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

'MJS. MUS. 1123
given by Drumann, Geschichte Ro'xs, vol.-iv. p. 6,9, 10; Val. Max. i. 7. ~ 3, v: 6. ~ 3; Flor. i.'183, &c. [G, L] 14; Frontin. Strateg. iv. 5. ~ 15; Oros. iii. 9
MURE'NA, ABLA'VIUSpraefectus praetorio Aurel. Vict. I.c.; Cic. in Orelli's Onorn. Till. p.
in the reign of Valerian (A. D. 253-260), who 210; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 121, &c.
addressed Ablavius a letter respecting Claudius, 136, &c.)
afterwards emperor. (Trebell. Poll. Claud. 15.) 2. P. DEcIus Mus, the son of the preceding,
MURRHE'DIUS, a rhetorician, frequently was consul B. c. 312, with M. Valerius Maximus.
mlentioned by the elder Seneca. (Suas. 2, Controv. Livy relates that Decius remained in Rome in con2, 4, 17; &c.) sequence of illness, while his colleague prosecuted
MUS, the name of a family of the plebeian the war against the Samnites, and that he nominated
Decia gens, which was renowned in early Roman a dictator at the wish of the senate, in consequence
history for two of its members devoting themselves of the apprehension of a war with the Etruscans;
to death in order to save the republic. but Aurelius Victor, on the contrary, tells us that
]. P. DEcIus Mus, is first mentioned in B.C. Decius gained a triumph over the Samnites in his
352, when he was appointed one of the quinqueviri first consulship, and dedicated to Ceres the booty
mensarii for the purpose of liquidating in some he had obtained in the war. An inscription re-:
measure the debts of the citizens. In B. C. 343 he cording'the victory of Decius in his first consulship.
served as tribune of the soldiers under M. Valerius has been supposed by some to be genuine, but it is
Corvus Arvina, in the Samnite war, and by his evidently a forgery concocted from the words of
heroism saved the Roman army from the most im- Aurelius Victor. (Liv. ix. 28, 29; Diod. xix. 105;
minent danger. While marching through the Aurel. Vict.: de Vir. III. 27; Orelli, Inscript. No.
mountain passes of Samnium, the consul had allowed 546.)
his army to be surrounded in a valley by the In B. C. 309 Decius served as legate under: the
enemy: destruction seemed inevitable; when Decius dictator L. Papirius Cursor, in the war with the
offered, with the hastati and principes of the legion, Samnites; and in the following year, B. c. 308, he'
in all sixteen hundred men, to seize a height was consul a second time with Q. Fabius Maximus.
which commanded the way by which the Samnites While his colleague marched against the Samnites,
were hastening down to attack the Roman army. Decius had the conduct of the war against the
Here he maintained himself, notwithstanding the Etruscans, which he prosecuted with so much vigour
efforts of the Samnites to dislodge him, while the that the Etruscans were contented to purchase a
Roman army gained the summit of the mountain. year's truce by paying.and clothing the Roman
In the ensuing night lie broke through the Samnites army for that year. In s.c. 306 he was magister
who were encamped around him and joined the equitum to the dictator P. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus,
Roman consul, whom he forthwith persuaded to and in B. C. 304 censor with Q. Fabius Maximus,
make an immediate attack upon the enemy.. The his colleague in his second consulship, in conjunction
result was a brilliant victory and the capture of the with whom he effected the important'reform in the
enemy's camp. The consul:rewarded Decius with constitution by which the libertini were confined
a golden crown, a hundred oxen, and a magnificent to the four city tribes. In B. C. 300 Decius was the
white bull with gilt horns, the army with a crown great advocate of the Ogulnian law for throwing
of twisted grass, an honour bestowed upon the open the pontificate and augurate to the plebeians,
soldier who had delivered.an army from an enemy, in opposition to the patrician App. Claudius Caecus;
and his comrades gave him a similar crown. (Liv. and upon the enactment of the law in this year, he
vii. 21, 34 —-37; Frontin. Strateg. i. 5. ~ 14, iv. 5. was one of the first plebeians elected into the
~ 9; Aurel. Vic. de Vir. Ill. 26; Appian, Samn. 1; college of pontiffs.
Cic. de Div. i. 24; Plin. H. N. xvi. 4. s. 5, xxii. 5.) In B. C. 297 Decius was elected consul a third
In B. C. 340 Decius was consul with T. Manlius time with his former colleague Q. Fabius Maximus,
Torquatus, and he and his colleague had the con- at the express wish of the latter. Both consuls
duct of the great Latin war. The two consuls marched into Samnium by different routes: Decius
marched into the field, and when they were en- defeated the Apulians'near Maleventum, and then
camped opposite the enemy near Capua a vision in traversed Samnium, and probably Apulia also, dethe night appeared to each consul, announcing that vastating the country in every direction. He conthe general of one side and the army of the other tinued in Samnium during the following year as
were devoted to the gods of the dead and the proconsul, and took three Samnzite towns; but the
mother earth. They thereupon agreed that the capture of these towns is in other accounts atone whose wing first began to waver should devote tributed to Fabius or the new consuls.
himself and the army of the enemy to destruction. In B. C. 295 Decius was elected consul a fourth
The decisive battle took place at the foot of Ve- time with his old colleague Fabius Maximus. The
suvius; and when the troops of Decius, who corn- republic was menaced by a formidable coalition of
manded the leftwing, began to give way, he resolved Etruscans, Samnites, Umbrians, and Gauls; the
to fulfil his vow. He called for the pontifex max- aged Fabius was unanimously called to the consulimus, M. Valerius, and repeated after him the form ship in order to meet the danger, but he would not
of wvords by which he devoted himself and the accept the dignity without having his former colenemy to the gods of death, with his toga wrapt league associated with him in the honour and the
around his head and standing upon a weapon: he peril. Decius was first posted in Samnium, but
then jumped upon his horse, wearing the cinctus subsequently hastened into Etruria to the assistance
gabinus or sacrificial dress, rushed into the thickest of his colleague, and commanded the left wing of
of the enemy, and was slain, leaving the victory to the Roman army at the decisive battle of Sentinum.
the Romans. Such is the common story of his death; Here he was opposed to the Gauls, and when his
but other accounts relate it somewhat differently. troops began to give way under the terrible attacks
Zonaras (vii. 26) says that he was killed as a of the latter, he resolved to imitate the example of
devoted Nictim by a Roman soldier. (Liv. viii. 3, his father, dedicated himself and the army of the
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