Octavius a senator, and Accia daughter of Julius, and sister to
Julius Cæsar. He was adopted by his uncle Cæsar, and inherited
the greatest part of his fortune. He lost his father at the age of
four; and though only 18 when his uncle was murdered, he hastened
to Rome, where he ingratiated himself with the senate and people,
and received the honours of the consulship two years after, as the
reward of his hypocrisy. Though his youth and his inexperience were
ridiculed by his enemies, who branded him with the appellation of
_boy_, yet he rose in consequence by his prudence and valour, and
made war against his opponents, on pretence of avenging the death of
his murdered uncle. But when he perceived that by making him fight
against Antony, the senate wished to debilitate both antagonists, he
changed his views, and uniting himself with his enemy, soon formed
the second triumvirate, in which his cruel proscriptions shed the
innocent blood of 300 senators and 200 knights, and did not even
spare the life of his friend Cicero. By the divisions which were
made among the triumvirs, Augustus retained for himself the more
important provinces of the west, and banished, as it were, his
colleagues, Lepidus and Antony, to more distant territories. But as
long as the murderers of Cæsar were alive, the reigning tyrants had
reason for apprehension, and therefore the forces of the triumvirate
were directed against the partisans of Brutus and the senate. The
battle was decided at Philippi, where it is said that the valour and
conduct of Antony alone preserved the combined armies, and effected
the defeat of the republican forces. The head of the unfortunate
Brutus was carried to Rome, and in insolent revenge thrown at the
feet of Cæsar’s statue. On his return to Italy, Augustus rewarded
his soldiers with the lands of those that had been proscribed; but
among the sufferers were many who had never injured the conqueror of
Philippi, especially Virgil, whose modest application procured the
restitution of his property. The friendship which subsisted between
Augustus and Antony was broken as soon as the fears of a third rival
vanished away, and the aspiring heir of Cæsar was easily induced to
take up arms by the little jealousies and resentment of Fulvia. Her
death, however, retarded hostilities; the two rivals were reconciled;
their united forces were successfully directed against the younger
Pompey; and, to strengthen their friendship, Antony agreed to marry
Octavia the sister of Augustus. But as this step was political, and
not dictated by affection, Octavia was slighted, and Antony resigned
himself to the pleasures and company of the beautiful Cleopatra.
Augustus was incensed, and immediately took up arms to avenge the
wrongs of his sister, and perhaps more eagerly to remove a man
whose power and existence kept him in continual alarms, and made
him dependent. Both parties met at Actium, B.C. 31, to decide the
fate of Rome. Antony was supported by all the power of the east,
and Augustus by Italy. Cleopatra fled from the battle with 60
ships, and her flight ruined the interest of Antony, who followed
her into Egypt. The conqueror soon after passed into Egypt,
besieged Alexandria, and honoured, with a magnificent funeral, the
unfortunate Roman and the celebrated queen, whom the fear of being
led in the victor’s triumph at Rome had driven to commit suicide.
After he had established peace all over the world, Augustus shut up
the gates of the temple of Janus, the year our Saviour was born. It
is said he twice resolved to lay down the supreme power, immediately
after the victory obtained over Antony, and afterwards on account of
his ill-health; but his friend Mecænas dissuaded him, and observed
that he would leave it to be the prey of the most powerful, and
expose himself to ingratitude and to danger. He died at Nola, in the
76th year of his age, A.D. 14, after he had held the sovereign power
during 44 years. Augustus was an active emperor, and consulted the
good of the Romans with the most anxious care. He visited all the
provinces except Africa and Sardinia, and his consummate prudence
and experience gave rise to many salutary laws, but it may be said,
that be finished with a good grace what he began with cruelty.
While making himself absolute, he took care to leave his countrymen
the shadow of liberty; and if, under the character and office ♦of
perpetual tribune, of priest and imperator, he was invested with all
the power of sovereignty, he guarded against offending the jealous
Romans, by not assuming the regal title. His refusal to read the
letters he found after Pompey’s defeat arose more from fear than
honour, and he dreaded the discovery of names which would have
perhaps united to sacrifice his ambition. His good qualities, and
many virtues he perhaps never possessed, have been transmitted to
posterity by the pen of adulation or gratitude, in the poems of
Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. To distinguish himself from the obscurity
of the Octavii, and, if possible, to suppress the remembrance
of his uncle’s violent fate, he aspired after a new title; and
the submissive senate yielded to his ambition, by giving him
the honourable appellation of _Augustus_. He has been accused of
licentiousness and adultery by his biographer; but the goodness
of his heart, and the fidelity of his friendship, which in some
instances he possessed, made some amends for his natural foibles.
He was ambitious of being thought handsome; and as he was publicly
reported to be the son of Apollo, according to his mother’s
declaration, he wished his flatterers to represent him with the
figure and attributes of that god. Like Apollo, his eyes were clear,
and he affected to have it thought that they possessed some divine
irradiation; and was well pleased if, when he fixed his looks upon
anybody, they held down their eyes as if overcome by the glaring
brightness of the sun. He distinguished himself by his learning; he
was a perfect master of the Greek language, and wrote some tragedies,
besides memoirs of his life, and other works, all now lost. He was
married three times; to Claudia, to Scribonia, and to Livia; but he
was unhappy in his matrimonial connections, and his only daughter
Julia by Scribonia disgraced herself and her father by the debauchery
and licentiousness of her manners. He recommended, at his death, his
adopted son Tiberius as his successor. He left his fortune, partly
to Tiberius and to Drusus, and made donations to the army and to
the Roman people. Virgil wrote his heroic poem at the desire of
Augustus, whom he represented under the amiable and perfect character
of Æneas. _Suetonius_, _The Twelve Caesars_.――_Horace._――_Virgil._
――_Pausanias._――_Tacitus._――_Paterculus._――_Dio Cassius._――_Ovid._
――――The name of _Augustus_ was afterwards given to the successors
of Octavianus in the Roman empire as a personal, and the name of
_Cæsar_ as a family, distinction. In a more distant period of the
empire, the title of Augustus was given only to the emperor, while
that of Cæsar was bestowed on the second person in the state, who
was considered as presumptive heir.
♦ ‘or’ replaced with ‘of’
=Avĭdiēnus=, a rich and sordid man, whom _Horace_ styles happy, bk. 2,
satire 2, li. 55.
=Avidius Cassius=, a man saluted emperor, A.D. 175. He reigned only
three months, and was assassinated by a centurion. He was called a
second Catiline, from his excessive love of bloodshed. _Diodorus._
=Rufus Festus Aviēnus=, a poet in the age of Theodosius, who translated
the phænomena of Aratus, as also all Livy, into iambic verses. The
best edition of what remains of him is that of Cannegetier, 8vo,
1731.
=Avitus=, a governor of Britain under Nero. _Tacitus_, _Annals_,
bk. 14.――――Alcinus, a christian poet, who wrote a poem in six books
on original sin, &c.
=Avium=, a city between Tyre and Sidon. _Strabo_, bk. 16.
=Aulerci=, a people of Gaul, between the Seine and the Loire.
=Aulestes=, a king of the Etrurians when Æneas came into Italy.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 290.
=Aulētes=, a general who assisted Æneas in Italy, with 100 ships.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 207.――――The surname of one of the
Ptolemean kings, father to Cleopatra.
=Aulis=, a daughter of Ogyges. _Pausanias_, _Bœotia_.――――A town of
Bœotia near Chalcis on the sea coast, where all the Greeks conspired
against Troy. They were detained there by contrary winds, by the
anger of Diana, whose favourite stag had been killed by Agamemnon.
To appease the resentment of the goddess, Agamemnon was obliged to
sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia, whom, however, Diana spared
by substituting a ram. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 426.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 9, &c.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2, li. 303.
=Aulon=, a mountain of Calabria, opposite Tarentum, famous for its
wine, which, according to _Horace_ bk. 2, ode 6, li. 18, is superior
to that of Falernum. _Martial_, bk. 13, ltr. 125.――_Strabo_, bk. 6.
――――A place of Messenia. _Pausanias._
=Aulonius=, a surname of Æsculapius.
=Aulus=, a prænomen common among the Romans.――――Gellius. _See:_ Gellius.
=Auras=, a European river, flowing into the Ister from mount Hæmus.
_Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 49.
=Aurelia lex=, was enacted A.U.C. 653, by the pretor Lucius Aurelius
Cotta, to invest the Senatorian and Equestrian orders, and the
Tribuni Ærarii, with judicial power.――――Another, A.U.C. 678. It
abrogated a clause of the Lex Cornelia and permitted the tribunes
to hold other offices after the expiration of the tribuneship.
=Aurelia=, a town of Hispania Bætica.――――The mother of Julius Cæsar.
_Suetonius_, _Cæsar_, ch. 74.――――A fishwoman. _Juvenal_, satire 4,
li. 98.
=Aureliānus=, emperor of Rome after Flavius Claudius, was austere, and
even cruel in the execution of the laws, and punished his soldiers
with unusual severity. He rendered himself famous for his military
character; and his expedition against Zenobia, the celebrated
queen of Palmyra, gained him great honours. He beautified Rome, was
charitable to the poor, and the author of many salutary laws. He was
naturally brave, and in all the battles he fought, it is said, he
killed no less than 800 men with his own hand. In his triumph, he
exhibited to the Romans people of 15 different nations, all of which
he had conquered. He was the first emperor who wore a diadem. After
a glorious reign of six years, as he marched against the northern
barbarians, he was assassinated near Byzantium, A.D. 275, January
29th, by his soldiers, whom Mnestheus had incited to rebellion
against their emperor. This Mnestheus had been threatened with death,
for some ill behaviour to the emperor, and therefore he meditated
his death. The soldiers, however, soon repented of their ingratitude
and cruelty to Aurelian, and threw Mnestheus to be devoured by wild
beasts.――――A physician of the fourth century.
=Aurelius=, emperor of Rome. _See:_ Antoninus Bassianus.――――A painter
in the age of Augustus. _Pliny_, bk. 35.――――Victor, an historian in
the age of Julian, two of whose compositions are extant――an account
of illustrious men, and a biography of all the Cæsars to Julian. The
best edition of Aurelius are the 4to of Artuzenius, Amsterdam, 1733,
and the 8vo of Pitiscus, Utrecht, 1696.――――Antoninus, an emperor.
_See:_ Antoninus.
=Aureolus=, a general who assumed the purple in the age of Gallienus.
=Aurinia=, a prophetess held in great veneration by the Germans.
_Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 8.
=Aurōra=, a goddess, daughter of Hyperion and Thia or Thea, or,
according to others, of Titan and Terra. Some say that Pallas, son
of Crius and brother to Perseus, was her father; hence her surname
of _Pallantias_. She married Astræus, by whom she had the winds, the
stars, &c. Her amours with Tithonus and Cephalus are also famous; by
the former she had Memnon and Æmathion, and Phaeton by the latter.
_See:_ Cephalus and Tithonus. She had also an intrigue with Orion,
whom she carried to the island of Delos, where he was killed by
Diana’s arrows. Aurora is generally represented by the poets drawn
in a rose-coloured chariot, and opening with her rosy fingers the
gates of the east, pouring the dew upon the earth, and making the
flowers grow. Her chariot is generally drawn by white horses, and
she is covered with a veil. Nox and Somnus fly before her, and the
constellations of heaven disappear at her approach. She always sets
out before the sun, and is the forerunner of his rising. The Greeks
call her Eos. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 8; _Odyssey_, bk. 10; _Hymn to
Aphrodite_.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bks. 3, 9, 15.――_Apollodorus_,
bks. 1, 3.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 535.――_Varro_, _de Lingua
Latina_, bk. 5, &c.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――_Hyginus_, preface to
fables.
=Aurunce=, an ancient town of Latium, built by Auson the son of
Ulysses by Calypso. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 727, &c.
=Auschīsæ=, a people of Libya. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 171.
=Ausci=, a people of Gaul.
=Auser=, =Auseris=, and =Anser=, a river of Etruria, which joins the
Arnus before it falls into the Tyrrhene sea.
=Auses=, a people of Africa, whose virgins yearly fight with sticks in
honour of Minerva. She who behaves with the greatest valour receives
unusual honour, &c. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 180.
=Auson=, a son of Ulysses and Calypso, from whom the Ausones, a people
of Italy, are descended.
=Ausonia=, one of the ancient names of Italy, which it received from
Auson the son of Ulysses. If Virgil makes Æneas speak of Ausonia, it
is by anticipation. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 171.
=Decimius Magnus Ausōnius=, a poet, born at Bordeaux in Gaul, in the
fourth century, preceptor to Gratian son of the emperor Valentinian,
and made consul by the means of his pupil. His compositions have
been long admired. The thanks he returned the emperor Gratian is
one of the best of his poems, which were too often hurried for
publication, and consequently not perfect. He wrote the _consular
fasti_ of Rome, a useful performance, now lost. His style is
occasionally obscene, and he has attempted upon the words of Virgil,
what revolts everything against his indelicacy. The best edition
is that of Tollius, 8vo, Leiden, 1671; or that of Jaubert, with a
French translation, 4 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1769.
=Auspĭces=, a sacerdotal order at Rome, nearly the same as the Augurs.
_See:_ Augures.
=Auster=, one of the winds blowing from the south, whose breath was
pernicious to flowers as well as to health. He was parent of rain.
_Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poem 2, li. 58. _See:_ Venti.
=Austesion=, a Theban, son of Tisamenus. His son Theras led a colony
into an island which, from him, was called Thera. _Herodotus_, bk. 4.
――_Pausanias._
=Autobūlus=, a painter. _Pliny_, bk. 35.
=Autochthŏnes=, the original inhabitants of a country who are the first
possessors of it, and who never have mingled with other nations. The
Athenians called themselves Autochthones, and boasted that they were
as old as the country which they inhabited. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch.
14.――_Tacitus_, _Germania_.――_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 3, ch. 83.
=Autŏcles=, an Athenian, sent by his countrymen with a fleet to the
assistance of Alexander of Pheræ.
=Autocrătes=, an historian mentioned by _Athenæus_, bks. 9 & 11.
=Autolŏlæ=, a people of Mauritania descended from the Gætuli. They
excelled all their neighbours in running. _Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 677.
=Autŏly̆cus=, a son of Mercury by Chione a daughter of Dædalion. He
was one of the Argonauts. His craft as a thief has been greatly
celebrated. He stole the flocks of his neighbours, and mingled them
with his own, after he had changed their marks. He did the same
to Sisyphus son of Æolus; but Sisyphus was as crafty as Autolycus,
and he knew his own oxen by a mark which he had made under their
feet. Autolycus was so pleased with the artifice of Sisyphus, that
he immediately formed an intimacy with him, and even permitted
him freely to enjoy the company of his daughter Anticlea, who
became pregnant of Ulysses, and was soon after married to Laertes.
_See:_ Sisyphus, Laertes. _Hyginus_, fable 200, &c.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, fable 8.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1.――_Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 14.――――A son of Phryxus and Chalciope. _Hyginus_,
fable 14.
=Automăte=, one of the Cyclades, called also Hera. _Pliny_,
bks. 2, 6, 37.――――A daughter of Danaus.
=Automĕdon=, a son of Dioreus, who went to the Trojan war with 10
ships. He was the charioteer of Achilles, after whose death he
served Pyrrhus in the same capacity. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bks. 9, 16,
&c.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 477.
=Automedūsa=, a daughter of Alcathous, killed by Tydeus. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 2.
=Automĕnes=, one of the Heraclidæ, king of Corinth. At his death, B.C.
779, annual magistrates, called Prytanes, were chosen at Corinth,
and their power continued 90 years, till Cypselus and his son
Periander made themselves absolute.
=Automŏli=, a nation of Æthiopia. _Herodotus_, bk. 2.
=Autonoe=, a daughter of Cadmus, who married Aristæus, by whom she
had Actæon, often called _Autoneius heros_. The death of her son
[_See:_ Actæon] was so painful to her, that she retired from Bœotia
to Megara, where she soon after died. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 44.
――_Hyginus_, fable 179.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 720.
――――One of the Danaides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2.――――One of the
Nereides. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――――A female servant of Penelope.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 18.
=Autophradātes=, a satrap of Lydia, who revolted from Artaxerxes.
_Diodorus._
=Autūra=, the _Eure_, a river of Gaul which falls into the Seine.
=Auxesia= and =Damia=, two virgins who came from Crete to Trœzene,
where the inhabitants stoned them to death in a sedition. The
Epidaurians raised them statues by order of the oracle, when their
country was become barren. They were held in great veneration at
Trœzene. _Herodotus_, bk. 5, ch. 82.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 30.
=Axĕnus=, the ancient name of the Euxine sea. The word signifies
_inhospitable_, which was highly applicable to the manners of the
ancient inhabitants of the coast. _Ovid_, bk. 4; _Tristia_, poem 4,
li. 56.
=Axiŏchus=, a philosopher, to whom Plato dedicated a treatise
concerning death.
=Axīon=, brother of Alphesibœa, murdered Alcmæon his sister’s husband,
because he wished to recover from her a golden necklace. _See:_
Alcmæon and Alphesibœa.
=Axiotea=, a woman who regularly went in a man’s dress to hear the
lectures of Plato.
=Axiothea=, the wife of Nicocles king of Cyprus. _Polyænus_, bk. 8.
=Axis=, a town of Umbria. _Propertius_, poem 4.
=Axius=, a river of Macedonia. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 123.
=Axona=, a river of Belgic Gaul, which falls into the Seine below
Paris. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood were called Axones.
=Axur= and =Anxur=, a surname of Jupiter, who had a temple at Trachis
in Thessaly. He was represented as a beardless youth.
=Axus=, a town about the middle of Crete. _Apollodus._
=Azan=, a mountain of Arcadia, sacred to Cybele.――――A son of Arcas
king of Arcadia by Erato, one of the Dryades. He divided his father’s
kingdom with his brothers Aphidas and Elatus, and called his share
Azania. There was in Azania a fountain called _Clitorius_, whose
waters gave a dislike for wine to those who drank them. _Vitruvius_,
bk. 8, ch. 3.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 15, li. 322.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 8, ch. 4.
=Azīris=, a place of Libya, surrounded on both sides by delightful
hills covered with trees, and watered by a river where Battus built
a town. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 157.
=Azonax=, a man who taught Zoroaster the art of magic. _Pliny_, bk. 30.
=Azorus=, one of the Argonauts.
=Azōtus=, now _Asdod_, a large town of Syria on the borders of the
Mediterranean. _Josephus_, _Antiquities of the Jews_, bk. 15.
B
=Babilius=, a Roman, who, by the help of a certain herb, is said to
have passed in six days from the Sicilian sea to Alexandria. _Pliny_,
preface to ch. 19.
=Babilus=, an astrologer in Nero’s age, who told the emperor to avert
the danger which seemed to hang upon his head, from the appearance
of a hairy comet, by putting all the leading men of Rome to death.
His advice was faithfully followed. _Suetonius_, _Nero_, ch. 36.
=Baby̆lon=, a son of Belus, who, as some suppose, founded a city which
bears his name.――――A celebrated city, the capital of the Assyrian
empire, on the banks of the Euphrates. It had 100 brazen gates; and
its walls, which were cemented with bitumen, and greatly enlarged
and embellished by the activity of Semiramis; measured 480 stadia
in circumference, 50 cubits in thickness, and 200 in height. It was
taken by Cyrus, B.C. 538, after he had drained the waters of the
Euphrates into a new channel, and marched his troops by night into
the town, through the dried bed; and it is said that the fate of
the extensive capital was unknown to the inhabitants of the distant
suburbs till late in the evening. Babylon became famous for the
death of Alexander, and for the new empire which was afterwards
established there under the Seleucidæ. _See:_ Syria. Its greatness
was so reduced in succeeding ages, according to Pliny’s observations,
that in his time it was but a desolate wilderness, and at present
the place where it stood is unknown to travellers. The inhabitants
were early acquainted with astrology. _Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 26.
――_Herodotus_, bks. 1, 2, 3.――_Justin_, bk. 1, &c.――_Diodorus_, bk.
2.――_Xenophon_, _Cyropædia_, bk. 7, &c.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem
11, li. 21.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, fable 2.――_Martial_,
bk. 9, ltr. 77.――――There is also a town of the same name near the
Bubastic branch of the Nile, in Egypt.
=Babylōnia=, a large province of Assyria, of which Babylon was the
capital. The inhabitants shook off the Assyrian yoke, and afterwards
became very powerful.――――The surname of Seleucia, which arose from
the ruins of Babylon, under the successors of Alexander. _Pliny_,
bk. 6, ch. 26.
=Babylōnii=, the inhabitants of Babylon, famous for their knowledge
of astrology, first divided the year into 12 months, and the zodiac
into 12 signs.
=Babyrsa=, a fortified castle near Artaxata. _Strabo_, bk. 11.
=Babytăce=, a city of Armenia, whose inhabitants despise gold. _Pliny_,
bk. 6, ch. 27.
=Bacabasus=, betrayed the snares of Artabanus, brother of Darius,
against Artaxerxes. _Justin_, bk. 3, ch. 1.
=Bacchæ=, the priestesses of Bacchus. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 7.
=Bacchanālia=, festivals in honour of Bacchus at Rome, the same as the
Dionysia of the Greeks. _See:_ Dionysia.
=Bacchantes=, ♦priestesses of Bacchus, who are represented at the
celebration of the orgies almost naked, with garlands of ivy, with a
thyrsus, and dishevelled hair. Their looks are wild, and they utter
dreadful sounds, and clash different musical instruments together.
They were also called Thyades and Menades. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 6, li. 592.――_Horace_, bk. 3, ode 25.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem
21.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 674.
♦ ‘priestessess’ replaced with ‘priestesses’
=Bacchi=, a mountain of Thrace, near Philippi. _Appian._
=Bacchiădæ=, a Corinthian family descended from Bacchia daughter of
Dionysius. In their nocturnal orgies they, as some report, tore to
pieces Actæon son of Mellissus, which so enraged the father, that
before the altar he entreated the Corinthians to revenge the death
of his son, and immediately threw himself into the sea. Upon this
the Bacchiadæ were banished, and went to settle in Sicily, between
Pachynum and Pelorus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 407.
――_Strabo_, bk. 8.
=Bacchĭdes=, a general who betrayed the town of Sinope to Lucullus.
_Strabo_, bk. 12.
=Bacchis=, or =Balus=, king of Corinth, succeeded his father Prumnides.
His successors were always called _Bacchidæ_, in remembrance of the
equity and moderation of his reign. The Bacchidæ increased so much,
that they chose one of their number to preside among them with regal
authority, and it is said that the sovereign power continued in
their hands near 200 years. Cypselus overturned this institution
by making himself absolute. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.――_Herodotus_, bk. 5, ch. 92.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5,
li. 407.
=Bacchium=, a small island in the Ægean sea, opposite Smyrna. _Pliny_,
bk. 5, ch. 3.
=Bacchius= and =Bithus=, two celebrated gladiators of equal age and
strength; whence the proverb to express equality: _Bithus contra
Bacchium_. _Suetonius_, _Augustus_.――_Horace_, bk. 1, satire 7,
li. 20.