in shameless
and promiscuous profligacy, if sincere, betoken a
degree of carelessness and blindness almost incredible; if feigned, a strange combination of apathy
and dissimulation. Nor can we altogether forgive
his want of discernment or of resolution in not discovering or restraining the evil propensities of his
son, whose education he is said to have conducted
with the most zealous care. Making every allowance for the innate depravity of the youth, we can
scarcely conceive that if he hadhbeen trained with
iudicious firmness, and his evil passions combated
and controlled before they became fully developed,
he would ever have proved such a prodigy of heartless cruelty and brutal sensuality.
Our chief authorities for this period of history
are the life of M. Aurelius by Capitolinus, a mass
of ill-selected and badly arranged materials, and
the 71st book of Dion Cassius, a collection of awkwardly patched fragments. Some facts may be extracted from the minor Roman historians, and from
Aristeides (Orat. ix.), Herodian, Joannes Antiochenus, and Zonaras.
The editio princeps of the Meditations was published by Xylander (Tigur. 1558, 8vo.), and republished with improvements by the same scholar
ten years afterwards. (Basil. 1568, 8vo,) The
next in order was superintended by Merick Casaubon (Lond. 1643, 8vo.), followed by the edition of
Gataker (Cantab. 1652, 4to.), reprinted at London
(1697) with additional notes from the French of
And. Dacier, and his life of M. Aurelius translated
into Latin by Stanhope. This last edition must,
upon the whole, be still considered as the most
useful and ample. A new recension of the text,
accompanied by a commentary, was commenced by
Schulz, at the beginning of the present century
(Slesvic. 1802, 8vo.), but the work is still imperfect, one volume only having appeared.
There are numerous translations into most of the
European languages. In English, the best, though
indifferent, is that published at Glasgow in 1749
and 1764; in French, that of Madame Dacier
(Paris, 1691); in German, that of Schulz. (Sleswick, 1799.) For further information with regard
to the instructors of this emperor and his various
literary compositions, see Fabric. Bibl. GraCec. vol.
v. p. 500. [W. R.]
f 'S
oo
COIN OF AURELIUS.
AURE'LIUS, a physician who must have lived
in or before the second century after Christ, as one
of his prescriptions is quoted by Galen. (De Compos. Mlcdicam. sec. Loc. v. 5. vol. xii. p. 892.) He

AUREOLUS. 443
is probably the same person who is mentioned in
Cramer's An4ecd. Gr. Paris, vol. i. p. 394. [W.A.G.]
AURE'LIUS ARCA'DIUS CHA'RISIUS.
[CHARISIUS.]
AURE'LIUS AUGUSTI'NUS. [AUGUSTINUS.]
AURE'LIUS CORNE'LIUS CEL$US.
[CELSUS.]
AURE'LIUS OLY'MPIUS NEMESIA'NUS.
[NEMESIANUS.]
AURE'LIUS OPI'LIUS. [OPILIUs.]
AURE'LIUS PHILIPPUS. [PHILIPrus.]
AURE'LIUS PRUDE'NTIUS. [PRUDENTIUS.]
AURE'LIUS SY'MMACHUS.[SYMMACHUS.]
AURE'LIUS VICTOR. [VICTOR.]
AURE'OLUS. After the defeat and captivity
of Valerian, the legions in the different provinces,
while they agreed in scorning the feeble rule of
Gallienus, could by no means unite their suffrages
in favour of any one aspirant to the purple; but each
army hastened to bestow the title of Augustus upon its favourite general. Hence arose within the
short space of eight years (A. 1. 260-267) no less
than nineteen usurpers in the various dependencies
of Rome, whose contests threatened speedily to
produce the complete dissolution of the empire.
The biographies of these adventurers, most of whom
were of very humble origin, have been compiled by
Trebellius Pollio, who has collected the whole under the fanciful designation of the Thirty Tyrants.
But the analogy thus indicated will not bear examination. No parallel can be established between
those pretenders who sprung up suddenly in diverse
quarters of the world, without concert or sympathy,
each struggling to obtain supreme dominion for
himself, and that cabal which united under Critias
and Theramenes with the common purpose of
crushing the liberties of Athens. Nor does even
the number correspond, for the Augustan historian
is obliged to press in women and children and
many doubtful names, in order to complete his tale.
Of the whole nineteen, one only, Odenathus the
Palmyrene, in gratitude for his successful valour
against Sapor, was recognised by Gallienus as a
colleague. It has been remarked, that not one
lived in peace or died a natural death.
Among the last of the number was Aureolus, a
Dacian by birth, by occupation originally a shepherd.
His merits as a soldier were discovered by Valerian,
who gave him high military rank; and he subsequently did good service in the wars waged against
Ingenuus, Macrianus, and Postumus. He was at
length induced to revolt, was proclaimed emperor by
the legions of Illyria in the year 267, and made himself master of Northern Italy. Gallienus, having
been recalled by this alarm from a campaign against
the Goths, encountered and defeated his rebellious
general, and shut him up in Milan; but, while
prosecuting the siege with vigour, was assassinated.
This catastrophe, however, did not long delay the
fate of the usurper, who was the nearest enemy
and consequently the first object of attack to his
rival, the new emperor Claudius. Their pretensions were decided by a battle fought between
Milan and Bergamo, in which Aureolus was slain;
and the modern town of Pontirolo is said to represent under a corrupt form the name of the bridge
(Pons Aureoli) thrown over the Adda at the spot
where the victory was won. The records preserved
of this period are full of cionfusion and contradic