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

982 MAXIMIANUS. MAX IMIANUS.
gradually sunk under the pressure of complicated married to Maxentius; by his second,'Galeria
anxieties. Upon the abdication of Diocletian and Valetia, the daughter of Diocletian, he had no
Maxiinian (A. D. 305), an event which is said to children. [VALERIA.] (Zosim. ii. 8, 10, 11;
have been hastened, if not caused, by his intrigues Zonar. xii. 32, 33, 34; Euseb. H. E. viii. 5, 17,
and threats, Galerius having succeeded in nominating Vit. Constant. 18; Auctor. de Mort. Persee. 18,
two creatures of his own, Daza and Severus [MAx- &c., 33, &c.; Amm. Marc. xiv. 11. ~ 10; Victor,
IMINUS II.; SEVERUS], to the posts'of Caesars, de Caes. 39, 40, Epit. 39, 40; Eutrop. ix. 15, x.
now vacant in consequence of the elevation of 1-3; Oros. vii. 26, 28; Jornandes, de Rebus
himself and Constantius to the higher rank of Get. 21; Fragments published by Valesius at the
Augusti, began to look forward with confidence to end of his ed. of Amm. Marc. ~ 3.) [W. R.]
the period when the death of his colleague should MAXIMIA'NUS, the poet, whose full name
leave him sole master of the world. But these was CORNELIUS MAXIIMIANUS GALLUS ETRUShopes were destined to be signally frustrated. The cus. In the year 1501, Pomponius Gauricus, a
news of the decease of Chlorus was accompanied Neapolitan youth of nineteen, published at Venice
by the intelligence that the troops had enthu- six amatory elegies, little remarkable for purity of
siastically proffered their allegiance to his son. thought or of expression, under the title " Cornelii
Galerius, filled with disappointment and rage, found Galli Fragmenta," with a preface, in which he enhimself in no condition to resist,'and although he deavoured to prove from internal evidence that
refused to concede a higher title than that of Caesar they must be regarded as belonging to the ill-fated
to Constantine, was obliged virtually to resign all Cornelius Gallus, the friend of Virgil and Ovid.
claim to the sovereignty of Gaul and Britain. [GALLUS, CORNELIUS.] They profess to be written
This mortification was followed by the more for- by an old man, and the leading theme is the in'midable series of disasters occasioned by the usur- firmities and miseries of age. These, as contrasted
pation of Maxentius which led to the destruction with the vigour and joys of youth, form the exof Severus, to the disgrace of Galeris himself, after clusive subject of the first piece; the second,' third,
a most calamitous campaign, and thus to the loss of and fourth contain an account of three mistresses
Italy and Africa [MAXENTIUS], A. D. 307. From who had in succession ruled his heart, Aquilina,
this time forward, however, his life passed more Candida, and Lycoris; the two former had been the
tranquilly, for having supplied the place of Severus objects of a transient flame; the last, long his
by his old friend and comrade Licinius [LICINIus], faithful companion, had at length forsaken' him in
he seems to have abandoned those schemes of declining years; in the fifth he gives the history of
extravagant ambition once so eagerly cherished, a senile passion for a Grecian damsel; and the
and to have devoted his attention to great works sixth, whichextends to a dozen lines only, is filled
of public utility, the draining of lakes and the with complaints and lamentations called forth by
clearing of forests, until cut off in A.D. 311, by the near approach of death. The points upon
the same terrible disease which is said to have which Gauricus chiefly insisted for the proof of his
terminated the existence of Sulla and of Herod proposition were:-1. That we know from Virgil
Agrippa. and other sources that Lycoris was the name under
Of a haughty and ungovernable temper, cruel to which Gallus celebrated the charms and the cruelty
his enemies, ungrateful to his benefactors, a stranger of his loved Cytheris. 2. That the author of these
to all the arts which soften the heart or refine the poems describes himself as an Etruscan. 3. That the
intellect, the character of this prince presents'expressions at the beginning of the fifth elegy
nothing to admire, except the valour of a' fearless evidently allude to his office as prefect of Egypt.
soldier and the'skill of'an accomplished general. These reasonings were at first freely admitted';
The blackest shade upon his memory is thrown the elegies were frequently reprinted with the
by his pitiless persecution of the Christians, whom name of Gallus, and subjoined without suspicion to
he ever'regarded with rancorous hostility, insti- many of the earlier editions of Catullus, Tibildlus,
gated, we are told, by the;furious bigotry of and Propertius, as the works of their contemporary.
his mother, an ardent cultivator of some of the Upon a more critical examination, however, it was
darker rites of the ancient faith. The fatal ordi- soon perceived that the impure Latinity and faulty
nance of Diocletian, which for so many years de- versification accorded ill with the Augustan era;
luged the world with' innocent blood, is said to'that a fictitious name, such as Lycoris, might be
have been extorted by the pertinacious violence of regarded as common property; that the fact, which
Galerius, whose tardy repentance expressed in the is unquestionable, of the author declaring himself
famous edict of toleration published immediately an Etruscan, in itself proves:that he could not be
before, his death, made but poor amends for the Cornelius Gallus who was a native: of Forum Julii
amount of misery which he had deliberately caused. (Frejus) in Southern Gaul; that the repinings at
Galerius, by his first wife, whose name is un- old age were altogether out of place in one who
known, and whom he was required to repudiate perished while yet in the strength of manhood;
when created Caesar, had one daughter, who was and finally, that the terms in which an allusion is
made to his political appointmentMissus ad Eoas legati munere partes
Tranquillum cunctis nectere pacis opus,
Dum studeo gemini componere foedera regni,,i.t_, 1 Inveni cordis bella nefanda mei,
are such as could never have been employed, to
designate the duties of the imperial prefect in the
most important and jealously guarded of all the
Roman provinces. But when, in addition to these
1ON OF MAXIA1IANUS II. considerations, it was discovered that the MSS.,