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

LIBERATUS. LIBERIUS. 777
Persephone, the daughter of Demeter (Ceres); parently oral, of men of character and weight. He
whence Cicero (de Nat. Deor. ii. 24) calls Liber made considerable use of the. Breviculus Historiae
and Libera children of Ceres; whereas Ovid (Fast. Eutyckianistarum, and of other sources of informaiii. 512) calls Ariadne Libera. The festival of the tion not particularly mentioned by him. His
Liberalia was celebrated by the Romans every Latin style is generally clear, without ornament,
year on. the 17th of March. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. but unequal, from the bad Latin into which pasLiberalia; Hartung, DieRelig. der Rim. vol. ii. p. sages from Greek writers have been rendered. IIe
135, &c.; Klausen, Aeneas und die Penaten, vol. has been charged with partiality to the Nestorians,
ii. p. 750, &c.) [L.'S.] or with following Nestorian writers too implicitly.
LI'BERA. [LIBER.] The Breviarium is contained in most editions of
LIBERA'LIS, ANTONI'NUS. [ANTONINUS, the Concilia (vol. v. ed. Labbe, vol. vi. ed. Coleti,
p. 212, b.] vol. ix. ed. Mansi): in those of Crabbe (vol. ii.
LIBERA'LIS, SA'LVIUS, an eloquent pleader fol. Cologn. 1538 and 1.551) are some subjoined
at Rome, whom the younger Pliny characterises passages derived from various extant sources illusas a man "subtilis, dispositus, acer, disertus," is trative of the history, which are omitted by subfirst mentioned in the reign of Vespasian, when he sequent editors; and Hardouin has in his edition
spoke of the emperor with great boldness, in plead- omitted the Breviarium itself. It was separately
ing the cause of a wealthy person who had been published, with a revised text, and a learned
accused. He was brought to trial in the reign of preface and notes, and a dissertation, De Quinta
Domitian, but what was the result of this trial we Synodo, by the Jesuit Garnier, 8vo. Paris, 1675;
are not informed: he had the good fortune, at all and is reprinted from his edition, with the preface,
events, of escaping with his life (Plin. Ep. iii. 9. ~ notes, and dissertation, in the Bibliothieca Patrum
33). His name again occurs in the reign of Trajan. of Galland, vol xii. fol. Venice, 1778. (Fabric.
In B. C. 100 he defended with great ability Marius Bibl. Graec. vol. x. 543; Bi6l. Med. et Inf: LaPriscus, who was accused by the younger Pliny, tinit. vol. iv. 272, ed. Mansi; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad
and by the historian Tacitus; and in the same ann. 553; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacres, vol. xvi. p.
year he was again opposed to Pliny in the cele- 543; Garnier, Praef. in Liberat.) [J. C. M.]
brated cause brought by the inhabitants of the LIBERA'TOR, a surname of Jupiter, answerprovince of Baetica against Caecilius Classicus, and ing to the Greek'EAevOeplos, to whom Augustus
his accomplices. (Suet. Vesp. 13; Plin. Ep. ii. 11, built a temple on the Aventine. (Tac. Ann. xv.
iii. 9. ~ 36.) 64, xvi. 35; comp. Becker, Handb. der Rtm. AlLIBERA'TUS, a deacon of the church of terth. i. p. 457.) [L. S.]
Carthage in the sixth century. He was at Rome LIBE'RIUS, the successor of Julius as bishop
in A. D. 533, when the pope, Joannes II., received of Rome, was ordained on the twenty-second of
the bishops sent by the emperor, Justinian I., to May, A. D. 352, at a period when the downfall of
consult him on the heresies broached by the monks, the usurper Magnentius being no longer doubtful,
designated Acoemetae (or, as Liberatus terms them, the Arians were straining every nerve to excite
Acumici), who had imbibed Nestorian opinions. Constantius against their orthodox antagonists.
(Liberat. Breviar. c. 20, comp. Epistolae Justiniani The. conduct of Liberius when he first assumed the
ad Joan. and Joannis ad.Justinianumn, apud Con- papal dignity is involved in much obscurity. If
cilia, vol. iv. col. 1742, &c. ed. Labbe.) He was we. believe that either of the letters found among
again at Rome in 535, having been sent the previous the fragments of Hilarius (frag. iv. col. 1327, and
year, together with the bishops Caius and Petrus, 1335, ed. Bened. fol. Paris, 1693),-the first inby the synod held at Carthage, under Reparatus, scribed Epistola Liberii Episcopi Urbis Romae ad
bishop of that see, to consult pope Joannes II. Orientales Episcopos, and written apparently in
on the reception of those Arians who recanted their 352; the second, belonging to a much later date,
heresies into the church. Joannes was dead before but containing allusions to the same events, Delecthe arrival of the African delegates; but they were tissimis Fratribus Presbyteris et Coepiscopis Orientareceived by pope Agapetus, his successor. (Epis- libus,-is genuine, there can be no doubt that at
tolae Agapeti ad Reparatunm. apud Concilia, ed. the outset of his career he took a violent part
Labbe, vol. iv. col. 1791, 1792.) When, in 552, against Athanasius, and even excommunicated him
Reparatus was banished by Justinian to Euchaida, from the Roman church. On the other hand,
or Eucayda (Vict. Tun. Citron.), Liberatus accom- Dupin employs no.less than seven distinct argu-.
panied him, and probably remained with him till ments to prove that the first must be spurious,
the bishop's death, in 563. Nothing further is although. he says nothing with regard tothe second,
known of him.. and both are by many divines regarded as Arian
Liberatus is the author of a valuable contribu- forgeries. It is at all events certain that the pope
tion to ecclesiastical history.entitled Breviarium soon after displayed the utmost devotion to the
Caussae Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum. It com- cause of the persecuted Catholics; for after the
prehends the history of. a century and a quarter, legates deputed.by him to the council of Arles,
from the ordination of Nestorius, A. D. 428, to the (A. D. 353), Vincentius of Capua, and Marcellinus,
time of the fifth oecumenical (or second Constanti- another Campanian bishop, had been gained over,
nopolitan) council, A. D. 553, and is divided into after his representatives at Milan (A. n. 354), Eu24 chapters. It was compiled, as the author tells us sebius of Vercelli, and Lucifer of Cagliari, had been
in his proim, from " the ecclesiastical history lately driven into exile, after nearly all the prelates of the
translated from Greek into Latin," apparently that West had yielded to the influence of the court,
translated by Epiphanius Scholasticus [EPIpHA- Liberius stood firm to the truth; and although vioNIUS, No. 11], from the Greek ecclesiastical histo- lently hurried from Rome to the presence of the
*rians; from the acts of the councils and the letters emperor, he chose rather to suffer banishment than
of the fathers, from a document written in Greek to subscribe the condemnation of one, whom he
at Alexandria, and from the communications, ap- believed innocent. But after two years spent at