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

AVITUS.
Vossius conjectures, that his designation at full
length and properly arranged may have been Flavus Alfius Avitus. All this is very ingenious and
very uncertain. We know from Terentianus Maurus (1. 2448), that Alphius Avitus composed a
work upon Illustrious Men, in iambic dimeters,
extending to several books; and eight lines are
cited by Priscian from the second book, forming a
part of the legend of the Faliscan schoolmaster who
betrayed his pupils to Camillus; besides which,
three lines more from the first book are contained
in some MSS. of the same grammarian. (Priscian,
vol. i. pp. 410, 553, vol. ii. p. 131, ed. Krehl, or pp.
823, 947, 1136, ed. Putsch.) These fragments are
given in the Anitlologia Latina of Burmann, ii. p.
267, and Add. ii. p. 730, or Ep. n. 125, ed. Meyer.
There is also an " Alpheus philologus," from
whom Priscian adduces five words (vol. i. p. 370,
ed. Kr., or p. 792, ed. Putsch), and an Alfius whose
work on the Trojan war is mentioned by Festus,
s.. v. Mamertini. (Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn.
vol. iii. p. xxxi., vol. iv. pars ii. p. 826.) [W. R.]
AVI'TUS, GALLO'NIUS, was legate over the
provinces of Thrace under Aurelian, and a letter
addressed to him by that emperor is quoted by
Vopiscus in the life of Bonosus. Some critics have
supposed, that he was the author of an " allocutio
sponsalis," in five hexameters, preserved among the
" fragmenta epithalamiorum veterum," and that the
little poem itself was one of the hundred nuptial
lays which were composed and recited when Gallienus celebrated the marriages of his nephews.
(Pollio, Gall. 11.) Wernsdorf, however, considers
that the lines belong to Alcimus Aviius Alethius.
[ALETHIUS.] (Wernsdorf, Poett. Lat. Alinn. vol.
iv. pars ii. p. 501; Burmann, Antholog. iii. 259, or
Ep. n. 259, ed. Meyer.) [W. R.]
AV1'TUS, JU'LIUS, the husband of Julia
Maesa, brother-in-law of Julia Domna and Septimius Severus, uncle by marriage of Caracalla, father
of Julia Soemias and Julia Mamaea, and maternal
grandfather of Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.
Hie was of consular rank, and, as we gather from
the fragments of Dion Cassius, governed in succession Asia, Mesopotamia, and Cyprus. From him
Elagabalus inherited the name of Avitus-an appellation by which ancient historians frequently
distinguish that emperor. (Dion Cass. lxxxviii. 30,
lxxix. 16; Herodian, v. 3. ~ 2; see also the genealogical table under CARACALLA.) [W. R.]
AVI'TUS, M. MAECI'LIUS, emperor of the
West, was descended from a noble family in Auvergne, and spent the first thirty years of his life
in the pursuits of literature, field-sports, jurisprudence, and arms. The first public office to which
he was promoted was the praetorian praefecture of
Gaul, and whilst in retirement in his villa near
Clermont, he was appointed master of the armies
of Gaul. During this period, he twice went as
ambassador to the Visigothic court, first in A. D. 450
to Theodoric I., to secure his alliance on the invasion
of Attila; secondly in A. D. 456, to Theodoric II.,
on which last occasion, having received thle news
of the death of Maximus, and of the sack of Rome
by the Vandals, he was, by the assistance of the
Visigoths, raised to the vacant throne; but, after a
year's weak and insolent reign, was deposed by
Ricimer, and returned to private life as bishop of
Placentia. But the senate having pronounced the
sentence of death upon him, he fled to the sanctuary of his patron saint, Julian, at Brivas in Au

AURELIA. 435
vergne, and there died, or at least was buried.
(A. D. 456.)
His private life is chiefly known from the Panegyric of his son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinarus; his
public life from Gregor. Turon. ii. 11, and Idatius,
Chronicon. [A. P. S.]
The annexed coin of Avitus has on the obverse
the head of Avitus crowned with a diadem of
pearls, and the inscription D. M. AVITUS PERP. F.
AUG., and on the reverse the emperor wearing the
paludamentum, and standing with one foot upon a
barbarian; in the right hand he holds the cross,
and in the left a small figure of Victory.
AULANIUS EVANDER. [EVANDER.]
AULESTES, a Tyrrhenian ally of Aeneas in
Italy, is called a son of Tiberis and the nymph
Manto, and brother of Ocnus. He was slain by
Messapus, and was regarded as the founder of
Perusia. (Virg. Aen. x. 207, xii. 290.) [L. S.]
AU'LIA GENS, probably plebeian. Persons
of this name rarely occur, though one member of
the gens, Q. Aulius Cerretanus, obtained the consulship twice in the Samnite war, in B. c. 323 and
319. The name is derived from the praenomen
Aulus, as Sextius from Sextus, Marcius from Marcus, and Quintius from Quintus. The only cognomen belonging to this gens is CERRETANUS.
AULIS (Avils), a daughter of Ogygus and
Thebe, from whom the Boeotian town of Aulis was
believed to have derived its name. (Paus. ix. 19.
~ 5.) Other traditions called her a daughter of
Euonymus, the son of Cephissus. (Steph. Byz.
s. v. Avdis.) She was one of the goddesses who
watched over oaths under the name of srpacimcai.
[ALALCOMENIA.] [L. S.]
M'. AU'LIUS, praefect of the allies, was killed
in the battle in which Marcellus was defeated by
Hannibal, B. c. 208. (Liv. xxvii. 26, 27.)
AULO'NIUS (AmiAcimos), a surname of Asclepius, derived from a temple he had in Aulon, a valley in Messenia. (Paus. iv. 36. ~ 5.) [L. S.]
- AURA (Avpa), a daughter of Lelas and Periboea, was one of the swift-footed companions of
Artemis. She was beloved by Dionysus, but fled
from him, until Aphrodite, at the request of Dionysus, inspired her with love for the god. She
accordingly became by him the mother of twins,
but at the moment of their birth she was seized
with madness, tore one of her children to pieces,
and then threw herself into the sea. (Nonnus,
Dionys. 260.) Aura also occurs as the name of a
race-horse and of one of Actaeon's dogs. (Paus. vi.
13. ~ 5; Hygin. Fab. 181.) [L. S.]
AURE'LIA, the wife of C. Julius Caesar, by
whom she became the mother of C. Julius Caesar,
the dictator, and of two daughters. It is doubtful
who her parents were: Drumann (Gesch. Roms,
iii. p. 128) conjectures, that she was the daughter
of M. Aurelius Cotta and Rutilia (comp. Cic. ad
Att. xii. 20), and that C. M. and L. Cottae, who
were consuls in u. c. 75, 74, and 65 respectively,
2 F2