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

ROSCIUS. ROXANA. 663
at Rome, was a native of Solonium, a small place Roscius had no right to make terms for himself
in the neighbourhood of Lanuvium. His sister was alone, and that according to the original agreement
married to Quintius, whom Cicero defended in B. c. he was entitled to half of the compensation. The
81. (Cic. pro Quint. 24, 25.) A tale was told, that dispute was referred for arbitration to C. Piso,
in his infancy he was found in the folds of a ser- who did not give any formal decision, but
pent, and that this foreshadowed his future emi- at his recommendation Roscius consented to pay
nence. His extraordinary skill in acting procured Fannius a certain sum of money for the trouble he
him the favour of many of the most distinguished had had, and Fannius, on the other hand, proRoman nobles, and, among others, of the dictator mised to give Roscius the half of whatever he might
Sulla, who presented him with a gold ring, the receive from Flavius. Fannius now sued Flavius;
symbol of equestrian rank. Like his celebrated the case came on before the judex C. Cluvius, a Rocontemporary, the tragic actor Aesopus, Roscius man eques, who sentenced Flavius to pay 100,000
enjoyed the friendship of Cicero, who constantly sesterces. According to the statement of Roscius
speaks of him in terms both of admiration and he himself never received any part of this sum
affection, and on one occasion calls him his amnores although he was entitled to half of it. Some years
et deliciae. Roscius paid the greatest attention to afterwards, when Flavius was dead, Fannius sued
his art, and obtained excellence in it by the most Roscius for 50,000 sesterces, as the half of the
careful and elaborate study. It is to this that Horace value of the estate given to Roscius on the death
alludes, when he says (Ep. ii. 1. 82): of Panurgus, and appealed to the agreement made
"Quae gravis Aesopus, quae doctus Roscius egit." before C. Piso, in support of his claim. The case
came on for trial before the same C. Piso, who now
So careful and assiduous was he in his prepara- acted as judex, and Cicero defended his friend ill
tions, that even in the height of his reputation, he an oration, which has come down to us, though
did not venture upon a single gesture in public with the loss of the opening part. The date of the
which he had not previously well considered and oration is doubtful; we have adopted the one given
practised at home. But notwithstanding all this by Drumann, who discusses the matter at length
study, no mannerism or affectation appeared in his (Geschichte Ronms, vol. v. pp. 346-348). The
acting; every thing he did was perfectly natural subject of the oration has afforded matter for conlto the character he represented; and he himself siderable discussion to modern jurists and scholars.
used to say that decere was the highest excellence (See Unterholzner, Ueber die Rede des Cicero fiir
of the art. He was considered by the Romans to den Schauspieler Q. Roscius, in Savigny's Zeitschrijf,
have reached such perfection in his own profession, vol. i. p. 248, &c.; Miinchen, Oratio AlI. T. C. pro
that it became the fashion to call every one who Q. R. C. juridice ezposita, Coloniae, 1829; and
became particularly distinguished in his own art, Schmidt, in his edition of the oration, Lipsiae,
by the name of Roscius. In his younger years 1839.)
Cicero received instruction from Roscius; and at a 4, 5. RoscII, two brothers, who accompanied
later time he and Roscius often used to try which Crassus on his Parthian expedition. (Plut. Crass.
of them could express a thought with the greatest 31.)
effect, the orator by his eloquence, or the actor by 6. RoscIvs, a legate of Q. Cornificius in Africa,
his gestures. Macrobius, who relates this anec- perished along with his commander, in B. C. 43.
dote, goes on to say that these exercises gave (Appian, B. C. iv. 56.) [CORNIFICIUS, NO. 3.]
Roscius so high an opinion of his art, that he wrote RO'SCIUS, L. AELIA'NUS. 1. Consul sufa work in which he compared eloquence and acting. fectus A. D. 100 (Fasti).
Like Aesopus, Roscius realized an immense fortune 2. Consul A. D. 223, with L. Marius Maximus,
by his profession. Macrobius says that he made in the reign of the emperor Severus (Fasti).
a thousand denarii a day, and Pliny relates that RO'SCIUS, CAE'LIUS, the legatus of the
his yearly profits were fifty millions of sesterces. twentieth legion, which was stationed in Britain at
He died in B. c. 62, as Cicero, in his oration for the time of Nero's death, A. D. 68. (Tac. Hist. i.
Archias (c. 8), which was delivered in that year, 60.)
speaks of his death as a recent event. (Cic. deDiv. RO'SCIUS RE'GULUS. [REGULUS.]
i. 36, ii. 31, de Orat. i. 27-29, 59, 60, ii. 57, 59, ROSIA'NUS GE'MINUS, quaestor of the
iii. 26, 59, de Leg. i. 4, Brut. 84; Plut. Cic. 5; younger Pliny in his consulship, A. D. 100, is reMacrob. Sat. ii. 10; Val. Max. viii. 7. ~ 7; Plin. commended by the latter in one of his letters to
H. N. vii. 39. s. 40.) A scholiast on Cicero gives Trajan (Ep. x. 11. s. 16).
the cognomen Gallus to Q. Roscius, but it does not ROXA'NA ('P,4dv71), a daughter of Oxyartes
occur elsewhere, as far as we know. (Schol. Bob. the Bactrian. According to Arrian, she fell into
pro Arch. p. 357, ed. Orelli.) the hands of Alexander on: his capture of the hillIn B. C. 68 Cicero pleaded the cause of his friend fort in Sogdiana, named "' the rock," where the
in a civil suit before the judex C. Piso. It appears wife and daughters of Oxyartes - had been placed
that a certain C. Fannius Chaerea had a slave of for security; anld the conqueror was so captivated
the name of Panurgus, whom he entrusted to by the charms of Roxana (who appeared to the
Roscius for instruction in his art, on the agreement Macedonians the most beautiful of all the Asiatic
that whatever profits the slave might acquire should women they had seen, except the wife of Dareius),
be divided between them. Panurgus was murdered that he resolved to marry her —a design which
by one Q. Flavius of Tarquinii, and accordingly an induced Oxyartes, when he heard of it, to come
action was brought against him for damages, by and submit himself to Alexander, B.C. 327 (Arr.
Fannius and Roscius. Before the case came on for Anab. iv. 18-20). The statements of Curtius
trial, Roscius received from Flavius a farm, which (viii. 4), and of Plutarch (Alex. 47), differ in
Fannius valued at 100,000 sesterces: Roscius some points from the above account; but see
maintained that this farm was simply a compensa- Droysen, Alexander, p. 346. At the time of Alextion for his own loss; but Fannius asserted that ander's death, in B. c. 323, Roxana was far aduu 4