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

COSCONIUS.
Athena, derived from the promontory of Coryphasion, on which she had a sanctuary. (Paus. iv.
36. ~ 2.) [L. S.]
CORYTHA'LLIA (KopvOaex\a), a surname of
Artemis at Sparta, at whose festival of the Tithenidia the Spartan boys were carried into her sanctuary. (Athen. iv. p. 139.) [L. S.]
CO'RYTHUS (KopvOos). 1. An Italian hero,
a son of Jupiter, and husband of Electra, the
daughter of Atlas, by whom he became the father
of Jasius and Dardanus. He is described as king
of Tuscia, and as the founder of Corythus. (Cortona; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 167, vii. 207, x. 719.)
2. A son of Paris and Oenone. He loved
Helena and was beloved by her, and was therefore
killed by his own father. (Parthen. Erot. 34.)
According to other traditions, Oenone made use of
him for the purpose of provoking the jealousy of
Paris, and thereby causing the ruin of Helena.
(Conon, Narrat. 22; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 57.)
Others again call Corythus a son of Paris by
Helena. (Dictys. Cret. v. 5.) There are four
other mythical personages of this name. (Ptolem.
Heph. ii. p. 311; Ov. M et. v. 125, xii. 290; Paus.
i. 4. ~ 6.) [L. S.]
COSCO'NIA GENS, plebeian. Members of
this gens are first mentioned in the second Punic
war, but none ever obtained the honours of the
consulship: the first who held a curule office was
M. Cosconius, praetor in B. c. 135. [CoscoNIUS.]
COSCO'NIUS. 1. M. CoscoNIUS, military
tribune in the army of the praetor P. Quinctilius
Varus, fell in the battle fought with Mago in the
land of the Insubrian Gauls, B. c. 203. (Liv. xxx.
18.)
2. M. CoscoNIUS, perhaps grandson of the preceding, praetor in B. c. 135, fought successfully
with the Scordisci in Thrace. (Liv. Epit. 56.)
3. C. CoscoNIus, praetor in the Social war,
B. c. 89, distinguished himself in the command of
one of the Roman armies. According to Livy
(Epit. 75) Cosconius and Lucceius defeated the
Samnites in battle, slew Marius Egnatius, the
most distinguished of the enemy's generals, and
received the surrender of very many towns. Appian (B. C. i. 52) says, that Cosconius burnt Salapia, took possession of Cannae, and then proceeded
to besiege Canusium; but a Samnite army came
to the relief of the town, which defeated Cosconius
and obliged him to fall back upon Cannae. Trebatius, the Samnite general, following up his advantage, crossed the Aufidus, but was attacked,
immediately after his passage of the river, by Cosconius, defeated with a loss of 15,000 men, and
fled with the remnant to Canusium. Hereupon,
Cosconius marched into the territories of the Larinates, Venusini, and Apulians, and conquered the
Poediculi in two days. Most modern commentators identify Egnatius and Trebatius, and suppose
that Appian has made a mistake in the name
(Schweigh. ad App. 1. c.); but Livy and Appian
probably speak of two different battles.
The above-named Cosconius seems to be the
same with the C. Cosconius who was sent into
Illyricum, with the title of proconsul, about B. c.
78, and who conquered a great part of Dalmatia,
took Salonae, and, after concluding the war, returned to Rome at the end of two years' time.
(Eutrop. vi. 4; Oros. v. 23; comp. Cic. pro Cluent. 35.)
4. C. CoscoNIUS CALIDIANUS, adopted firom

COSMAS. 863
the Calidia gens, a Roman orator of little merit,
distinguished for his vehement action and gesticulation (Cic. Brut. 69), is perhaps the same person
as the preceding or succeeding.
5. C. CoscoNIUs, praetor in B. c. 63, the same
year that Cicero was consul, obtained in the following year the province of Further Spain, with
the title of proconsul, and was, it seems, on his
return accused of extortion, but acquitted. He
was one of the twenty commissioners appointed
in B. c. 59 to carry into execution the agrarian
law of Julius Caesar for dividing the public lands
in Campania, but he died in this year, and his
vacant place was offered to Cicero by Caesar, who
wished to withdraw him from the threatened attack of Clodius. This offer, however, was refused
by Cicero. (Cic. pro Sull. 14, in Vatin. 5; comp.
Val. Max. viii. 1. ~ 8; Cic. ad Att. ii. 19, ix. 2, A;
Quintil. xii. 1. ~ 16.)
6. C. CoscoNIUS, tribune of the plebs in B. c.
59, when he was one of the colleagues of P. Vatinius, aedile in 57, and one of the judices in the
following year, 56, in the trial of P. Sextius. In
the same year, C. Cato, the tribune of the plebs,
purchased of Cosconius some bestiarii which the
latter had undoubtedly exhibited the year before
in the games of his aedileship. It seems that
Cosconius subsequently obtained the aedileship,
for Plutarch states, that Cosconius and Galba, two
men of praetorian rank, were murdered by Caesar's soldiers in the mutiny in Campania, B. c. 47,
and we know of no other Cosconius who is likely
to have been praetor. (Cic. in Vatin. 7, ad Q. Fr.
ii. 6; Plut. Caes. 51; comp. Dion. Cass. xlii. 52,
povhvAEvs 6Uo.)
7. COSCONIUs, a writer of Epigrams in the time
of Martial, attacked the latter on account of the
length of his.epigrams and their lascivious nature.
He is severely handled in two epigrams of Martial.
(ii. 77, iii. 69; comp. Weichert, PoUatarum Latinorum Reliquiae, p. 249, &c.)
Varro speaks (L. L. vi. 36, 89, ed. Miiller) of a
Cosconius who wrote a grammatical work and another on "Actiones," but it is uncertain who he
was.
It is also doubtful to which of the Cosconii the
following coin refers. It contains on the obverse the head of Pallas, with L. Cosc. M. F.,
and on the reverse Mars driving a chariot, with
L. Lic. CN. DOM. It is therefore supposed that
this Cosconius was a triumvir of the mint at the
time that L. Licinius and Cn. Domitius held one
of the higher magistracies; and as we find that
they were censors in B. c. 92, the coin is referred
to that year. (Eckhel. v. p. 196.)
COSINGAS, a Thracian chief, and priest of
Juno, whose stratagem for securing the obedience
of his people is related by Polyaenus. (Stratag.
vii. 22.) [P. S.]
COSMAS (Koo-ays), a celebrated physician,
saint, and martyr, who lived in the third and
fourth centuries after Christ. He is said to have
been the brother of St. Damianus, with whose