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

514 POTITUS. POTITUS.
was Pothinus who placed Achillas over the Egyp- the celebrated P. Valerius Publicola; but it is a
tian forces, with directions to seize a favourable matter of dispute whether he was his brother or
opportunity for attacking Caesar, but he himself his nephew. Dionysius, it is true, calls him (viii.
remained with the young king in the quarters of 77) his brother *; but it has been conjectured by
Caesar. But as he was here detected in carrying Glareanus, Gelenius, and Sylburg, that we ought
on a treasonable correspondence with Achillas, he to read ad8Ap)Lovds or Ole;spohrams instead of aicEwas put to death by order of Caesar. (Caes. B. C. pos$; and this conjecture is confirmed by the fact
iii. 108, 112; Dion Cass. xlii. 36, 39; Plut. Caes. that Dionysius elsewhere (viii. 87) speaks of himn
48, 49; Lucan, x. 333, &c. 515, &c.) as the son of Marcus, whereas we know that the
POTHOS (Io'0oo), a personification of love or father of Publicola was Volusus. If Potitus was
desire, was represented along with Eros and Hi- the son of Marcus, he was probably the son of the
meros, in the temple of Aphrodite at Megara, by M. Valerius who was consul B. C. 505, four years
the hand of Scopas. (Paus. i. 43. ~ 6; Plin. I. after the kings were expelled, and who is described
N. xxxvi. 4, 7.) [L. S.] in the Fasti as M. Valerius Vol. f. Volusus. MorePOTJ'TIA GENS, one of the most ancient pa- over, seeing that Potitus was consul a second time
trician gentes at Rome, but it never attained any B. C. 470, that is, thirty-nine years after the exhistorical importance. The Potitii were, with the pulsion of the kings, it is much more likely that
Pinarii, the hereditary priests of Hercules at Rome: he should have been a nephew than a brother of
the legend which related the establishment of the the man who took such a prominent part in the
worship of this god, is given under PINARIA GENS. events of that time. WVe may, therefore, conclude
It is further stated that the Potitii and Pinarii con- with tolerable certainty that he was the nephew of
tinued to discharge the duties of their priesthood Publicola.
till the censorship of App. Claudius (B. c. 312), Potitus is first mentioned in B. c. 485, in which
who induced the Potitii, by the sum of 50,000 year he was one of the quaestoresparricidii, and, in
pounds of copper, to instruct public slaves in the conjunction with his colleague, K. Fabius, imperformance of the sacred rites; whereat the god peached Sp. Cassius Viscellinus before the people.
was so angry, that the whole gens, containing [VISCELLINUS.] (Liv. ii. 41; Dionys. viii. 77.)
twelve families and thirty grown up men, perished He was consul in B. c. 483, with M. Fabius Vibuwithin a year, or, according to other accounts, lanus (Liv. ii. 42; Dionys. viii. 87), and again in
within thirty days, and Appius himself became 470 with Ti. Aemilius Mamercus. In the latter
blind (Liv. ix. 29; Festus, p. 237, ed. MUller; year he marched against the Aequi; and as the
Val. Max. i. 1. ~ 17). Niebuhr remarks that if enemly would not meet him in the open field, he prothere is any truth in the tale respecting the de- ceeded to attack their camp, but was prevented
struction of the Potitia gens, they mayhave perished from doing so by the indications of the divine will.
in the great plague which raged fifteen or twenty (Liv. ii. 61, 62; Dionys. ix. 51, 55.)
years later, since such legends are not scrupulous 2. L. VALERIUS POT'rus, consul with M. Howith respect to chronology. The same writer ratius Barbatus, In B. c. 449. Dionysius calls him
fiurther observes that it is probable that the worship a grandson of the great P. Valerius Publicola, and
of Hercules, as attended to by the Potitii and the a son of the P. Valerius Publicola, who was
Pinarii, was a form of religion peculiar to these consul in B. c. 460, and who was killed that
gentes, and had nothing to do with the religion of year in the assault of the Capitol, which had been
the Roman state; and that as App. Claudius seized by HIerdonius (Dionys. xi. 4); and hence we
wished to make these sacra privata part of the find him described as L. Valerius Publicola Potitus.
scrcra publica, he induced the Potitii to instruct But we think it more probable that he was the
public slaves in the rites, since no foreign god son or grandson of L.Valerius Potitus [No. l]; first,
could have a flamen. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, because we find that Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius,
vol. iii. p. 309.) invariably give him the surname of Potitus, and
POTI'TUS, P. AFRA'NIUS, vowed during never that of Publicola, and secondly because the
an illness of Caligula, to sacrifice his life, if the great popularity of Potitus would naturally give
emperor recovered, expecting to be rewarded for origin to the tradition that he was a lineal dehis devotion. But when Caligula got well, and scendant of that member of the gens, who took
Afranius was unwilling to fulfill his vow, the such a prominent part in the expulsion of the kings.
emperor had him decked out like a sacrificial victim, The annals of the Valeria gens recorded that L.
paraded through the streets, and then hurled down Valerius Potitus was the first person who offered
from the eminence (ex aggere) by the Colline gate. opposition to the decemvirs; and whether this was
(Dion Cass. lix. 8; Suet. Cal. 27.) the case or not, there can be no doubt that he took
POTI TUS, VALE'RIUS. Potitus was the a leading part in the abolition of the tyrannical
name of one of the most ancient and most cele- power. He and M. Horatius are represented as
brated families of the Valeria Gens. This family, the leaders of the people against Ap. Claudius after
like many of the other ancient Roman families, dis- the murder of Virginia by her father; and when the
appears about the time of the Samnite wars; but plebeians had seceded to the Sacred Hill, he and
the name was revived at a later period by the Va- Horatius were sent to them by the senate, as the
leria gens, as a praenomen: thus we find mention only acceptable members, to negotiate the terms of
of a Potitus Valerius Messalla, who was consul peace. In this mission they succeeded; the desuffectus in B. C. 29. The practice of using extinct cemvirate was abolished, and the two friends of the
family-names as praenomens was common to other plebs, Valerius and Horatius, were elected consuls,
gentes: as for instance in the Cornelia gens, where B. C. 449. Their consulship is memorable by the
the Lentuli adopted, as a praenomen, the extinct
cognomen of Cossus. [Cossus; LENTULUS.] * Dionysius also calls him L. Valerius Publicola,
1. L. VALERIUS POTITUS, COn1SUI B. C. 483 and but this is opposed to the Fasti, and is in itself imn470, the founder of the family, was a relation of prlLbable,