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

BALBUS.
Up to this period, although several individuals had
enjoyed at the same time the appellation of Augustus, it had been held as an inviolable maxim of
the constitution, that the office of chief pontiff did
not admit of division, and could be vacated by
death only. But the senate, in this case, anxious
to preserve perfect equality between the two emperors, departed from a rule scrupulously observed
from the earliest ages, and invested both with the
office and appellation of Pontifex Maximus. The
precedent thus established was afterwards generally followed; colleagues in the empire became
generally, as a matter of course, colleagues in the
chief priesthood; and when pretenders to the purple arose at the same time in different parts of the
world, they all assumed the title among their other
designations. [W. R.]
no",
COIN OF BALBINUJS.
BALBUS, a family-name in several gentes. It
was originally a surname given to some one who
had an impediment in his speech.
I. Acilii Balbi, plebeians.
1. M'. AcILIus L. F. K. N. BALBUS, consul
B. c. 150. (Cic. de Senect. 5, ad Aft. xii. 5; Plin.
H. N. vii. 36.)
2. M'. ACILIUS M. F. L. N. BALBUS, consul
B. c. 114. (Obsequ. 97; Plin. H. N. ii. 29, 56.
s. 57.) It is doubtful to which of the Acilii Balbi
the annexed coin is to be referred. The obverse
has the inscription BA(L)Bvs, with the head of
Pallas, before which is X. and beneath RoMcA,
the whole within a laurel garland. On the reverse
we have MV. ACtLI, with Jupiter and Victory in
a quadriga.
II. T. Ampius Balbus, plebeian,
tribune of the plebs B. c. 63, proposed, in conjunction with his colleague T. Labienus, that Pompey,
who was then absent from Rome, should, on account of his Asiatic victories, be allowed to wear
a laurel-crown and all the insignia of a triumph in
the Circensian games, and also a laurel crown and
the praetexta in the scenic games. (Vell. Pat. ii.
40.) He failed in his first attempt to obtain the
aedileship, although he was supported by Pompey
(Schol. Bob. pro Plane. p. 257, ed. Orelli); but he
appears to have been praetor in B. c. 59, as we find
that he was governor of Cilicia in the following
year. (Comp. Cic. ad Fam. i. 3.) On the breaking
out of the civil war in B. c. 49, he sided with the
Pompeian party, and took an active part in the
levy of troops at Capua. (Ad Att. viii. 11, b.) He
no doubt left Italy with the rest of his party, for
we find him in the next year endeavouring to obtain

BALBUTS. 455
money by plundering the temple of Diana in Ephesus, which he was prevented from doing only by
the arrival of Caesar. (Caes. B. C. iii. 105.) Balbus was one of those who was banished by Caesar;
but he afterwards obtained his pardon through the
intercession of his friend Cicero (comp. Cic. ad
Fam. xiii. 70), who wrote him a letter on the occasion, B. c. 46. (Ad Fam. vi. 12.)
Balbus appears to have written some work on
the history of his times; for Suetonius (Caes. 77)
quotes some remarks of Caesar's from a work of
T. Ampius. Balbus was also mentioned in the
fourth book of Varro "De Vita Populi Romani."
(Varr. Fragm. p. 249, ed. Bip.)
III. Q. Antonius Balbus, plebeian,
is supposed to be the same as Q. Antonius who
was praetor in Sicily in B. c. 82 and was killed by
L. Philippus, the legate of Sulla. (Liv. Epit. 86.)
The annexed coin was struck either by, or in
honour of, this Balbus. The obverse represents
the head of Jupiter; the reverse is Q. A(N)To.
BA(L)B. PR. with Victory in a quadriga.
IV. M. Alius Balbus, plebeian,
of Aricia, married Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar,
who bore him a daughter, Atia, the mother of Augustus Caesar. [ATIA.] He was praetor in B. c.
62, and obtained the government of Sardinia, as
we learn from the annexed coin (copied from the
Thiesaur. Morell.), of which the reverse is AIus
BALBUS PR., with the head of Balbus; and the
obverse, SARD. PATER, with the head of Sardus,
the father or mythical ancestor of the island. In

B. c. 59, Balbus was appointed one of the vigintiviri
under the Julian law for the division of the land
in Campania; and, as Pompey was a member of
the same board, Balbus, who was not a person of
any importance, was called by Cicero in joke
Pompey's colleague. (Suet. Oct. 4, Pil. iii. 6,
ad Att. ii. 4.)
V. Corneii BaWlb, plebeians.
The Cornelii Balbi were, properly speaking, no part
of the Cornelia gens. The first of this name was
not a Roman; he was a native of Gades; and his
original name probably bore some resemblance in
sound to the Latin Balbus. The reason why he
assumed the name of Cornelius is mentioned below.
[No. 1.]
1. L. CORNELIUS BALBUS, sometimes called
Major to distinguish him from his nephew [No. 3],
was a native of Gades, and descended from an illustrious family in that town. Gades, being one of
the federate cities, supported the Romans in their