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

892 CRISPUS.
Valerius Asiaticus. For this service he was rewarded by a large stun of money and the insignia
of the quaestorship. In A. D. 52 he was -removed
from his office at the instigation of Agrippina, who
believed him to be attached to the children of Messalina. Crispinus was married to the notorious
Poppaea Sabina, who had a son by him, bearing
the same name as his father. She afterwards became the mistress of Nero, and the circumstance,
that she had once been the wife of Crispinus, was
a sufficient reason for the tyrant to send Crispinus
into exile to Sardinia, A. D. 66, under the pretext
of his being an accomplice in a conspiracy. Shortly
after when Crispinus received the sentence of
death, he put an end to his own life. (Tacit. Ann.
xi. 1, 4, xii. 42, xiii. 45, xv. 71, xvi. 17; Senec.
Octavia, 728 &c.; Plut. Galba, 19.) His son,
Rufius Crispinus, was likewise put to death by
Nero. (Suet. Nero, 35.) [L. S.]
CRISPUS, a person mentioned three times by
Cicero as coheir of Mustela. (Ad Att. xii. 5,
xiii. 3, 5.) [L. S.]
CRISPUS, brother of Claudius Gothicus and
father of Claudia, who by her husband Eutropius
was the mother of Constantius Chlorus. Thus
Crispus was the great-grandfather of Constantinus
Magnas. [W. R.]
CRISPUS, FLA'VIUS JU'LIUS, eldest of
the sons of Constantinus Magnus and Minervina,
derived his name without doubt from his greatgreat-grandfather [CRISPUs], the brother of Claudius Gothicus. Having been educated, as we are
told by St. Jerome, under Lactantius, he was
nominated Caesar on the 1st of March, A. D. 317,
along with his brother Constantinus and the
younger Licinius, and was invested with the consulship the year following. Entering forthwith
upon his military career, he distinguished himself
in a campaign against the Franks, and soon after,
in the war with Licinius, gained a great naval victory in the Hellespont, A. D. 323. But unhappily
the glory of these exploits excited the bitter
jealousy of his step-mother Fausta, at whose instigation he was put to death by his father in
the year A. D. 326. [CONSTANTINUS, p. 835.]
(Euseb. Chron. ad ann. 317; Sozomen. Hist. Eccl.
i. 5; Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 100.)
A great number of coins, especially in small
brass, are extant bearing the name and effigy of
this youth, commonly with the titles Caesar and
Princceps Juventutis annexed; on the reverse of one
we read the words A l(uuannia Devicta, which may
refer to his success in the West, but the legends
for the most part commemorate the exploits of his
father rather than his own achievements. [W. R.]
COIN OF CRISPUS.
CRISPUS, JU'LIUS, a distinguished tribune
of the praetorians, put to death by Septimius
Severus during the Parthian war (A. D. 199), because, being wearied of the hardships of the campaign, he had quoted as a sort of pasquinade on
the ambitious projects of the emperor the lines in
Virgil from the speech of Drances (Aen. xi. 372),

CRITIAS.
" Scilicet, ut Turno contingat regia conjux,
Nos, animae viles, inhumata infletaque turba,
Sternamur campis.... "
a fact of no great importance in itself, except in
so far as it corroborates the accounts of Spartianus,
regarding the vindictive cruelty of Severus in all
matters affecting his personal dignity. (Dion Cass.
lxxv. 10; comp. Spartian. Sever. 14.) [W. R.]
CRISPUS, MA'RCIUS, served as tribune in
Caesar's army during the African war. (Hirtius,
Bell. Afr. 77.) He is probably the same as the
Q. Marcius Crispus, who is frequently mentioned
by Cicero as a brave and experienced soldier. In
B. c. 43, he was in Bithynia as proconsul, and
when L. Murcus solicited his assistance against
Bassus, Crispus came with his three legions to
Syria. When C. Cassius came to the East, both
Crispus and L. Murcus surrendered their legions
to him. (Cic. in Pison. 23, fP'il. xi. 12, ad hBm.
xii. 11, 12, ad Brut. ii. 5; Dion. Cass. xlvii. 27;
Appian. B. C. iii. 77, iv. 58 &c.) [L. S.]
CRISPUS PASSIE'NUS, the husband of
Agrippina, and consequently the step-father of
the Emperor Nero. He was a man of great
wealth and distinction, and in A.D. 42 he was
raised to the consulship. He is praised both
by Seneca the philosopher (Quaest. Nat. iv. Praef.,
de Benef. i. 15), and by Seneca the rhetorician
(Controv. ii. 13) as one of the first orators of
the time, especially for his acuteness and subtilty. Quintilian too (vi. 1. ~ 50, 3. ~ 74, x. 1.
~ 24) speaks of him with high esteem and quotes
passages from his orations. [L. S.]
CRISPUS, VI'BIUS, a Roman orator of great
wealth and influence. He was a native of Vercelli and a contemporary of Quintilian. His
speeches were most remarkable for their pleasant
and elegant style; they were of the judicial kind,
and Quintilian places those which he had delivered in civil cases above those spoken on state
or public affairs. Vibius Crispus is also mentioned among the delatores of his time. Some
fragments of his orations are preserved in Quintilian. (Tacit. Hist. ii. 10, iv. 23, 41, Annal.
xiv. 28, de Oral. 8; Quintil. v. 13. } 48, viii. 5.
~~ 15, 17, x. 1. ~ 119, xii. 10. ~ 11; Dion Cass.
lxv. 2.) [L. S.]
CRISUS or CRISSUS (Kptoos), a son of
Phocus and husband of Antiphateia, by whom he
became the father of Strophius. He is called the
founder of Crissa or Cirrha. (Paus. i. 29. ~ 4;
Schol. ad Eeurip. Orest. 33.) [L. S.]
CRI'TIAS (Kp'rias). 1. Son of Dropides, a
contemporary and relation of Solon's. Hie lived
to the age of more than 90 years. His descendant Critias, the son of Callaeschrus, is introduced
in the " Timaeus" of Plato (pp. 20--25), as repeating from the old man's account the fable of the
once mighty Atlantis, professing to have been derived by Solon from the priests of Egypt. (Comp.
Plat. Charm. pp. 155, 157, ad fin.)
2. Son of Callaeschrus, and grandson of the
above. He was one of the pupils of Socrates, by
whose instructions he profited but little in a moral
point of view, and, together with Alcibiades, gave
a colour by his life to the charge against the philosopher of corrupting the youth.. Xenophon says,
that he sought the company of Socrates, not front
any desire of real improvement, but because he
wished, for political purposes, to gain skill in confounding an adversary. We learn, however, from