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

436 AURELIANUS.
were her brothers. She carefully watched over the
education of her children (Dial. de Orat. 28; comp.
Dion Cass. xliv. 38), and always took a lively interest in the success of her son. She appears to
have constantly lived with him; and Caesar on his
part treated her with great affection and respect.
Thus, it is said, that on the day when he was
elected Pontifex Maximus, B. c. 63, he told his
mother, as she kissed him upon his leaving his
house in the morning to proceed to the comitia,
that he would not return home except as Pontifex
Maximus. (Suet. Caes. 13.) It was Aurelia who
detected Clodius in the house of her son during the
celebration of the mysteries of the Bona Dea in
B. c. 62. (Plut. Caes. 9, 10; Suet. Caes. 74.) She
died in B. c. 54, while her son was in Gaul. (Suet.
Caes. 26.)
AURE'LIA FADILLA. [ANTONINUS,p. 211.]
AURE'LIA GENS, plebeian, of which the
family names, under the republic, are COTTA,
ORESTES, and ScAURUS. On coins we find the
cognomens Cotta and Scaurus, and perhaps Rufus
(Eckhel, v. p. 147), the last of which is not mentioned by historians. The first member of the gens
who obtained the consulship was C. Aurelius Cotta
in B. c. 252, from which time the Aurelii become
distinguished in history down to the end of the
republic. Under the early emperors, we find an
Aurelian family of the name of Fulvus, from which
the Roman emperor Antoninus was descended,
whose name originally was T. Aurelius Fulvus.
[See pp. 210, 211.]
AURE'LIA MESSALI'NA. [ALBINUS, p.
93, b.]
AURE'LIA ORESTILLA, a beautiful but profligate woman, whom Catiline married. As Aurelia
at first objected to marry him, because he had a
grown-up son by a former marriage, Catiline is said
to have killed his own offspring in order to remove
this impediment to their union. (Sall. Cat. 15, 35;
Appian, B. C. ii. 2; comp. Cic. ad Fam. ix. 22.)
Her daughter was betrothed to the younger Cornificius in B. c. 49. (Caelius, ap. Cic. ad Fam. viii. 7.)
AURELIA'NUS, named twice by Dion Cassius (Ixxviii. 12, 19), is supposed to be the conspirator against Caracalla, who appears in the text
of Spartianus as Reanus or Retianus. The soldiers
demanded him from Macrinus, who at first resisted
their importunities, but at length yielded him up
to their fury. [W. R.]
AURELIA'NUS. On coins, this emperor is
uniformly styled L. Domitius Aurelianus, but in
some fasti and inscriptions he appears as Valerius
or Valerianus Aurelianus, the name Valerius being
confirmed by a letter addressed to him by his predecessor, Claudius. (Vopisc. c. 17.) He was of
such humble origin, that nothing certain is known
of his family, nor of the time or place of his nativity. According to the account commonly received,
he was born about the year A. D. 212, at Sirmium
in Pannonia, or, as others assert, in Dacia, or in
Moesia. His father is said to have been a farm
servant on the property of Aurelius, a senator, his
mother to have officiated as priestess of Sol in the
village where she dwelt. It is certain that her
son, in after-life, regarded that deity as his tutelary
god, and erected for his worship at Rome a magnificent temple, decorated with a profusion of the
most costly ornaments. In early youth, Aurelian
was remarkable for vivacity of disposition, for bodily strength, and for an enthusiastic love of all

AURELIANUS.
military exercises. After entering upon the career
of arms, he seems to have served in every grade
and in every quarter of the world, and became so renowned for promptness in the use of weapons, and
for individual prowess, that his comrades distinguished him as " Hand-on-sword" (Aurelianus
manu adferrum). In a war against the Sarmatians, he was believed to have slain forty-eight of
the enemy in one day, and nearly a thousand in
the course of a single campaign. When tribune of
the sixth legion in Gaul, he repelled a predatory
incursion of the Franks, who had crossed the Rhine
near Mayence, and now for the first time appear
in history. His fame as a soldier, an officer, and a
general, gradually rose so high, that Valerian compared him to the Corvini and Scipios of the olden
time, and, declaring that no reward was adequate
to his merits, bestowed on him the titles of Liberator of Illyria and Restorer of Gaul. Having been
appointed lieutenant to Ulpius Crinitus, captaingeneral of Illyria and Thrace, he expelled the
Goths from these provinces; and so important was
this service deemed, that Valerian, in a solemn assembly held at Byzantium, publicly returned thanks
to Aurelian for having averted the dangers by
which the state was menaced, and after presenting
him with a multitude of military decorations, proclaimed him consul elect. At the same time, he
was adopted by Ulpius Crinitus, declared his heir,
and probably received his daughter in marriage.
He is marked in the Fasti as consul suffectus on
the 22nd of May, 257.
We hear nothing of Aurelian during the reign
of the indolent and feeble Gallienus; but great successes were achieved by him under Claudius, by
whom he was appointed to the command previously
held by his adopted father, and was entrusted with
the defence of the frontier against the Goths, and
nominated commander-in-chief of the cavalry of the
empire.
Upon the death of Claudius, which took place
at Sirmium in 270, Aurelian was at once hailed as
his successor by the legions. Quintillus, the brother of Claudius, at the same time asserted his
own claims at Aquileia; but, being abandoned by
his soldiers, put himself to death within less than
three weeks from the time when he assumed the
purple.
The reign of Aurelian, which lasted for about
four years and a half, from the end of August, 270,
until the middle of March, 275, presents a succession of brilliant exploits, which restored for a while
their ancient lustre to the arms of Rome.
As soon as his authority had been formally recognised in the metropolis, he directed his first efforts against a numerous host of Goths and Vandals, who, led by two kings and many powerful
chiefs, had crossed the Danube, and were ravaging
Pannonia. These, after sustaining a decisive defeat, were forced to submit, and were permitted to
retire upon leaving the sons of the two kings, and
other noble youths, as hostages, and furnishing a
contingent of two thousand auxiliaries.
A great victory was next gained over the Alemanni and other German tribes, which was followed by a serious reverse. For, while the emperor was employing every exertion to cut off their
retreat, he failed to watch them in front. The
barbarians, taking advantage of this oversight,
pressed boldly forwards, outstripped their heavyarmed pursuers, and bursting into Italy wasted all