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

GALLTS. GALLUS. 227
it would seem that he was instructed by the Epi- ing himself upon his own sword, B. c. 26. Other
curean Syron, together with Varus and Virgil, writers mention as the cause of his fall merely the
both of whom became greatly attached to him. disrespectful way in which he spoke of Augustus,
(Virg. Eclog. vi. 64, &c.) He began his career as or that he was suspected of forming a conspiracy,
a poet about the age of twenty, and seems thereby or that he was accused of extortion in his province.
to have attracted the attention and won the friend- (Comp. Suet. Aug. 66, de Illustr. Gram. 16; Serv.
ship of such men as Asinius Pollio. (Cic. ad Pam. ad Virg.Eclog. x. 1; Donat. Vit. Virg. 39; Amm.
x. 32.) When Octavianus, after the murder of Marc. xvii. 4; Ov. Trist. ii. 445, Amor. iii. 9, 63;
Caesar, came to Italy from Apollonia, Gallus must Propert. ii. 34. 91.)
have embraced his party at once, for henceforth he The intimate friendship existing between Gallus
appears as a man of great influence with Octavia- and the most eminent men of the time, as Asinius,nus, and in B. c. 41 he was one of the triumviri Pollio, Virgil, Varus, and Ovid, and the high praise
appointed by Octavianus to distribute the land in they bestow upon him, sufficiently attest that'the north of Italy among his veterans, and on that Gallus was a man of great intellectual powers and
occasion he distinguished himself by the protection acquirements. Ovid (Trist. iv. 10. 5) assigns to
he afforded to the inhabitants of Mantua and to him the first place among the Roman elegiac poets;
Virgil, for he brought an accusation against Alfe- and we know that he wrote a collection of elegies
nus Varus, who, in his measurements of the land, in four books, the principal subject of which was
was unjust towards the inhabitants. (Serv. ad his love of Lycoris. But all his productions have
Virg. Eclog. ix. 10; Donat. Vit. Viqg. 30, 36.) perished, and we can judge of his merits only by
Gallus afterwards accompanied Octavianus to the what his contemporaries state about him. A colbattle of Actium, B. C. 31, when he commanded a lection of six elegies was published under his name
detachment of the army. After the battle, when by Pomponius Gauricus (Venice, 1501, 4to), but it
Octavianus was obliged to go from Samos to Italy, was soon discovered that they belonged to a much
to suppress the insurrection among the troops, he later age, and were the productions of Maximianus,
sent Gallus with the army to Egypt, in pursuit of a poet of the fifth century of our era. There are
Antony. In the neighbourhood of Cyrene, Pina- in the Latin Anthology four epigrams (Nos. 869,
rius Scarpus, one of Antony's legates, in despair, 989, 1003, and 1565, ed. Meyer), which were forsurrendered, with four legions, to Gallus, who then merly attributed to Gallus, but none of them can
took possession of the island of Pharus, and attacked have been the production of a contemporary of
Paraetonium. When this town and all its trea- Augustus. Gallus translated into Latin the poems
sures had fallen into the hands of Gallus, Antony of Euphorion of Chalcis, but this translation is also
hastened thither, hoping to recover what was lost, lost. Some critics attribute to him the poem
either by bribery or by force; but Gallus thwarted Ciris, usually printed among the works of Virgil,
his schemes, and, in an attack which he made on but the arguments do not appear satisfactory. Of
Antony's fleet in the harbour of Paraetonium, he his oratory too not a trace has come down to us
sunk and burnt many of the enemy's ships, where- and how far the judgment of Quintilian (x. I.
upon Antony withdrew, and soon after made away ~ 93; comp. i. 5. ~ 8) is correct, who calls him
with himself. Gallus and Proculeius then assisted durior Gallus, we cannot say. The Greek AnthoOctavianus in securing Cleopatra, and guarded her logy contains two epigrams under the name of
as a prisoner in her palace. After the death of Gallus, but who their author was is altogether unCleopatra, Octavianus constituted Egypt as a Ro- certain. Some writers ascribe to C. Cornelius
man province, with peculiar regulations, and testi- Gallus a work on the expedition of Aelius Gallus
fied his esteem for and confidence in Gallus by into Arabia, but he cannot possibly have written
making him the first prefect of Egypt. (Strab. any such work, because he died before that expedixvii. p. 819; Dion Cass. li. 9, 17.) He had to tion was undertaken. (Fontanini, Hist. Lit. Aquisuppress a revolt in the Thebais, where the people lejae, lib. i.; C. C. C. Vilker, Commentat. de C.
xesisted the severe taxation to which they were Cornelii Galli Forojuliensis Vita et Scriptis, part i.,
subjected. He remained in Egypt for nearly four Bonn, 1840, 8vo., containing the history of his life,
years, and seems to have made various useful regu- and part ii., Elberfeld, 1844, on the writings of
lations in his province; but the elevated position to Gallus). A. W. Becker, in his work entitled
which he was raised appears to have rendered him Gallus, has lately made use of the life of Corn.
giddy and insolent, whereby he drew upon himself Gallus for the purpose of explaining the most imthe hatred of Augustus. The exact nature of his portant points of the private life of the Romans in
offence is not certain. According to Dion Cassius the time of Augustus. An English translation of
(liii. 23), he spoke of Augustus in an offensive and this work was published in 1844. [L. S.]
insulting manner; he erected numerous statues of GALLUS, A. DI'DIUS, was curator aquarumn
himself in Egypt, and had his own exploits in- in the reign of Caligula, A.D. 40. In the reign of
scribed on the pyramids. This excited the hostility Claudius, A. D. 50, he commanded a Roman army
of Valerius Largus, who had before been his in- in Bosporus, and subsequently he was appointed
timate friend, but now denounced him to the em- by the same emperor to succeed Ostorius in Britain,
peror. Augustus deprived him of his post, which where, however, he confined himself to protecting
was given to Petronius, and forbade him to stay in what the Romans had gained before, for he was
any of his provinces. As the accusation of Valerius then at an advanced age, and governed his prohad succeeded thus far, one accuser after another vince through his legates. In his earlier years he
came forward against him, and the charges were seems to have been a man of great ambition, and of
referred to the senate for investigation and de- some eminence as an orator. (Frontin. de Aquaed.
cision. In consequence of these things, the senate 102; Tac. Ann. xii. 15, 40, xiv. 29, Agric. 14;
deprived Gallus of his estates, and sent him into Quintil. vi. 3. ~ 68.) [L. S.]
exile; but, unable to bear up against these reverses GALLUS, FA'DIUS. 1. M. FADIUS GAL.US,
of fortune, he put an end to his life by throw- an intimate friend of Cicero and Atticas, appears
Q 2