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

492 BLASIO.
also his son, of the priestly offices which he held.
His life, however, was spared for the time; but
when Tiberius, in 36, conferred these offices upon
other persons, Blaesus and his son perceived that
their fate was sealed, and accordingly put an end
to their own lives. (Tac. Ann. v. 7, vi. 40.)
2. The son of the preceding, was with his father
in Pannonia when the legions mutinied in A. D. 14,
and was compelled by the soldiers to go to Tiberius
with a statement of their grievances. IHe was sent
a second time to Tiberius after the arrival of Drusus in the camp. He also served under his father
in 22 in the war against Tacfarinas in Africa;
and he put an end to his own life, as mentioned
above, in 36. (Tac. Ann. i. 19, 29, iii. 74, vi. 40.)
3. Probably the son of No. 2, was the governor
of Gallia Lugdunensis in A. D. 70, and espoused
the party of the emperor Vitellius, whom he supplied when in Gaul with everything necessary to
support his rank and state. This liberality on the
part of Blaesus excited the jealousy of the emperor,
who shortly after had him poisoned on the most
trumpery accusation, broaght against him by L.
Vitellius. Blaesus was a man of large property
and high integrity, and had steadily refused the solicitations of Caecina and others to desert the cause
of Vitellius. (Tac. Hist. i. 59, ii. 59, iii. 38, 39.)
BLAESUS, PE'DIUS, was expelled the senate
in A. D. 60, on the complaint of the Cyrenians, for
robbing the temple of Aesculapius, and for corruption in the military levies; but he was re-admitted
in 70. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 18, Hist. i. 77.)
BLANDUS, a Roman knight, who taught eloquence at Rome in the time of Augustus, and was
the instructor of the philosopher and rhetorician,
Fabianus. (Senec. Controv. ii. prooem. p. 136, ed.
Bip.) He is frequently introduced as a speaker
in the Suasorise (2, 5) and Controversiae (i. 1, 2,
4, &c.) of the elder Seneca. He was probably the
father or grandfather of the Rubellius BlandLus
mentioned below.
BLANDUS, RUBE'LLIUS, whose grandfather was only a Roman knight of Tibur, married
in A. D. 33 Julia, the daughter of Drusus, the sons
of the emperor Tiberius, whence Blandus is called
the progener of Tiberius. (Tac. Ann. vi. 27, 45.)
Rubellius Plautus, who was put to death by Nero,
was the offspring of this marriage. [PLAUTUS ]
There was in the senate in A. D. 21 a Rubellius
Blandus, a man of consular rank (Tac. Ann. iii.
23, 51), who is probably the same as the husband
of Julia, though Lipsius supposes him to be the
father of the latter. We do not, however, find in
the Fasti any consul of this name.
There is a coin, struck under Augustus, bearing
the inscription C. RVBELLIVS BLANDVS IIIVIRc
A. A. A. F. F., that is, Auro Argento Aeri Flando
Feriando, which is probably to be referred to the
father of the above-mentioned Blandus. (Eckhel,
v. p. 295.)
BLA'SIO, a surname of the Cornelia and Holvia gentes.
I. Cornelii Blasiones.
1. CN. CORNELIUS L. F. CN. N. BLASIO, who is
mentioned nowhere but in the Fasti, was consul in
B. c. 270, censor in 265, and consul a second time
in 257. He gained a triumph in 270, but we do
not know over what people.
2. CN. CORNELIUS B]LASIO, was praetor in Sicily
in B.c. 19 4. (Liv. xxxiv. 42,43.)
3. P. CORN.ELIUS BLASIO, Was sent as an am

BLASTARES.
bassador with two others to the Carni, Istri, and
lapydes, in B. c. 170. In 168 he was one of the
five commissioners appointed to settle the disputes
between the Pisani and Lunenses respecting the
boundaries of their lands. (Liv. xliii. 7, xlv. 13.)
There are several coins belonging to this family.
The obverse of the one annexed has the inscription
BLAsIO CN. F., with what appears to be the head
of Mars: the reverse represents Dionysus, with
Pallas on his left hand in the act of crowning him
and another female figure on his right. (Eckhel,
v. p. 180.)
II. Helvii Blasiones.
1. M. HELVIUS BLASlO, plebeian aedile in B. c.
198 and praetor in 197. He obtained the province of further Spain, which he found in a very
disturbed state upon his arrival. After handing
over the province to his successor, he was detained
in the country a year longer by a severe and
tedious illness. On his return home through
nearer Spain with a guard of 6000 soldiers, which
the praetor Ap. Claudius had given him, he was
attacked by an army of 20,000 Celtiberi, near the
town of Illiturgi. These he entirely defeated,
slew 12,000 of the enemy, and took Illiturgi. This
at least was the statement of Valerius Antias. For
this victory he obtained an ovation (B. c. 195), but
not a triumph, because he had fought under the
auspices and in the province of another. In the
following year (194) he was one of the three commissioners for founding a Roman colony at Sipontum in Apulia. (Liv. xxxii. 27, 28, xxxiii. 21,
xxxiv. 10, 45.)
2. HIELVIUS BLASlo, put an end to his own life
to encourage his friend D. Brutus to meet his death
firmly, when the latter fell into the hands of his
enemies, in B. c. 43. (Dion Cass. xlvi. 53.)
BLA'SIUS, BLA'TIUS, or BLA'TTIUS, one
of the chief men at Salapia in Apulia, betrayed the
town to the Romans in B. c. 210, together with a
strong Carthaginian garrison that was stationed
there. The way in which he outwitted his rival
Dasius, who supported the Carthaginians, is related
somewhat differently by the ancient writers. (Appian, Annib. 45-47; Liv. xxvi. 38; Val. Max.
iii. 8, extern. 1.)
BLA'STARES, MATTHAEUS, a hieromonachus, or monk in holy orders, eminent as a Greek
canonist, who composed, about the year 1335 (as
Bishop Beveridge satisfactorily makes out from the
author's own enigmatical statement) an alphabetical
compendium of the contents of the genuine canons.
It was intended to supply a more convenient
repertory for ordinary use than was furnished by
the collections of Photius and his commentators.
The letters refer to the leading word in the rubrics
of the titles, and under each letter the chapters
begin anew in numerical order. In each chapter
there is commonly an abstract, first of the ecclesiastical, then of the secular laws which relate to
the subject; but the sources whence the secular
laws are cited are not ordinarily referred to, and