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

252 AQUILA.
sular dignity. (Suidas, s. v.; Tzetzes.' Chil. viii.
696.) He was a friend of Philostratus ( Vit. Soph.
ii. 33. ~ 4), who praises the strength and fidelity
Sof his memory, but is afraid to say more for fear of
being suspected of flattery or partiality. We still
possess two rhetorical works of Apsines: 1. rlepl
"TeWv p.eipw rov 7 TOALTrlco Adyou ereXyv, which was
first printed by Aldus in his Rhetores Graeci (pp..682-726), under the incorrect title TerXv? p7TopUM 7rsepi 7rpootLfowP, as it is called by the Scholiast
on Hermogenes (p. 14, but see p. 297). This
work, however, is only a part of a greater work,
and is so much interpolated that it is scarcely possible to form a correct notion of it. In some of
the interpolated parts Apsines himself is quoted.
A considerable portion of it was discovered by
Rhunken to belong to a work of Longinus on
rhetoric, which is now lost, and this portion has,consequently been omitted in the new edition of
Walz in his Rhetores Graeci. (ix. p. 465, &c.;,comp. Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Beredtsamk.
~ 98, n. 6.) 2. Hlepl rca~v d'-Xra'jrTLeuvwv rpoA-\qngdTrwv, is of little importance and very short.
It is printed in Aldus' Rhetor. Graec. pp. 727-730,
and in Walz. Rhetor. Graec. ix. p. 534, &c. [L.S.]
APSYRTUS or ABSYRTUS ('Ap'ros), one
of the principal veterinary surgeons of whom any
remains are still extant, was born, according to
Suidas (s. v.) and Eudocia (Violar. ap. Villoison,
Anecd. Graeca, vol. i. p. 65), at Prusa or Nico.
media in Bithynia. He is said to have served
under Constantine in his campaign on the Danube,
which is generally supposed to mean that under
Constantine the Great, A. D. 322, but some refer it
to that under Constantine IV. (or Pogonatus),
A. D. 671. His remains are to be found in the
" Veterinariae Medicinae Libri Duo," first published in Latin by J. Ruellius, Paris, 1530, fol.,
and afterwards in Greek by S. Grynaeus, Basil.
1537, 4to. Sprengel published a little work entitled " Programma de Apsyrto Bithynio," Halae,
1832, 4to. [W. A. G.]
A'PTEROS (ATreI-pos), "the wingless," a surname under which Nice (the goddess of victory)
had a sanctuary at. Athens. This goddess was
usually represented with wings, and their absence
in this instance was intended to signify that Victory would or could never fly away from Athens.
The same idea was expressed at Sparta by a statue
of Ares with his feet chained. (Paus. i. 22. ~ 4,
iii. 15. ~ 5.) [L. S.]
APULEIUS. [APPULEIUS.]
APU'STIA GENS, had the cognomen FULLO.
The Apustii who bear no cognomen are spoken of
under APusTIUs. The first member of this gens
who obtained the consulship, was L. Apustius
Fullo, B. c. 226.
APU'STIUS. 1. L. APUSTIUs, the commander of the Roman troops at Tarentum, B. c. 215.
(Liv. xxiii. 38.)
2. L. APuSTIUS, legate of the consul P. Sulpicius in Macedonia, B. c. 200, was an active
officer in the war against Philip. He was afterwards a legate of the consul L. Cornelius Scipio,
B. c, 190, and was killed in the same year in an
engagement in Lycia. (Liv. xxxi. 27, xxxvii. 4,
16.)
3. P. APUSTIus, one of the ambassadors sent to
the younger Ptolemy, B. c. 161. (Polyb. xxxii.
1.)
A'QUILA ('AXdta's), the translator of the Old. AQUILA.
Testament into Greek, was a native of Pontus,
Epiphanes (De Pond. et Alens. 15) states, that he
was a relation of the emperor Hadrian, who employed him in the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Aelia
Capitolina); that he was converted to Christianity,
but excommunicated for practising the heathen
astrology; and that he then went over to the
Jews, and was circumcised; but this account is
probably founded only on vague rumours. All
that we know with certainty is, that having been
a heathen he became a Jewish proselyte, and that
he lived in the reign of Hadrian, probably about
130 A. D. (Iren. iii. 24; Euseb. Praep. Evan.
vii. 1; Hieron. Ep. ad Pammach. vol. iv. pt. 2,
p. 255, Mart.)
He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew
into Greek, with the purpose of furnishing the
Jews who spoke Greek with a version better fitted
than the Septuagint to sustain them in their opposition to Christianity. He did not, however, as
some have supposed, falsify or pervert the sense of
the original, but he translated every word, even
the titles, such as Messiah, with the most literal
accuracy. This principle was carried to the utmost
extent in a second edition, which was named Kica
dclpiteiay. The version was very popular with the
Jews, in whose synagogues it was read. (Novell.
146.) It was generally disliked by the Christians;
but Jerome, though sometimes showing this feeling, at other times speaks most highly of Aquila
and his version. (Quaest. 2, ad Damas. iii. p. 35;
Epist. ad Marcell. iii. p. 96, ii. p. 312; Queaest.
Heb. in Genes. iii. p. 216; Comment. in Jes. c. 8;
Comment. in Hos. c. 2.) The version is also
praised by Origen. (Comment. in Job. viii. p. 131;
Respons. ad Aifrican. p. 224.)
Only a few fragments remain, which have been
published in the editions of the Hexapla [ORnGENES], and in Dathe's Opuscula, Lips. 1746. [P.S.]
A'QUILA, JU'LIUS, a Roman knight, stationed with a few cohorts, in A. D. 50, to protect
Cotys, king of the Bosporus, who had received the
sovereignty after the expulsion of Mithridates. In
the same year, Aquila obtained the praetorian
insignia. (Tac. Ann. xii. 15, 21.)
A'QUILA, JU'LIUS (GALLUS?), a Roman
jurist, from whose liber responsorum two fragments
concerning tutores are preserved in the Digest. Ir
the Florentine Index he is named Gallus Aquila
probably from an error of the scribe in reading
Fa\Xov for Iovuiov. This has occasioned Juliu:
Aquila to be confounded with Aquillius Gallus
His date is uncertain, though he probably live(
under or before the reign of Septimius Severus
A. D. 193-8; for in Dig. 26. tit. 7, s. 34 he give
an opinion upon a question which seems to hav
been first settled by Severus. (Dig. 27. tit. 3. s. 1
~ 3.) By most of the historians of Roman law h
is referred to a later period. He may possibly b
the same person with Lucius Julius Aquila, wh
wrote de Etrusca disciplina, or with that Aquil
who, under Septimius Severus, was praefect (
Egypt, and became remarkable by his persecution
the Christians. (Majansius, Comm. ad 30 Jurisco,
Fragm. vol. ii. p. 288; Otto, in Praef. Thes. vc
i. p. 13; Zimmern, RSm. Rechts-Geschichte, vol.
~ 103.) [J. T. G.]
A'QUILA, L. PO'NTIUS, tribune of the pleb
probably in B. c. 45, was the only member of tl
college that did not rise to Caesar as he passed 1
the tribunes' seats in his triumph. (Suet. Jul. Cat