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

726 SATURNINUS. SATURNUS.
force of arms to surrender the province to him. 3. Q. VOLUSIUS SATURNINUS, son of the pre.
[Piso, No. 23.] Tacitus calls the governor of ceding, was consul in A. D. 56, with P. Cornelius
Syria simply Cn. Sentius, but there can be little Scipio. His father was upwards of sixty-two
doubt that he is the same as the consul suffectus years of age when he was born: his mother was
of A. D. 4. (Tac. Ann. ii. 74, 79, 81, iii. 7.) a Cornelia of the family of the Scipios. He was
5. CN. SENT1US SATURNINUS, son of No. 4, was one of three commissioners who took the census
consul A. D. 41, with the emperor Caligula, who of the Gauls, in A. D. 61. (Plin. Ii. N. vii. 12.
was slain in this year. After the death of Cali- s. 14; Tac. Ann. xiii. 25, xiv. 46.)
gula, Saturninus made a long speech in the senate 4. A. VOLUSIUS SATURNINUS, consul A. D. 87,
against tyranny, if we may trust the account in with the emperor Domitian. (Fasti.)
Josephus. (Joseph. Arnt. xix. 2, B. J. ii. 11.) 5. Q. VOLvSIUS SATURNINUS, consul A. D. 92,
6. L. SENTILS SATURNINUS, occurs on coins of with the emperor Domitian. (Fasti.)
the republican period, but it is uncertain who he SATU'RNIUS, that is, a son of Saturnus,
was. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 305.) and accordingly used as a surname of Jupiter and
Neptune. (Virg. Aen. iv. 372, v. 799.) [L. S.]
~o~~;o, SATURNUS, a mythical king of Italy to whom
was ascribed the introduction of agriculture and
the habits of civilised life in general. The name
-y o~ AdB J lis, notwithstanding the different quantity, connected with the verb sero, sevi, saturna, and although
the ancients themselves invariably identify Saturnus with the Greek Cronos, there is no resemblance
whatever between the attributes of the two deities,
COIN OF L. SENTIUS SATURNINUS. except that both were regarded as the most ancient
divinities in their respective countries. The reSATURNI'NUS, VENULE'IUS, is said by semblance is much stronger between Demeter and
Lampridius (Alex. Severus, c. 68) to have been a Saturn, for all that the Greeks ascribe to their De.
pupil of Papinianus, and a consiliarius of Alexander meter is ascribed by the Italians to Saturn, who
Severus. There is a rescript of Alexander to Ve- in the very earliest times came to Italy in the reign
nuleius (Cod. 7. tit. 1. 1. 1), and one of Antoninus of Janus. (Virg. Aen. viii. 314, &c.; Macrob.
(Caracalla) addressed to Saturninus in the year Sat. i. 10; P. Vict. De Orig. Gent. Rom. 1, &c.)
A. D. 213 (Cod. 5. tit. 65. s. 1); both of which Saturnus, then, deriving his name from sowing, is
may have been addressed to Venuleius Saturninus. justly called the introducer of civilisation and social
His writings, as they are stated in the Florentine order, both of which are inseparably connected
Index and appear from the excerpts in the Digest, with agriculture. His reign is, moreover, conwere:-Decem Libri Actionum, Sex Interdictorum ceived for the same reason to nave been the golden
Quatuor de Officio Proconsulis, Tres Publicorum age of Italy, and more especially of the Aborigines,
or De Publicis Judiciis, and Novemdecenz Stipula- his subjects. As agrictultural industry is the
tionurn. The title Venal. Libri Septesa Disp. (Dig. source of wealth and plenty, his wife was Ops, the
46. tit. 7. s. 18) is manifestly erroneous, as appears representative of plenty. The story related of the
from the titles of the two following extracts; and god, is that in the reign of Janus he came to Italy,
we must either read Stipulationumn in place of Dis- was hospitably received by Janus, and formed a
putationzrm, or we must read Ulp. in place of Ve- settlement on the Capitoline hill, which was hence
nul. The work De Poenis Paganorumn is erro- called the Saturnian hill. At the foot of that hill,
neously attributed'to Venuleius in the Florentine on the road leading up the Capitol, there stood in
Index. aftertimes the temple of Saturn. (Dionys. vi. 1;
There are seventy-one excerpts from Venuleius Liv. xli. 27; Vict. I. c. 3, Reg. Urb. viii.) Saturn
in the Digest. (Zimmern, Geschichte des RBin. then made the people acquainted with agriculture,
Privatrechts, i. p. 379.) [G. L ] suppressed their savage mode of life, and led them
SATURNI'NUS, VITE'LLIUS, praefectus to order, peaceful occupations, and morality. The
of a legion under Otho. (Tac. Hist. i. 82.) result was that the whole country was called SaSATURNI'NUS, VOLU'SIUS. 1. L. VOLU- turnia or the land of plenty. (Virg. Aen. viii.
SIUS SATURNINUS, consul suffectus in B. C. 12, 358; Justin, xliii. 1; Macrob. Sat. i. 7; Varro, De
was descended from an ancient family, none of Ling. Lat. v. 42; Fest. s. v. Saturnia; Victor, 1. c.)
the members of which, however, had previously Saturn, like many other mythical kings, suddenly
obtained any higher office in the state than the disappeared, being removed from earth to the
praetorship. This Saturninus first accumulated abodes of the gods, and immediately after Janus
the enormous wealth for which his family after- is said to have erected an altar to Saturn in the
wards became so celebrated. He died in A. D. 20. forum. (Macrob. 1. c.; Arnob. iv. 24; Ov. Fast.
(Tac. Ann. iii. 30.) i. 238.) It is further related that Latium received
2. L. VOIUSIus SATURNINVUS, son of the pre- its name (from lateo) from this disappearance of
ceding, was consul suffectus, A. D. 3. He died in Saturn, who for the same reason was regarded by
the reign of Nero, A. D. 56, at the age of ninety- some as a divinity of the nether world. (Plut.
three, having survived all the persons who were Quaest. RBon. 24.)
members of the senate during his consulship. It Respecting the festival solemnized by the Roappears from Pliny that he was praefect of the mans in honour of Saturn, see Diet. of Antiq. s. v.
city at the time of his death. The great wealth Saturnalia.
which he had inherited from his father he still The statue of Saturnus was hollow and filled
firther increased by economy. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 30, with oil, probably to denote the fertility of Latium
xiv. 56; Plin. H. N. vii. 12. s. 14, vii. 48. s. 49, in olives (Plin. H. N. xv. 7. 7); in his hand he
xi. 38. s..90.) held a crooked pruning knife, and his feet were