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

CORBULO.
as was possible. In 47, however, Corbulo obtained
the command of an army in Germany, and fought
with great success against the Chauci under their
leader Gennascus. He maintained excellent discipline among his troops, and acted with great
caution and courage. His success excited either
the fear or jealousy of Claudius, for he was commanded to lead his army back to the western banks
of the Rhine. Corbulo obeyed, though with reluctance, as his career was thus checked without
any necessity; but to prevent his soldiers from
becoming demoralized by inactivity, he made them
dig a canal between the Meuse and the Rhine, of
23,000 paces in length, in order to prevent the
inundation of the country by the tide of the sea.
In 54, shortly after the accession of Nero, Corbulo
was entrusted with the supreme command against
the Parthians, whose king, Vologeses, had invaded
Armenia and expelled its king, Rhadamistus, who
"was under the protection of the Romans. But as
Vologeses was engaged in quelling an insurrection
of his own son, Vardanes, he withdrew his troops
from Armenia, and gave the most distinguished
members of the family of the Arsacidae as hostages
to the Romans. But, a few years later, A. D. 58,
the war broke out afresh, and Corbulo fought
with great success against Tiridates, the brother of
Vologeses, who now claimed the throne of Armenia.
Corbulo took the towns of Artaxata and Tigranocerta, and secured the throne to Tigranes, to whom
Nero had given the kingdom of Armenia. In 63,
Vologeses and Tiridates renewed the war; and, as
Corbulo had to protect Syria, Caesennius Paetus
was sent into Armenia; but he conducted the war
"with so much inability and want of success, that
Corbulo was in the end glad to see Vologeses willing to conclude a treaty by which both the Romans
and Parthians were obliged to evacuate Armenia.
But Tiridates soon after took possession of Armenia, and then sent an insulting letter to Rome,
requesting Nero's sanction to his title of king of
Armenia. This conduct occasioned a renewal of
the war, and Corbulo marched with a strong army
into Armenia. But the Parthians had become
tired of incessant warfare: they sued for peace,
and Tiridates condescended to lay down his crown
before a statue of Nero, in order to receive it back
at Rome from the hands of the emperor himself.
Corbulo sent Annius, his son-in-law, to accompany
Tiridates to Rome, in order to attest his own fidelity to the emperor.
Corbulo was one of the greatest generals of the
time, and amid the universal hatred which Nero
had drawn upon himself, Corbulo remained faithful to him. His power and influence with the
army were very great, and if he had placed himself
at the head of an insurrection, he would have been
sure of obtaining the imperial dignity. But he
seems never to have entertained such a thought:
the reward he earned for his fidelity was-death.
For, in A. D. 67, when Nero was in Greece, he
invited Corbulo to come to him. As soon as the
latter landed at Cenchreae, Nero gave orders for
his execution. When Corbulo was informed of his
fate, he plunged his sword into his breast, exclaiming, " Well deserved!" (Plin. H.N. ii. 70, vi. 8,
13, vii. 5; Tac. Ann. iii. 31, ix. 18, &c., xiii. 6,
&c., 34, &c., xiv. 23, &c., xv. 1, &c., 26, &c.,
Hist. ii. 76; Dion Cass. lix. 15, lx. 30, 1xii. 19,
&c., 1xiii. 17; Frontin. Strateg. iv. 2, 7, ii. 9,
i,. I.) [L.S.]

CORDUS. 851
CORDACA (Kopa/dca), a surname of Artemis
in Elis, derived from an indecent dance called
icdpaý, which the companions of Pelops are said
to have performed in honour of the goddess after
a victory which they had won. (Paus. vi. 22,
~ 1.) [L. S.]
CORDUS, AE'LIUS, or JuNIus CORDUS,
apparently different designations of the same individual-an historian perpetually quoted by Capitolinus in his biographies of Albinus, the Maximins,
the Gordians, and Maximus with Balbinus. He
appears to have been an accurate chronicler of
trivial facts. (Capit. Albin. c. 11.) [W. R.]
CORDUS, CAE'SIUS, governor of Crete, with
the title of proconsul, in the reign of Tiberius, was
accused by Ancharius Priscus of extortion in his
province. The accusation was supported by the
inhabitants of Cyrene, which was included in the
province of Crete, and Cordus was condemned.
(Tac. Ann. iii. 38, 70.)
CORDUS, CREMU'TIUS, a Roman historian,
who, after having lived long and blamelessly, was
impeached by two of his own clients before Tiberius of having praised Brutus and denominated
Cassius " the last of the Romans"-" crimine,"
says Tacitus, " novo ac tune primum audito."
His real offence, however, was the freedom of
speech in which he had indulged against Sejanus,
for the work in which the objectionable passages
occurred had been published for many years, and
had been read with approbation by Augustus himself. Perceiving from the relentless aspect of the
emperor that there was no room for hope, Cordus
delivered an apology, the substance of which has
been preserved or fabricated by Tacitus, appealing
to the impunity enjoyed under similar circumstances by all preceding annalists, and then quitting
the senate-house retired to his own mansion, where
he starved himself to death. (A. D. 25.) The
subservient fathers ordained that his works should
be burned by the aediles in the city, and by the
public authorities wherever elsewhere found, but
copies were so much the more eagerly treasured in
concealment by his daughter Marcia and by his
friends, who afterwards gave them again to the
world with the full permission of Caligula. A few
scanty fragments are contained in the seventh of
the Suasoriae of Seneca.
(Tac. Ann. iv. 34, 35; Sueton. Octav. 35, Tib.
61, Calig. 16; Senec. Suasor. vii., and especially
his Consolatio addressed to Marcia, the daughter
of Cremutius Cordus, cc. 1 and 22; Dion Cass.
Ivii. 24.) [W. R.]
CORDUS, JUNIUS. [CORDUS, AELIUS.]
CORDUS, MUCIUS. This surname was borne
by some of the Scaevolae [SCAEVOLAE], and occurs
on the annexed coin of the Mucia gens. The
obverse represents two heads, the one crowned
with laurel and the other with a helmet, which
would appear from the letters on each side to
represent Honos and Virtus * the letters KALENI
underneath refer to some members of the Fufia
gens. [CALENUS.] On the reverse two women
are standing, the one on the left representing Italia
and the one on the right Roma, the former holding a cornucopia in her hand, and the latter with
a sceptre in her hand and her foot on a globe:
beneath is CORDI. Who the Calenus and Cordus
are, mentioned on the coin, is quite uncertain. The
figures of Italia and Roma would seem to refer to
the times when harmony was established between
3 12