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

BALIBUS.

which has hot come down to us, of the most remarkable occurrences in his own and Caesar's life.
(Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ix. 14; Suet. Caes. 81; Capitolin. Balbin. 2.) He took care that Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic war should be continued;
and we accordingly find the eighth book dedicated
to him. There does not, however, appear to be
sufficient grounds for the conjecture of some modern writers, that Balbus was the author of the
History of the Spanish war. In the collection of
Cicero's letters we find four from Balbus. (Ad
Alt. viii. 15, ix. 6, 13.)
2. P. CORNELIUS BALBUS, brother of the preceding, received the Roman franchise at the same
time as his brother; but appears to have died soon
afterwards, either in Gades or Rome.
3. L. CORNELIUS BALBUS, P. F., son of the preceding [No. 2], and frequently called Minor, to
distinguish him from his uncle [No. 1], was born
at Gades, and received the Roman franchise along
with his father and uncle. On the breaking out
of the civil war (B. c. 49) he served under Caesar,
and was sent by him to the consul L. Cornelius
Lentulus, who was an old friend of his uncle's, to
persuade him to return to Rome. Balbus undertook the same dangerous commission in the following year, and paid Lentulus a visit in the Pompeian
camp at Dyrrhachium, but he was not successful
either time. Balbus served under Caesar in the
Alexandrian and Spanish wars, during which time
he kept up a correspondence with Cicero, with whom
he had become acquainted through his uncle. In
return for his services in these wars, Caesar made
him pontiff; and it is therefore probably this Cornelius Balbus who wrote a work on the Roman
sacra, of which the eighteenth book is quoted by
Macrobius. (Saturn. iii. 6.)
In B. c. 44 and 43, Balbus was quaestor of the
propraetor Asinius Pollio in Further Spain; and
while there, he added to his native town Gades a
suburb, which was called the new city, and built a
dock-yard; and the place received in consequence
the name of Didyma or double-city. (Strab. iii. p.
169.) But his general conduct in Spain was of a
most arbitrary and tyrannical kind; and at length,
after plundering the provincials and amassing large
treasures, he left Spain in B. c. 43, without even paying the soldiers, and crossed over to Bogud in Africa.
From that time, we hear nothing of Balbus for
upwards of twenty years. We then find him governor of Africa, with the title of proconsul, although he had been neither praetor nor consul.
While in Africa, he obtained a victory over the
Garamantes, and enjoyed a triumph in consequence
in March, B. c. 19, the first instance of this honour
having been conferred upon one who was not born
a Roman citizen. (Plin. H. N. v. 5; Veil. Pat. ii.
51; Strab. iii. p. 169.) Balbus, like his uncle, had
amiassed a large fortune; and, as Augustus was
anxious to adorn Rome with public buildings, Balbus erected at his own expense a theatre in the
city, which was remarkable on account of its containing four pillars of onyx. It was dedicated in
B. c. 13, with festive games, on the return of Augustus to Rome; and as a compliment to Balbus
for having built it, his opinion was asked first in
the senate by Tiberius, who was consul in that
year. (Dion Cass. liv. 25; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 7.
s. 12.) After this we hear nothing further of Balbus. He may have been the Cornelius Balbus
whom L. Valerius made his heir, although he. had

BALBUS. 457
involved Valerius in many law-suits, and had at last
brought a capital charge against him. (Val. Max.
vii. 8. ~ 7.)
(For further information respecting the Cornelii
Balbi, see Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum and
Drumann's Rom, vol. ii. p. 594, &c.)
VI. Domitius Balbus,
a wealthy man of praetorian rank, whose will was
forged in A. D. 61. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 40.)
VII. Laelii Balbi.
1. D. LAELIUS D. F. D. N. BALBUS, one of the
quindecemviri who superintended the celebration
of the saecular games in B. c. 17 (Fast. Capitol.),
and consul in B. c. 6. (Dion Cass. Iv. 9.)
2. LAELIUS BALBus, accused Acutia, formerly
the wife of P. Vitellius, of treason (majestas), but
was unable to obtain the usual reward after her
condemnation, in consequence of the intercession
of the tribune Junius Otho. He was condemned
in A. D. 37 as one of the paramours of Albucilla,
deprived of his senatorial rank, and banished to an
island: his condemnation gave general satisfaction,
as he had been ever ready to accuse the innocent.
(Tac. Ann. vi. 47, 48.)
VIII. Lucilii Balbi.
1. L. LUCILIUS BALBUS, the jurist. See below.
2. Q. LucIIus BALBus, probably the brother
of the preceding, a Stoic philosopher, and a pupil
of Panaetius, had made such progress in the Stoic
philosophy, that he appeared to Cicero comparable
to the best Greek philosophers. (De Nat. Dcor. i. 6.)
He is introduced by Cicero in his dialogue " On
the Nature of the Gods" as the expositor of the
opinions of the Stoics on that subject, and his arguments are represented as of considerable weight.
(De Nat. Deor. iii. 40, de Divin. i. 5.) He was
also the exponent of the Stoic opinions in Cicero's
"Hortensius." (F7ragm. p. 484, ed. Orelli.)
IX. L. Naevius Balbus, plebeian,
one of the quinqueviri appointed in B. c. 171 to
settle the dispute between the Pisani and Lunenses
respecting the boundaries of their lands. (Liv. xlv.
13.) The annexed coin of the Naevia gens belongs
to this family. The obverse represents a head of
Venus, the reverse is C. NAE. BA(A)B. vith Victory
in a chariot.
-,.,
X. Nonius Balbus, plebeian,
tribune of the plebs, B. c. 32, put his veto upon the
decree which the senate would have passed against
Octavianus at the instigation of the consul C. Sosius, a partizan of Antony. (Dion Cass. L. 2.)
XI. Octavius Balbus. See below.
XII. Thorii Balbi, plebeians.
1. C. THaoRus BALBUS, of Lanuvium, is said
by Cicero to have lived in such a manner, that
there was not a single pleasure, however refined
and rare, which he did not enjoy. (De Fin. ii. 20.)
He must not be confounded, as he has been by
Pighius, with L. Turius who is mentioned in Cicero's Brutus (c. 67). The annexed coin of L.
Thorius Balbus contains on the obverse the head
of Juno Sospita, whose worship was of great anti