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

GRATIANUS. GRATIDIUS. 303
He' associated: with a few of the Alans, whom he man. He was murdered by the troops who had
made his friends and followers, and travelled raised him to the purple about four months after
habited in their garb. This deportment excited his elevation (A. D. 407), and was succeeded. by
the contempt of the army. While thus unpopular, Constantine, [CONSTANTINUS, tlIjYUmI-VOF. t:.
a competitor for the empire suddenly appeared in p. 830.] (Olympis, aW P-hao. Bibl. Cod. 80;
the person of Maximus, a man of energy and repu- Zosims. 2S; Ores. vii. 40; Sozom. H. E. ix. 11;
tation, who was elected by the legions in BritainX- Bde aa, H. E. i. 11.) [J. C. M.]
and at once crossed over into Gaulan&i-eteated GRATI'DIA. a sister of M. Gratidius [No. 1]
Gratian somewhere near Pasi- Dleserted by his of Arpinum, was married to M. Tullius Cicero, the
troops, and, according -r some, betrayed by his grandfather of the orator. (Cic. de Leg. iii.
general, Mellbandes, or Merobaudes, Gratian fled 16.) [L. S.]
in the direction of Italy, but being excluded by the GRATIDIA'NUS, M. MA'RIUS, the son of
inhabitants of the cities in his route, was overtaken M. Gratidius [No. 1], but his name shows that he
and slain apparently near Lugdunum or Lyon, by was adopted by one Marius, probably a brother of
Andragathius, whom Maximus had sent in pursuit the great Marius. He was a very popular speaker,
of him. (25 Aug. 383.) In his last extremity he and able to maintain his ground even in very turcalled upon the name of Ambrose. Zosimus places bulent assemblies. Owing to his popularity, he
his death near Singidunum, now Belgrade, on the was twice invested with the praetorship, and in
borders of Pannonia and Maesia. Maximus re- one of them he proposed an edict concerning the
fused to give up his body to his brother Valentinian coinage (edictu)m de re nummaria), which raised his
for burial; but subsequently, probably on the favour with the people still higher. During the
overthrow of Maximus, it was removed and interred proscriptions of Sulla, he was killed by Catiline in
at Milan. Sozomen and Socrates, followed by a most cruel and brutal manner, and his head was
Theophanes, describe the stratagem by which carried in triumph through the city. Cicero was
Andragathius succeeded in killing him, and though connected with him by intimate friendship. (Cic.
their story is improbable enough, it. perhaps origi- Brut. 62, de Leg. iii. 16, de Off. iii. 16, 20, de
nated in some treachery actually employed. Petit. Cons. 3, de Orat. i. 39, ii. 65; Ascon. in Cic.
Gratian was twice married. 1. About A. D. 374 in tog. cand. p. 84, ed. Orelli; Senec. de Ir-a, 3;
or 375, to Flavia Maxima Constantia, daughter of Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 9.) [L. S.]
the emperor Constantius II., by whom he appears GRATI'DIUS, the name of a family of Arpito have had a son, of whom nothing is known. num, of which a few members are known in the
Constantia died about six months before her hus- last century of the Roman republic.
band. 2. To Laeta, of whom little is known, and 1. M. GRATIDIUS, proposed in B. C. 115 a lex
who survived him. (Amm. Marc. xxvii. 6, xxviii. tabellaria at Arpinum, which was opposed by M.
], xxix. 6, xxx. 10, xxxi. 9, 10; Aurel. Vict. Epit. Tullius Cicero, the grandfather of the orator, who
c. 45, 47, 48; Oros. vii. 32, 33, 34; Zosim. vi. 12, was married to Gratidia, the sister of M. Grati19, 24, 34, 35, 36; Zonar. xiii. 17; Marcellin. dius. The question respecting the lex tabellaria
Prosper Aquit., Prosper Tiro, Chronica; Idatius, was referred to the consul of the year, M. Aemilius
Chronicon and Fasti; Theophan. Chronographi. vol. Scaurus, who seems to have decided in favour of
i. pp. 85-106, ed. Bonn; Socrat. H. E. iv. 31, v. Cicero, for it is said that Scaurus praised his sen2, 11; Sozom. H. E. vi. 36, vii. ], 13; Rufinus, timents and his courage. (Cic. de Leg. ii. 16.)
H. E. xi. 13, 14; Sulpic. Severus, Histor. Sacra, According to Cicero (Brut. 45), Gratidius was a
ii. 63; Themist. Orat. xiii.; Auson. Epigr. 1, 2, clever accuser, well versed in Greek literature, and
Gratiarum Actio pro Consulatu; Ambros. De a person with great natural talent as an orator; he
Fide Prolog. Epistolae 11, 17, 21, Consolatio de was further a friend of the orator M. Antonius,
Obitu Valentin. c. 79, ed. Benedictin.; Tillemont, and accompanied him as his praefect to Cilicia,
Hist. des Emp. vol. v.; Gibbon, ch. 25, 26, 27; where he was killed. In the last-mentioned pasEckhel, vol. viii. p. 157.) sage Cicero adds, that Gratidius spoke against
C. Fimbria, who had been accused of extortion.
(Val. Max. viii. 5. ~ 2.) This accusation seems to
refer to the administration of a province, which
Fimbria undertook in B. C. 103 (for he was consul
I O -y- g in B. C. 104), so that the accusation would belong
to B. C. 102, and more particularly to the beginning of that year, for in the course of it M. Antonius undertook the command against the pirates,
COIN OF THE EMPEROR GRATIANUS. and M. Gratidius, who accompanied him, was
killed. (Comp. J. Obsequens, Prodig. 104.; Dru3. Theodosius the Great appears to have had a mann, Gesch. Roms, vol. i. p. 61, who, however,
son Gratianus by his second wife Galla [GALLA, places the campaign of M. Antonius against the
No. 21: the child died before his father. (Ambros. pirates one year too early.)
Epistol. 17, De Obitu Tlieodos. c. 40, ed. Bene- 2. M. GRATIDIUS, perhaps a grandson of No. 1,
dictin., with the editor's notes in both places.) was legate of Q. Cicero in his administration of the
4. A usurper, who assumed the purple in Bri- province of Asia. In one passage (Cic. ad Quint.
tain, on the murder of the previous usurper, Marcus. fr. i. 4), a Gratidius is mentioned as tribune of
Of his history and condition before his elevation we the people in B. C. 57, which has in itself nothing
know nothing more than is intimated by the term improbable; but as the name Gratidius is not menMuniceps Britanniae, applied to him by Orosius and tioned elsewhere among the tribunes of that year,
Bede,from which we may infer that he was a native whose names occur very frequently, it is usually
of the island; and from his being the object of the supposed that in the passage just referred to, Grasoldiers' choice, it is probable he was a military tidius is a false reading for Fabricius. (See Cic.