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

CAPITOLINUS.
CA'PITO, INSTEIUS, a centurion in the Roman army which carried on the war under Domitius Corbulo against the Parthian Vologeses, A. D.
54. The king, after being defeated, sent hostages
who were delivered up to Capito. He is probably
the same whom we meet with three years later, in
those same regions as praefectus castrorum, to
whom Corbulo entrusted some of the smaller fortresses in Armenia. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 9,39.) [L. S.]
CA'PITO, LUCI'LIUS, procurator of Asia in
A. D. 23, was accused by the provincials of malversation, and was tried by the senate. (Tac. Ann.
iv. 15; Dion Cass. Ivii. 23.) [L. S.]
CA'PITO, C. MA'RIUS, occurs on several
coins of the Maria gens, a specimen of which is
given below, but this Marius Capito is not mentioned by any ancient writer. The obverse represents the head of Ceres, the reverse a man
ploughing.
00.
CA'PITO, VIRGYNIUS. During the war
between the supporters of Vitellius and Vespasian,
A. D. 69, Virginius Capito sent a slave to L. Vitellius, the emperor's brother, promising to surrender
to him the citadel of Terracina, if he would receive
the garrison. The slave was afterwards hanged
for having assisted in carrying out a treacherous
design. (Tac. Hist. iii. 77, iv. 3.) [L. S.]
CAPITOLI'NUS, a family-name in several
Roman gentes, which was no doubt originally
given to a person who lived on the hill Capitolinus.
In the same way Aventinensis, Caeliomontanus,
Esquilinus, frequently occur as the names of families
at Rome. [L. S.]
CAPITOLI'NUS, JU'LIUS. We possess a
volume containing the biographies of various Roman emperors and pretenders to the purple, compiled by writers who flourished towards the end of
the third and the beginning of the fourth century,
dedicating their works for the most part to Diocletian or Constantine. The number of pieces is in
all thirty-four. They reach from Hadrian to the
death of Carinus, that is, from A. D. 117 to A. D.
284, extending over a space of 167 years, and
forming a sort of supplement to the Caesars of
Suetonius, which terminate with Domitian. No
immediate connexion, however, is established with
the last-named work, since Nerva and Trajan are
passed over; nor is the series absolutely complete,
even within its own proper limits, for there is a
gap of nine years, from the third Gordian to Valerianus, that is, from A. D. 244 to A. D. 253, including the reigns of Philippus, Decius, Gallus, and
Aemilianus. It is by no means unlikely, indeed,
that these, as well as Nerva and Trajan, may originally have formed a part of the whole, and that
the existing blanks are owing to the mutilation of
the MS. which formed the archetype; but this is
merely a probable conjecture. The authors of the
collection are commonly classed together under the
title "Historiae Augustae Scriptores sex," their
names being Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus,
Vulcatius Gallicanus, Aelius Lampridius, Trebellius

CAPITOLINUS. 603
Pollio, and Flavius Vopiscus. In consequence of
the confusion which prevails in the MSS. it is impossible to assign each section with absolute certainty to its real owner, and no trustworthy conclusion can be drawn from comparing the styles of
the different portions, for the lives do not exhibithe well-digested result of careful and extensive research, but are in many instances evidently made up
of scraps derived from different sources and possessing different degrees of merit, loosely tacked together, and often jumbled into a rough mass destitute
of form and symmetry. Hence we find numerous
repetitions of frivolous details, a strange mixture of
what is grave and valuable with the most puerile
and worthless rubbish, and a multitude of irreconcileable and contradictory statements freely admitted without remark or explanation. We have history here presented to us in its lowest and crudest
shape-a total want of judgment in the selection
and classification of facts; an absence of all unity
of purpose, no attempt being made to establish a
relation between the circumstances recorded and
the character of the individual under discussion;
and a total disregard of philosophical combination
and inference. The narratives have all the bareness and disjointed incoherence of a meagre chronicle without possessing simplicity and methodical
arrangement. These strictures may perhaps be
slightly modified in favour of Vopiscus, who appears to have had access to valuable public records,
and to have taken some pains to extract what was
most interesting, although he often exhibits as little discretion as the rest in working up his raw
materials. But, notwithstanding all these defects,
this compilation is of no small importance in enabling us to form a just conception of an important
period of Roman history. We have no reason to
question the general accuracy of the great events
recorded, although blended with idle rumours and
false details; nor the general fidelity of the portraits of the leading men, although the likenesses
may be in some instances flattered and in others
caricatured, according to the predilections of the
artist. The antiquarian, above all, will here discover a mass of curious statements with regard to
the formal administration of public affairs and the
history of jurisprudence, together with a multitude
of particulars illustrating the state of literature and
the arts, the social usages and modes of thought
and feeling which prevailed among the different
classes of the community during this stormy period.
Nay,the veryfrivolous minuteness with which these
writers descant upon matters connected with the
private life and habits of the personages who pass
under review, although unworthy of the dignity of
history, opens up to us a very singular region for
observation and inquiry, the more interesting because usually inaccessible. In these departments
also we may receive the information conveyed
without suspicion, for upon such topics there could
be no conceivable motive for falsehood or misrepresentation; and the worst we have to fear is, that
the love of the marvellous may occasionally have
given rise to exaggeration in describing the fantastic extravagance and profusion so characteristic of
that epoch.
Nine biographies bear the name of Capitolinus
1. Antoninus Pius, 2. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
3. L. Verus, 4. Pertinax, 5. Clodius Albinus,
6. Opilius Macrinus, 7. the two Maximini, 8. the
three Gordiani, 9. Maximus and Balbinus. Of