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

10O FLACC US. FLACCU3S.
plan -and:arrangement of Apollonius Rhodius, how he did begyle Media; out of- Laten into' En-d
whose:performance he in some passages literally glische;"-into French by A. Dureau de Lamalle,
translates, while in others he contracts or expands Paris, 1811; —into Italian by M. A. Pindemonte,
his original, introduces new characters, and on the Verona, 1776;-and into German by C. F. Wunwhole devotes a larger portion of the action to the derlich, Erfurt, 1805. [W. R.]
adventures of the voyage before the arrival of the FLACCUS, VER'RIUS, a freedman by birth,
heroes at thedominions ofAMtes.' The eighth book and a distinguished grammarian, in the latter
terminates abruptly, at the point where Medeia is part of the first century B. c. His reputation as a
urging Jason to make her the companion of his teacher of grammar, or rather philology, procured
homeward journey. The death of Absyrtus, and him the favour of Augustus, who took him into his
the return of the Greeks, must have occupied at household, and entrusted him with the education of
least three or four books more, but whether these his grandsons, Caius and Lucius Caesar. Flaccus
have been lost, or whether the author died before lodged in a part of the palace which contained the
the completion of his task, we cannot tell. Atrium Catilinae. This was,his lecture-room,
The A rgonautica is one of those productions where he was allowed to continue his instructions
which are much praised and little read. A kind to his former scholars, but not to admit any new
but vague expression of regret upon the part of pupils, after he became preceptor of the young
Quintilian (x. 1), "Multum in Valerio Flacco Caesars. If we receive Ernesti's correction of
nuper amisimus," has induced many of the older Suetonius (Octav. 86), it was the pure and percritics to ascribe to Flaccus almost every conceiv- spicuous Latinity of Verrius, not Veranius, Flaccus,
able merit; and, even in modern times, Wagner which Augustus contrasted with the harsh and
has not hesitated to rank him next to Virgil among obsolete diction of Annius Cimber. Flaccus rethe epic bards of Rome. But it is difficult to dis- ceived a yearly salary of more than 8001. He died
cover anlly thing in his lays beyond decent medio- at an advanced age, in the reign of Tiberius.
crity. We may accord to him the praise of mo- At the lower end of the market-place at Praederate talents, improved' by industry and learning, neste was a statue of Verrius Flaccus, fronting the
but we shall seek in vain for originality, or the Hemicyclium, on the inner curve of which, so as to
higher attributes of genius. He never startles us be visible to all persons in the forum (Vitruv. v. 1),
by any gross offence against taste, but he never were set up marble tablets, inscribed with the Fasti
warms us by a brilliant thought, or charms us by Verriani. These should be distinguished from the
a lofty flight of fancy. His diction is for the most Fasti Praenestini. The latter, like the similar Fasti
part pure, although strange words occasionally in- of Aricium, Tibur, Tusculum, &c. were the towsntrude themselves, and common words are some- records. But the Fasti of Flaccus were a calendar
times employed in an uncommon sense; his general of the days and vacations of public business-dies
style is free from affectation, although there is a fasti, nefasti, and intercisi-of religious festivals,
constant tendency to harsh conciseness, which fre- triumphs, &c., especially including such as were
quently renders the meaning obscure; his versifi- peculiar to the family of the Caesars. In 1770 the
cation is polished and harmonious, but the rhythm foundations of the Hemicyclium of Praeneste were
is not judiciously varied; his descriptions are discovered, and among the ruins were found porlively and vigorous, but his similes too often far- tions of an ancient calendar, which proved to be
fetched and unnatural. He has attained to some- fragments of the Fasti Verriani. Further portions
what of the outward form, but to nothing of the were recovered in subsequent excavations, and
inward spirit, of his great model, the Aeneid. Foggini, an Italian antiquary, reconstructed from
Valerius'Flaccus seems to have been altogether them the entire months of January, March, April,
unknown in the middle ages, and to have been and December, and a small portion of February
first brought to light by Poggio Brocciolini, who, was afterwardsannexed. (Franc. Foggini, Fastowhile attending the council of Constance in 1416, runa Ann. Roman. Reliquiae, &c. Rom. 1779, fol.;
discovered in the monastery of St. Gall [see As- and Diet. of Antiq. s. v. Fasti.) They are also
CONInS] a MS. containing the first three books, given at the end of Wolf's edition of Suetonius,
and a portion of the fourth. The Editio Princeps 8vo. Lips. 1802, and in Orelli's Ins riptiones Lawas printed very incorrectly, from a good MS., at linae, vol. ii. p. 379.
Bologna, by Ugo Rugeritus and Doninus Bertochus, Flaccus was an antiquary, an historian, a phifol. 1472; the second edition, which is much more lologer, and perhaps a poet; at least Priscian (viii.
rare than the first, at Florence, by Sanctus Jacobus p. 792) ascribes to him an hexameter line, " Blande Ripoli, 4to, without date, but about 1431. The ditusque labor molli curabitur arte." It is seldom
text was gradually improved by the collation of possible to assign to their proper heads the fragvarious MSS. in the editions of Jo. Bapt. Pius, ments of his numerous writings. But the followBonon. fol. 1519; of Lud. Carrio, Antv. 8vo. 1565 ing works may be attributed to him: —An historical
— 1566; of Nicolaus Heinsius,Amst. 12mo. 1680; collection or compendium, entitled Rerurn Memoria
and above all in that of Petrus Burmannus, Leid. Diqnarum, of which A. Gellius (iv. 5) cites the
4to., 1724, which must be regarded as the most first book for the story of the Etruscan aruscomplete which has yet appeared; although those pices, who gave perfidious counsel to Rome (Nieof Harles, Altenb. 8vo. 1781; of Wagner,Gotting. buhr, Hist. Ronze, vol. i. p. 543); a History of
8vo. 1805; and of Lemaire, Paris, 8vo. 1 824, are the Etruscans —Reruzm Etruscarum-(Intpp. ad
more convenient for ordinary purposes. The eighth Aen. x. 183, 198, ed. Mai; compare also Serv.
book was published separately, with critical notes ad Aen. vii. 53, viii. 203, xi. 143); a treatise,
and dissertations on some verses supposed to be De Orthographia (Suet.'Ill. G'amm. 17). This
spurious, by A. Weichert, Misn. 8vo. 1818. work drew upon Flaccus the anger of a rival
We have metrical translations,-into English teacher of philology, Scribonius Aphrodisius, who
by Nicholas Whyte, 1565, under the title " The wrote a reply, and mixed up with the controversy
story of Jason, how he gotte the golden flece, and reflections on the learning and character of Flae