R
Rabirius Caius, a Roman knight, who lent an immense sum of money to Ptolemy Auletes king of Egypt. The monarch afterwards not only refused to repay him, but even confined him, and endangered his life. Rabirius escaped from Egypt with difficulty, but at his return to Rome, he was accused by the senate of having lent money to an African prince, for unlawful purposes. He was ably defended by Cicero, and acquitted with difficulty. Cicero, For Rabirius.——A Latin poet in the age of Augustus, who wrote, besides satires and epigrams, a poem on the victory which the emperor had gained over Antony at Actium. Seneca has compared him to Virgil for elegance and majesty, but Quintilian is not so favourable to his poetry.——An architect in the reign of Domitian, who built a celebrated palace for the emperor, of which the ruins are still seen at Rome.
Racillia, the wife of Cincinnatus. Livy, bk. 3, ch. 26.
Racilius, a tribune who complained in the senate of the faction of Clodius. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 2, ch. 12; Letters to his brother Quintus, bk. 2, ch. 1.
Ræsaces, an officer of Artaxerxes. He revolted from his master, and fled to Athens.
Ramises, a king of Egypt. See: [Rhamses].
Ramnes, or Rhamnenses, one of the three centuries instituted by Romulus. After the Roman people had been divided into three tribes, the monarch elected out of each 100 young men of the best and noblest families, with which he formed three companies of horse. One of them was called Ramnes, either from the tribe of which it was chosen, or from Romulus. Another was called Tatian, and the third Luceres. Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 4, ch. 9.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 13.—Horace, Art of Poetry, li. 304.—Plutarch, Romulus.
Randa, a village of Persia, where 3000 rebellious Persians were slain by Chiles. Polyænus, bk. 7.
Rapo, a Rutulian chief, &c. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 748.
Rascipŏlis, a Macedonian sent to the assistance of Pompey. Cæsar, Civil War, bk. 3, ch. 4.
Ravenna, a town of Italy on the Adriatic, which became celebrated under the Roman emperors for its capacious harbour, which could contain 250 ships, and for being for some time the seat of the western empire. It was difficult of access by land, as it stood on a small peninsula; and so ill supplied with water, that it was sold at a higher price than wine, according to Martial. The emperors kept one of their fleets there, and the other at Misenum, on the other side of Italy. It was founded by a colony of Thessalians, or, according to others, of Sabines. It is now fallen from its former grandeur, and is a wretched town situate at the distance of about four miles from the sea, and surrounded with swamps and marshes. Strabo, bk. 5.—Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 49.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 12.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Martial, bk. 3, ltr. 93, li. 8, &c.
Rāvŏla, a celebrated debauchee, &c. Juvenal.
Rauraci, a people of Gaul, whose chief town is now Augst on the Rhine. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 5.
Reāte, a pleasant town of Umbria, built, as some suppose, before the Trojan war, about 15 miles from Fanum Vacunæ, near the lake Velinus. Cybele was the chief deity of the place. It was famous for its asses. Strabo, bk. 5.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1.—Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 1.—Livy, bk. 25, ch. 7; bk. 26, ch. 11; bk. 28, ch. 45.—Cicero, Against Catiline, bk. 3, ch. 2; de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 2.
Redicŭlus, a deity whose name is derived from the word redire (to return). The Romans raised a temple to this imaginary deity on the spot where Annibal had retired when he approached Rome, as if to besiege it. Festus, Lexicon of Festus.
Redŏnes, a nation among the Armorici, now the people of Rennes and St. Maloes, in Brittany. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 2, ch. 41.
Regillæ, or Regillum, a town in the country of the Sabines in Italy, about 20 miles from Rome, celebrated for a battle which was fought there, A.U.C. 258, between 24,000 Romans and 40,000 Etrurians, who were headed by the Tarquins. The Romans obtained the victory, and scarce 10,000 of the enemy escaped from the field of battle. Castor and Pollux, according to some accounts, were seen mounted on white horses, and fighting at the head of the Roman army. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 16.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 5.—Plutarch, Caius Marcius Coriolanus.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1.—Florus, bk. 1.—Suetonius, Tiberias, ch. 1.
Regilliānus Q. Nonius, a Dacian who entered the Roman armies, and was raised to the greatest honours under Valerian. He was elected emperor by the populace, who were dissatisfied with Gallienus, and was soon after murdered by his soldiers, A.D. 262.
Regillus, a small lake of Latium, whose waters fall into the Anio, at the east of Rome. The dictator Posthumius defeated the Latin army near it. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 19.
Regīnum, a town of Germany, now supposed Ratisbon or Regensburg.
Regium Lepidum, a town of Modena, now Regio, at the south of the Po. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 15.—Cicero, bk. 12, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 5; bk. 13, ltr. 7.
Marcus Attilius Regŭlus, a consul during the first Punic war. He reduced Brundusium, and in his second consulship he took 64, and sunk 30 galleys of the Carthaginian fleet, on the coast of Sicily. Afterwards he landed in Africa, and so rapid was his success, that in a short time he defeated three generals, and made himself master of about 200 places of consequence on the coast. The Carthaginians sued for peace, but the conqueror refused to grant it, and soon after he was defeated in a battle by Xanthippus, and 30,000 of his men were left on the field of battle, and 15,000 taken prisoners. Regulus was in the number of the captives, and he was carried in triumph to Carthage. He was afterwards sent by the enemy to Rome, to propose an accommodation, and an exchange of prisoners; and if his commission was unsuccessful, he was bound by the most solemn oaths to return to Carthage without delay. When he came to Rome, Regulus dissuaded his countrymen from accepting the terms which the enemy proposed, and when his opinion had had due influence on the senate, he then retired to Carthage agreeable to his engagements. The Carthaginians were told that their offers of peace had been rejected at Rome by the means of Regulus, and therefore they prepared to punish him with the greatest severity. His eyebrows were cut, and he was exposed for some days to the excessive heat of the meridian sun, and afterwards confined in a barrel, whose sides were everywhere filled with large iron spikes, till he died in the greatest agonies. His sufferings were heard at Rome, and the senate permitted his widow to inflict whatever punishments she pleased on some of the most illustrious captives of Carthage, who were in their hands. She confined them also in presses filled with sharp iron points, and was so exquisite in her cruelty, that the senate at last interfered, and stopped the barbarity of her punishments. Regulus died about 251 years before Christ. Silius Italicus, bk. 6, li. 319.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 5.—Cicero, de Officiis, bk. 1, ch. 13.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 1; bk. 9, ch. 2.—Livy, ltr. 16.——Memmius, a Roman made governor of Greece by Caligula. While Regulus was in this province, the emperor wished to bring the celebrated statue of Jupiter Olympius, by Phidias, to Rome; but this was supernaturally prevented, and according to ancient authors, the ship which was to convey it was destroyed by lightning, and the workmen who attempted to remove the statue were terrified away by sudden noises. Dio Cassius.——A man who condemned Sejanus.——Roscius, a man who held the consulship but for one day, in the reign of Vitellius.
Remi, a nation of Gaul, whose principal town, Duricortorium, is now Rheims, in the north of Champagne. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 17.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Remmia lex, de judiciis, was enacted to punish all calumniators. The letter K was marked on their forehead. This law was abolished by Constantine the Great. Cicero, For Quintus Roscius.
Rĕmŭlus, a chief of Tibur, whose arms were seized by the Rutulians, and afterwards became part of the plunder which Euryalus obtained. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 360.——A friend of Turnus, trampled to death by his horse, which Orsilochus had wounded. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 636, &c.
Rĕmŭlus Sylvius, a king of Alba, destroyed by lightning on account of his impiety. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 4, li. 50.
Remuria, festivals established at Rome by Romulus, to appease the manes of his brother Remus. They were afterwards called Lemuria, and celebrated yearly.
Remus, the brother of Romulus, was exposed, together with him, by the cruelty of his grandfather. In the contest which happened between the two brothers about building a city, Romulus obtained the preference, and Remus, for ridiculing the rising walls, was put to death by his brother’s orders, or by Romulus himself. See: [Romulus]. The Romans were afflicted with a plague after this murder, upon which the oracle was consulted, and the manes of Remus appeased by the institution of the Remuria. Ovid.——One of the auxiliaries of Turnus against Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 330.
Resæna, a town of Mesopotamia, famous for the defeat of Sapor by Gordian.
Resus, a small river of Asia Minor, falling into the Mæander.
Retina, a village near Misenum. Pliny, bk. 6, ltr. 16.
Reudigni, a nation of Germany. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 40.
Rha, a large river, now the Volga, of Russia. A medicinal root which grew on its bank was called Rha barbarum, Rhubarb.
Rhacia, a promontory in the Mediterranean sea, projecting from the Pyrenean mountains.
Rhacius, a Cretan prince, the first of that nation who entered Ionia with a colony. He seized Claros, of which he became the sovereign. He married Manto the daughter of Tiresias, who had been seized on his coasts. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 3.
Rhacōtis, an ancient name of Alexandria the capital of Egypt. Strabo.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 21.
Rhadamanthus, a son of Jupiter and Europa. He was born in Crete, which he abandoned about the 30th year of his age. He passed into some of the Cyclades, where he reigned with so much justice and impartiality, that the ancients have said he became one of the judges of hell, and that he was employed in the infernal regions in obliging the dead to confess their crimes, and in punishing them for their offences. Rhadamanthus reigned not only over some of the Cyclades, but over many of the Greek cities of Asia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 53.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 435.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Plato.—Homer. Iliad, bk. 4, li. 564.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 566.
Rhadamistus, a son of Pharnasmanes king of Iberia. He married Zenobia, the daughter of his uncle Mithridates king of Armenia, and some time after put him to death. He was put to death by his father for his cruelties, about the year 52 of the christian era. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 13, ch. 37.
Rhadius, a son of Neleus.
Rhæteum, a city of Phrygia.
Rhæti, or Ræti, an ancient and warlike nation of Etruria. They were driven from their native country by the Gauls, and went to settle on the other side of the Alps. See: [Rhætia]. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Justin, bk. 20, ch. 5.
Rhætia, a country at the north of Italy, between the Alps and the Danube, which now forms the territories of the Grisons, of the Tyrol, and part of Italy. It was divided into two parts, Rhætia prima and Rhætia secunda. The first extended from the sources of the Rhine to those of the Licus or Lek, a small river which falls into the Danube. The other, called also Vindelicia, extended from the Licus to another small river called Œnus, or Inn, towards the east. The principal towns of Rhætia were called Curia, Tridentum, Belunum, Feltria. The Rhætians rendered themselves formidable by the frequent invasions which they made upon the Roman empire, and were at last conquered by Drusus the brother of Tiberius, and others under the Roman emperors. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 96.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 20; bk. 14, ch. 2, &c.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 4 & 14.
Rhamnes, a king and augur, who assisted Turnus against Æneas. He was killed in the night by Nisus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 325.
Rhamnus, a town of Attica, famous for a temple of Amphiaraus, and a statue of the goddess Nemesis, who was from thence called Rhamnusia. This statue was made by Phidias, out of a block of Parian marble, which the Persians intended as a pillar to be erected to commemorate their expected victory over Greece. Pausanias, bk. 1.—Pliny, bk. 36.
Rhamnusia, a name of Nemesis. See: [Rhamnus].
Rhampsinītus, an opulent king of Egypt, who succeeded Proteus. He built a large tower with stones at Memphis, where his riches were deposited, and of which he was robbed by the artifice of the architect, who had left a stone in the wall easily movable, so as to admit a plunderer. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 121, &c.
Rhamses, or Ramises, a powerful king of Egypt, who, with an army of 700,000 men, conquered Æthiopia, Libya, Persia, and other eastern nations. In his reign, according to Pliny, Troy was taken. Some authors consider him to be the same as Sesostris. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 60.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 8.
Rhanis, one of Diana’s attendant nymphs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.
Rharos, or Rharium, a plain of Attica, where corn was first sown by Triptolemus. It received its name from the sower’s father, who was called Rharos. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 14 & 38.
Rhascupŏris, a king of Thrace, who invaded the possessions of Cotys, and was put to death by order of Tiberius, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 64.
Rhea, a daughter of Cœlus and Terra, who married Saturn, by whom she had Vesta, Ceres, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, &c. Her husband, however, devoured them all as soon as born, as he had succeeded to the throne with the solemn promise that he would raise no male children, or, according to others, because he had been informed by an oracle that one of his sons would dethrone him. To stop the cruelty of her husband, Rhea consulted her parents, and was advised to impose upon him, or perhaps to fly into Crete. Accordingly, when she brought forth, the child was immediately concealed, and Saturn devoured up a stone which his wife had given him as her own child. The fears of Saturn were soon proved to be well founded. A year after, the child, whose name was Jupiter, became so strong and powerful, that he drove his father from his throne. Rhea has been confounded by the mythologists with some of the other goddesses, and many have supposed that she was the same divinity that received adoration under the various names of Bona Dea, Cybele, Dindymena, Magna mater, Ceres, Vesta, Titæa, and Terra, Tellus, and Ops. See: [Cybele], [Ceres], [Vesta], &c. Rhea, after the expulsion of her husband from his throne, followed him to Italy, where he established a kingdom. Her benevolence in this part of Europe was so great, that the golden age of Saturn is often called the age of Rhea. Hesiod, Theogony.—Orpheus, Hymns.—Homer, Hymns.—Æschylus, Prometheus Bound.—Euripides, Bacchæ & Electra.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 197.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.——Sylvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus. She is also called Ilia. See: [Ilia].——A nymph of Italy, who is said to have borne a son called Aventinus to Hercules. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 659.
Rhebas, or Rhebus, a river of Bithynia, flowing from mount Olympus into the Euxine sea. Flaccus, bk. 7, li. 698.
Rhedŏnes. See: [Redones].
Rhegium, now Rheggio, a town of Italy, in the country of the Brutii, opposite Messana in Sicily, where a colony of Messenians under Alcidamidas settled, B.C. 723. It was originally called Rhegium, and afterwards Rhegium Julium, to distinguish it from Rhegium Lepidi, a town of Cisalpine Gaul. Some suppose that it received its name from the Greek word ῥηγνυμι, to break, because it is situate on the straits of Charybdis, which were formed when the island of Sicily, as it were, was broken and separated from the continent of Italy. This town has always been subject to great earthquakes, by which it has often been destroyed. The neighbourhood is remarkable for its great fertility, and for its delightful views. Silius Italicus, bk. 13, li. 94.—Cicero, For Archias, ch. 3.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, lis. 5 & 48.—Justin, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Strabo, bk. 6.
Rhegusci, a people of the Alps.
Rhemi. See: [Remi].
Rhene, a small island of the Ægean, about 200 yards from Delos, 18 miles in circumference. The inhabitants of Delos always buried their dead there, and their women also retired there during their labour, as their own island was consecrated to Apollo, where Latona had brought forth, and where no dead bodies were to be inhumated. Strabo says that it was uninhabited, though it was once as populous and flourishing as the rest of the Cyclades. Polycrates conquered it, and consecrated it to Apollo, after he had tied it to Delos, by means of a long chain. Rhene was sometimes called the small Delos, and the island of Delos the great Delos. Thucydides, bk. 3.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.
Rheni, a people on the borders of the Rhine.
Rhenus, one of the largest rivers of Europe, which divides Germany from Gaul. It rises in the Rhætian Alps, and falls into the German ocean. Virgil has called it bicornis, because it divides itself into two streams. The river Rhine was a long time a barrier between the Romans and the Germans, and on that account its banks were covered with strong castles. Julius Cæsar was the first Roman who crossed it to invade Germany. The waters of that river were held in great veneration, and were supposed by the ancient Germans to have some peculiar virtue, as they threw their children into it, either to try the fidelity of the mothers, or to brace and invigorate their limbs. If the child swam on the surface, the mother was acquitted of suspicion, but if it sunk to the bottom, its origin was deemed illegitimate. In modern geography the Rhine is known as dividing itself into four large branches; the Waal, Lech, Issel, and the Rhine. That branch which still retains the name of Rhine loses itself in the sands above modern Leyden, and is afterwards no longer known by its ancient appellation, since the year 860, A.D., when inundations of the sea destroyed the regularity of its mouth. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 258.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3; bk. 5, ch. 2.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 4, ch. 10.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 6.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 727.——A small river of Italy, falling into the Po on the south, now Rheno. Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 600.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 16; bk. 16, ch. 36.
Rheomitres, a Persian who revolted from Artaxerxes, &c. Diodorus, bk. 15.——A Persian officer killed at the battle of Issus. Curtius, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Rhesus, a king of Thrace, son of the Strymon and Terpsichore, or, according to others, of Eioneus by Euterpe. After many warlike exploits and conquests in Europe, he marched to the assistance of Priam king of Troy, against the Greeks. He was expected with great impatience, as an ancient oracle had declared that Troy should never be taken if the horses of Rhesus drank the waters of the Xanthus, and fed upon the grass of the Trojan plains. This oracle was well known to the Greeks, and therefore two of their best generals, Diomedes and Ulysses, were commissioned by the rest to intercept the Thracian prince. The Greeks entered his camp in the night, slew him, and carried away his horses to their camp. Homer, Iliad, bk. 10.—Dictys Cretensis, bk. 2.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 473.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 98.
Rhetogĕnes, a prince of Spain, who surrendered to the Romans, and was treated with great humanity.
Rhetĭco, a mountain of Rhætia.
Rheunus, a place in Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 23.
Rhexēnor, a son of Nausithous king of Phæacia. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 7.——The father of Chalciope, the wife of Ægeus king of Athens.——A musician who accompanied Antony in Asia.
Rhexibius, an athlete of Opus, who obtained a prize in the Olympic games, and had a statue in the grove of Jupiter. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 18.
Rhiānus, a Greek poet of Thrace, originally a slave. He wrote an account of the war between Sparta and Messenia, which continued for 20 years, as also a history of the principal revolutions and events which had taken place in Thessaly. Of this poetical composition nothing but a few verses are extant. He flourished about 200 years before the christian era. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 6.
Rhidago, a river of Hyrcania falling into the Caspian sea. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 4.
Rhimotăcles, a king of Thrace, who revolted from Antony to Augustus. He boasted of his attachment to the emperor’s person at an entertainment, upon which Augustus said, proditionem amo, proditores vero odi.
Rhinocolūra, a town on the borders of Palestine and Egypt. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 11.
[♦]Rhinthon, a Greek poet of Tarentum, in the age of Alexander. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 20.
[♦] Out of alphabetical order in the text.
Rhion, a promontory of Achaia, opposite to Antirrhium in Ætolia, at the mouth of the Corinthian gulf, called also the Dardanelles of Lepanto. The strait between Naupactum and Patræ bore also the same name. The tomb of Hesiod was at the top of the promontory. Livy, bk. 27, ch. 30; bk. 38, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 22.
Rhipha, or Rhiphe, a town of Arcadia. Statius, bk. 4, Thebaid, li. 286.
Rhiphæi, large mountains at the north of Scythia, where, as some suppose, the Gorgons had fixed their residence. The name of Rhiphæan was applied to any cold mountain in a northern country, and, indeed, these mountains seem to have existed only in the imagination of the poets, though some make the Tanais rise there. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 272; bk. 3, li. 282; bk. 4, li. 418.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 240; bk. 4, li. 518.
Rhipheus, one of the Centaurs. Ovid, Metamorphoses.——A Trojan praised for his justice, &c. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 426. See: [Ripheus].
Rhium. See: [Rhion].
Rhizonitæ, a people of Illyricum, whose chief town was called Rhizinium. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 26.
Rhoda, now Roses, a seaport town of Spain. Livy, bk. 34, ch. 8.——A town on the Rhone, from which the river received its name. It was ruined in Pliny’s age. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 4.
Rhodănus, a river of Gallia Narbonensis, arising in the Rhætian Alps, and falling into the Mediterranean sea, near Marseilles. It is one of the largest and most rapid rivers of Europe, now known by the name of the Rhone. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 5; bk. 3, ch. 3.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 258.—Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 477.—Marcellinus, bk. 15, &c.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 4.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 433; bk. 6, li. 475.
Rhode, a daughter of Neptune. Apollodorus.——Of Danaus. Apollodorus.
Rhodia, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod.——A daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus.
Rhodogȳne, a daughter of Phraates king of Parthia, who married Demetrius, when he was in banishment at her father’s court. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Rhŏdŏpe, or Rhodōpis, a celebrated courtesan of Greece, who was fellow-servant with Æsop, at the court of a king of Samos. She was carried to Egypt by Xanthus, and her liberty was at last bought by Charaxes of Mitylene, the brother of Sappho, who was enamoured of her, and who married her. She sold her favours at Naucratis, where she collected so much money, that, to render her name immortal, she consecrated a number of spits in the temple of Apollo at Delphi; or, according to others, erected one of the pyramids of Egypt. Ælian says that, as Rhodope was one day bathing herself, an eagle carried away one of her sandals, and dropped it near Psammetichus king of Egypt, at Memphis. The monarch was struck with the beauty of the sandal, strict inquiry was made to find the owner, and Rhodope, when discovered, married Psammetichus. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 134, &c.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 15.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 13, ch. 33. Perizonius supposes there were two persons of that name.
Rhŏdŏpe, a high mountain of Thrace, extending as far as the Euxine sea, all across the country, nearly in an eastern direction. Rhodope, according to the poets, was the wife of Hæmus king of Thrace, who was changed into this mountain, because she preferred herself to Juno in beauty. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 87, &c.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 8; Georgics, bk. 3, li. 351.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Silius Italicus, bk. 2, li. 73.—Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus.
Rhodopēius, is used in the same signification as Thracian, because Rhodope was a mountain of that country. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 321; Heroides, poem 2.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 461.
Rhodunia, the top of mount Œta. Livy, bk. 36, ch. 16.
Rhodus, a celebrated island in the Carpathian sea, 120 miles in circumference, at the south of Caria, from which it is distant about 20 miles. Its principal cities were Rhodes, founded about 408 years before the christian era, Lindus, Camisus, Jalysus. Rhodes was famous for the siege which it supported against Demetrius, and for a celebrated statue of Apollo. See: [Colossus]. The Rhodians were originally governed by kings, and were independent, but this government was at last exchanged for a democracy and an aristocracy. They were naturally given up to commerce, and, during many ages, they were the most powerful nation by sea. Their authority was respected, and their laws were so universally approved, that every country made use of them to decide disputes concerning maritime affairs, and they were at last adopted by other commercial nations, and introduced into the Roman codes, from whence they have been extracted to form the basis of the maritime regulations of modern Europe. When Alexander made himself master of Asia, the Rhodians lost their independence, but they soon after asserted their natural privileges under his cruel successors, and continued to hold that influence among nations to which their maritime power and consequence entitled them. They assisted Pompey against Cæsar, and were defeated by Cassius, and became dependent upon the Romans. The island of Rhodes has been known by the several names of Ophiusa, Stadia, Telchinus, Corymbia, Trinacria, Æthrea, Asteria, Poessa, Atabyria, Oloessa, Marcia, and Pelagia. It received the name of Rhodes, either on account of Rhode, a beautiful nymph who dwelt there, and who was one of the favourites of Apollo, or because roses (ῥοδον) grew in great abundance all over the island. Strabo, bk. 14.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Pliny, bk. 2, chs. 62 & 87; bk. 5, ch. 31.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pindar, Olympian, poem 7.—Lucan, bk. 8, li. 248.—Cicero, On Pompey’s Command; Brutus, ltr. 13.—Livy, bk. 27, ch. 30; bk. 31, ch. 2.
Rhœbus, a horse of Mezentius, whom his master addressed with the determination to conquer or to die, when he saw his son Lausus brought lifeless from the battle. This beautiful address is copied from Homer, where likewise Achilles addresses his horses. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 861.
Rhœcus, one of the Centaurs who attempted to offer violence to Atalanta. He was killed at the nuptials of Pirithous by Bacchus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 301.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2.——One of the giants killed by Bacchus, under the form of a lion, in the war which these sons of the earth waged against Jupiter and the gods. Horace, bk. 2, ode 19, li. 23.
Rhœo, a nymph beloved by Apollo. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Rhœtēum, or Rhœtus, a promontory of Troas, on the Hellespont, near which the body of Ajax was buried. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 197; bk. 4, Fasti, li. 279.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 505; bk. 12, li. 456.
Rhœtius, a mountain of Corsica, now Rosso.
Rhœtus, a king of the Marrubii, who married a woman called Casperia, to whom Archemorus, his son by a former wife, offered violence. After this incestuous attempt, [♦]Archemorus fled to Turnus king of the Rutuli. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 388.——A Rutulian killed by Euryalus in the night. Æneid, bk. 9, li. 344.——An Æthiopian killed by Perseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 38.
[♦] ‘Archemorous’ replaced with ‘Archemorus’
Rhosaces, a Persian killed by Clitus as he was going to stab Alexander at the battle of the Granicus. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 1.
Rhosus, a town of Syria, on the gulf of Issus, celebrated for its earthen wares. Cicero, bk. 6, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 1.
Rhoxalāni, a people at the north of the Palus Mæotis. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 79.
Rhoxāna, or Roxāna, a mistress of Alexander, daughter of a Persian satrap. See:, [Roxana].
Rhoxāni, a nation against whom Mithridates made war.
Rhutēni and Rhuthēni, a people of Gaul.
Rhyndăcus, a large river of Mysia, in Asia Minor. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 32.
Rhynthon, a dramatic writer of Syracuse, who flourished at Tarentum, where he wrote 38 plays. Authors are divided with respect to the merit of his compositions, and the abilities of the writer. See: [Rhinthon].
Rhypæ, a town of Achaia, at the west of Helice.
Rigodulum, a village of Germany, now Rigol, near Cologne. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 4, ch. 71.
Riphæi. See: [Rhiphæi].
Ripheus, a Trojan who joined Æneas the night that Troy was reduced to ashes, and was at last killed after making a great carnage of the Greeks. He is commended for his love of justice and equity. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, lis. 339 & 426.——One of the Centaurs killed by Theseus at the nuptials of Pirithous. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 352.
Rixamăræ, a people of Illyricum. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 26.
Robīgo, or Rubīgo, a goddess at Rome, particularly worshipped by husbandmen, as she presided over corn. Her festivals, called Robigalia, were celebrated on the 25th of April, and incense was offered to her, as also the entrails of a sheep and of a dog. She was intreated to preserve the corn from blights. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 911.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 151.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 5; de Re Rustica, bk. 1, ch. 1.
Rodumna, now Roanne, a town of the Ædui, on the Loire.
Roma, a city of Italy, the capital of the Roman empire, situate on the banks of the river Tiber, at the distance of about 16 miles from the sea. The name of its founder, and the manner of its foundation, are not precisely known. Romulus, however, is universally supposed to have laid the foundations of that celebrated city, on the 20th of April, according to Varro, in the year 3961 of the Julian period, 3251 years after the creation of the world, 753 before the birth of Christ, and 431 years after the Trojan war, and in the fourth year of the sixth Olympiad. In its original state, Rome was but a small castle on the summit of mount Palatine; and the founder, to give his followers the appearance of a nation or a barbarian horde, was obliged to erect a standard as a common asylum, for every criminal, debtor, or murderer, who fled from their native country to avoid the punishment which attended them. From such an assemblage a numerous body was soon collected, and before the death of the founder, the Romans had covered with their habitations the Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Esquiline hills, with mount Cœlius and Quirinalis. After many successful wars against the neighbouring states, the views of Romulus were directed to regulate a nation naturally fierce, warlike, and uncivilized. The people were divided into classes, the interests of the whole were linked in a common chain, and the labours of the subject, as well as those of his patron, tended to the same end, the aggrandizement of the state. Under the successors of Romulus, the power of Rome was increased, and the boundaries of her dominions extended; while one was employed in regulating the forms of worship, and inculcating in the minds of his subjects a reverence for the deity, the other was engaged in enforcing discipline among the army, and raising the consequence of the soldiers in the government of the state; and a third made the object of his administration consist in adorning his capital, in beautifying its edifices, and in fortifying it with towers and walls. During 244 years the Romans were governed by kings, but the tyranny, the oppression, and the violence of the last of these monarchs and of his family, became so atrocious, that a revolution was effected in the state, and the democratical government was established. The monarchical government existed under seven princes, who began to reign in the following order: Romulus, B.C. 753; and after one year’s interregnum, Numa, 715; Tullus Hostilius, 672; Ancus Martius, 640; Tarquin Priscus, 616; Servius Tullius, 578; and Tarquin the Proud, 534, expelled 25 years after, B.C. 509; and this regal administration has been properly denominated the infancy of the Roman empire. After the expulsion of the Tarquins from the throne, the Romans became more sensible of their consequence: with their liberty they acquired a spirit of faction, and they became so jealous of their independence, that the first of their consuls who had been the most zealous and animated in the assertion of their freedom, was banished from the city because he bore the name, and was of the family, of the tyrants; and another, to stop their suspicions, was obliged to pull down his house, whose stateliness and magnificence above the rest seemed incompatible with the duties and the rank of a private citizen. They knew more effectually their power when they had fought with success against Porsenna the king of Etruria, and some of the neighbouring states, who supported the claim of the tyrant, and attempted to replace him on his throne by force of arms. A government which is entrusted into the hands of two of the most distinguished of its members, for the limited space of one year, cannot but give rise to great men, glorious exploits, and tremendous seditions. The general who is placed at the head of an army during a campaign, must be active and diligent, when he knows that his power is terminated with the year, and if he has a becoming ambition, he will distinguish his consulship by some uncommon act of valour, before he descends from the dignity of an absolute magistrate to the dependence of a fellow-citizen. Yet these attempts for the attainment of glory often failed of success; and though the Romans could once boast that every individual in their armies could discharge with fidelity and honour the superior offices of magistrate and consul, there are to be found in their annals many years marked by overthrows, or disgraced by the ill conduct, the oppression, and the wantonness of their generals. See: [Consul]. To the fame which their conquests and daily successes had gained abroad, the Romans were not a little indebted for their gradual rise to superiority; and to this may be added the policy of the census, which every fifth year told them their actual strength, and how many citizens were able to bear arms. And indeed it was no small satisfaction to a people who were continually making war, to see that, in spite of all the losses which they might sustain in the field, the increase of the inhabitants of the city was prodigious, and almost incredible; and had Romulus lived after the battle of Actium, he would have been persuaded with difficulty that above 4,000,000 of inhabitants were contained within those walls, which in the most flourishing period of his reign could scarce muster an army of 3000 infantry and 300 horse. But when Rome had flourished under the consular government for about 120 years, and had beheld with pleasure the conquests of her citizens over the neighbouring states and cities, which, according to a Roman historian, she was ashamed to recollect in the summit of her power, an irruption of the barbarians of Gaul rendered her very existence precarious, [♦]and her name was nearly extinguished. The valour of an injured individual [See: [Camillus]] saved it from destruction, yet not before its buildings and temples were reduced to ashes. This celebrated event, which gave the appellation of another founder of Rome to Camillus, has been looked upon as a glorious era to the Romans. The huts and cottages which Romulus had erected, and all his successors repaired, were totally consumed, and when the city arose again from its ruins, the streets were enlarged, convenience as well as order was observed, taste and regularity were consulted, and the poverty, ignorance, and rusticity of the Romans seemed to be extinguished with their old habitations. But no sooner were they freed from the fears of their barbarian invaders, than they turned their arms against those states which refused to acknowledge their superiority, or yield their independence. Their wars with Pyrrhus and the Tarentines displayed their character in a different view; if they before had fought for freedom and independence, they now drew their sword for glory; and here we may see them conquered in the field, and yet refusing to grant that peace for which their conqueror himself had sued. The advantages they gained from their battles with Pyrrhus were many. The Roman name became known in Greece, Sicily, and Africa, and in losing or gaining a victory, the Romans were enabled to examine the manœuvres, observe the discipline, and contemplate the order and the encampments of those soldiers whose friends and ancestors had accompanied Alexander the Great in the conquest of Asia. Italy became subjected to the Romans at the end of the war with the Tarentines, and that period of time has been called the second age, or the adolescence of the Roman empire. After this memorable era they tried their strength not only with distant nations, but also upon a new element; and in the long wars which they waged against Carthage, they acquired territory, and obtained the sovereignty of the sea; and though Annibal for 16 years kept them in continual alarms, hovered round their gates, and destroyed their armies almost before their walls, yet they were doomed to conquer [See: [Punicum bellum]], and soon to add the kingdom of Macedonia [See: [Macedonicum bellum]] and the provinces of Asia [See: [Mithridaticum bellum]] to their empire. But while we consider the Romans as a nation subduing their neighbours by war, their manners, their counsels, and their pursuits at home are not to be forgotten. To be warriors was their profession; their assemblies in the Campus Martius were a meeting of armed men, and very properly denominated an army. Yet while their conquests were so extensive abroad, we find them torn by factions at home; and so far was the resentment of the poorer citizens carried, that we see the enemy at the gates of the city, while all are unwilling to take up arms and to unite in the defence of their common liberty. The senators and nobles were ambitious of power, and endeavoured to retain in their hands that influence which had been exercised with so much success, and such cruelty, by their monarchs. This was the continual occasion of tumults and sedition. The people were jealous of their liberty. The oppression of the nobles irritated them, and the stripes to which they were too often exposed without mercy, was often productive of revolutions. The plebeians, though originally the poorest and most contemptible citizens of an indigent nation, whose food in the first ages of the empire was only bread and salt, and whose drink was water, soon gained rights and privileges by their opposition. Though really slaves, they became powerful in the state; one concession from the patricians produced another, and when their independence was boldly asserted by their tribunes, they were admitted to share in the highest offices of the state, and the laws which forbade the intermarriage of plebeian and patrician families were repealed, and the meanest peasant could by valour and fortitude be raised to the dignity of dictator and consul. It was not till these privileges were obtained by the people from the senate, that Rome began to enjoy internal peace and tranquillity; her battles were then fought with more vigour, her soldiers were more animated, and her sovereignty was more universally established. But supreme power lodged in the hands of a factious and ambitious citizen, becomes too often dangerous. The greatest oppression and tyranny took place of subordination and obedience; and from those causes proceeded the unparalleled slaughter and effusion of blood under a Sylla and a Marius. It has been justly observed, that the first Romans conquered their enemies by valour, temperance, and fortitude; their moderation also and their justice were well known among their neighbours, and not only private possessions, but even mighty kingdoms and empires, were left in their power, to be distributed among a family or to be ensured in the hands of a successor. They were also chosen umpires to decide quarrels, but in this honourable office they consulted their own interest; they artfully supported the weaker side, that the more powerful might be reduced, and gradually become their prey. Under Julius Cæsar and Pompey, the rage of civil war was carried to unprecedented excess: it was not merely to avenge a private injury, but it was a contest for the sovereignty; and though each of the adversaries wore the mask of pretended sincerity, and professed himself to be the supporter of the republic, no less than the abolition of freedom and the public liberty was the aim. What Julius began, his adopted son achieved: the ancient spirit of national independence was extinguished at Rome; and after the battle of Actium, the Romans seemed unable to govern themselves without the assistance of a chief, who, under the title of imperator, an appellation given to every commander by his army after some signal victory, reigned with as much power and as much sovereignty as another Tarquin. Under their emperors, the Romans lived a luxurious and indolent life; they had long forgot to appear in the field, and their wars were left to be waged by mercenary troops, who fought without spirit or animosity, and who were ever ready to yield to him who bought their allegiance and fidelity with the greatest sums of money. Their leaders themselves were not the most prudent or the most humane; the power which they had acquired by bribery was indeed precarious, and among a people where not only the highest offices of the state, but even the imperial purple itself, are exposed to sale, there cannot be expected much happiness or tranquillity in the palace of the emperor. The reigns of the successors of Augustus were distinguished by variety; one was the most abandoned and profligate of men, whom his own vices and extravagance hurried out of the world, while his successor, perhaps the most clement, just, and popular of princes, was sacrificed in the midst of his guards and attendants by the dagger of some offended favourite or disappointed eunuch. Few indeed were the emperors of Rome whose days were not shortened by poison, or the sword of an assassin. If one for some time had the imprudence to trust himself in the midst of a multitude, at last to perish by his own credulity, the other consulted his safety, but with no better success, in the innumerable chambers of his palace, and changed every day, to elude discovery, the place of his retirement. After they had been governed by a race of princes, remarkable for the variety of their characters, the Roman possessions were divided into two distinct empires, by the enterprising Constantine, A.D. 328. Constantinople became the seat of the eastern empire, and Rome remained in the possession of the western emperors, and continued to be the capital of their dominions. In the year 800 of the christian era, Rome with Italy was delivered by Charlemagne, the then emperor of the west, into the hands of the Pope, who still continues to hold the sovereignty, and to maintain his independence under the name of the Ecclesiastical States. The original poverty of the Romans has often been disguised by their poets and historians, who wished it to appear that a nation who were masters of the world, had had better beginning than to be a race of shepherds and robbers. Yet it was to this simplicity they were indebted for their successes. Their houses were originally destitute of every ornament, they were made with unequal boards, and covered with mud, and these served them rather as a shelter against the inclemency of the seasons than for relaxation and ease. Till the age of Pyrrhus, they despised riches, and many salutary laws were enacted to restrain luxury and to punish indolence. They observed great temperance in their meals; young men were not permitted to drink wine till they had attained their 30th year, and it was totally forbidden to women. Their national spirit was supported by policy; the triumphal procession of a conqueror along the streets amidst the applause of thousands, was well calculated to promote emulation, and the number of gladiators who were regularly introduced not only in public games and spectacles, but also at private meetings, served to cherish their fondness for war, whilst it steeled their hearts against the calls of compassion; and when they could gaze with pleasure upon wretches whom they forcibly obliged to murder one another, they were not inactive in the destruction of those whom they considered as inveterate foes or formidable rivals in the field. In their punishments, civil as well as military, the Romans were strict and rigorous; a deserter was severely whipped and sold as a slave, and the degradation from the rank of a soldier and dignity of a citizen was the most ignominious stigma which could be affixed upon a seditious mutineer. The transmarine victories of the Romans proved at last the ruin of their innocence and bravery. They grew fond of the luxury of the Asiatics; and, conquered by the vices and indolence of those nations whom they had subdued, they became as effeminate and as dissolute as their captives. Marcellus was the first who introduced a taste for the fine arts among his countrymen. The spoils and treasures that were obtained in the plunder of Syracuse and Corinth, rendered the Romans partial to elegant refinement and ornamental equipage. Though Cato had despised philosophy [See: [Carneades]], and declared that war was the only profession of his countrymen, the Romans, by their intercourse with the Greeks, soon became fond of literature; and though they had once banished the sophists of Athens from their city, yet they beheld with rapture their settlement among them in the principal towns of Italy, after the conquest of Achaia. They soon after began to imitate their polished captives, and to cultivate poetry with success. From the valour of their heroes and conquerors, indeed, the sublimest subjects were offered to the genius of their poets; but of the little that remains to celebrate the early victories of Rome, nothing can be compared to the nobler effusions of the Augustan age. Virgil has done so much for the Latin name that the splendour and the triumphs of his country are forgotten for a while, when we are transported in the admiration of the majesty of his numbers, the elegant delicacy of his expressions, and the fire of his muse; and the applauses given to the lyric powers of Horace, the softness of Tibullus, the vivacity of Ovid, and to the [♠]superior compositions of other respectable poets, shall be unceasing so long as the name of Rome excites our reverence and our praises, and so long as genius, virtue, and abilities are honoured amongst mankind. Though they originally rejected with horror a law which proposed the building of a public theatre, and the exhibition of plays, like the Greeks, yet the Romans soon proved favourable to the compositions of their countrymen. Livius was the first dramatic writer of consequence at Rome, whose plays began to be exhibited A.U.C. 514. After him Nævius and Ennius wrote for the stage; and in a more polished period Plautus, Terence, Cæcilius, and Afranius claimed the public attention and gained the most unbounded applause. Satire did not make its appearance at Rome till 100 years after the introduction of comedy, and so celebrated was Lucilius in this kind of writing, that he was called the inventor of it. In historical writing the progress of the Romans was slow and inconsiderable, and for many years they employed the pen of foreigners to compile their annals, till the superior abilities of a Livy were made known. In their worship and sacrifices the Romans were uncommonly superstitious; the will of the gods was consulted on every occasion, and no general marched to an expedition without the previous assurance from the augurs that the omens were propitious, and his success almost indubitable. Their sanctuaries were numerous; they raised altars not only to the gods, who, as they supposed, presided over their city, but also to the deities of conquered nations, as well as to the different passions and virtues. There were no less than 420 temples at Rome, crowded with statues; the priests were numerous, and each divinity had a particular college of sacerdotal servants. Their wars were declared in the most awful and solemn manner, and prayers were always offered in the temples for the prosperity of Rome, when a defeat had been sustained or a victory won. The power of fathers over their children was very extensive, and indeed unlimited; they could sell them or put them to death at pleasure, without the forms of a trial, or the interference of the civil magistrate. Many of their ancient families were celebrated for the great men whom they had produced, but the vigorous and interested part they took in the government of the republic exposed them often to danger; and some have observed that the Romans sunk into indolence and luxury when the Cornelii, the Fabii, the Æmylii, the Marcelli, &c., who had so often supported their spirit and led them to victory, had been extinguished in the bloody wars of Marius and of the two triumvirates. When Rome was become powerful, she was distinguished from other cities by the flattery of her neighbours and citizens; a form of worship was established to her as a deity, and temples were raised in her honour, not only in the city but in the provinces. The goddess Roma was represented like Minerva, all armed and sitting on a rock, holding a pike in her hand, with her head covered with a helmet, and a trophy at her feet. Livy, bk. 1, &c.—Cato, de Re Rustica.—Virgil, Eclogues, Georgics, & Æneid.—Horace, bk. 2, satire 6, &c.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.—Paterculus.—Tacitus, Annals & Histories.—Tibullus, bk. 4.—Lucan.—Plutarch, Romulus, Numa, &c.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 1, &c.—Pliny, bk. 7, &c.—Justin, bk. 43.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 5.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, &c.—Martial, bk. 12, ltr. 8.——A daughter of Evander.——A Trojan woman who came to Italy with Æneas.——A daughter of Italus and Luceria. It was after one of these females, according to some authors, that the capital of Italy was called Roma.
[♦] ‘aud’ replaced with ‘and’
[♠] ‘superor’ replaced with ‘superior’
Romāni, the inhabitants of Rome. See: [Roma].
Romānus, an officer under Theodosius.——Another, poisoned by Nero.——A son of Constans, &c.
Romilius Marcellus, a Roman centurion in Galba’s reign, &c. Tacitus, bk. 1, Histories.
Romŭla, a name given to the fig tree under which Romulus and Remus were found. Ovid., bk. 2, Fasti, li. 412.
Romulea, a town of the Samnites. Livy, bk. 10, ch. 17.
Rōmŭlĭdæ, a patronymic given to the Roman people from Romulus their first king, and the founder of their city. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 638.
Romŭlus, a son of Mars and Ilia, grandson of Numitor king of Alba, was born at the same birth with Remus. These two children were thrown into the Tiber by order of Amulius, who usurped the crown of his brother Numitor; but they were preserved, and, according to Florus, the river stopped its course, and a she-wolf came and fed them with her milk, till they were found by Faustulus, one of the king’s shepherds, who educated them as his own children. When they knew their real origin, the twins, called Romulus and Remus, put Amulius to death, and restored the crown to their grandfather Numitor. They afterwards undertook to build a city, and to determine which of the two brothers should have the management of it, they had recourse to omens and the flight of birds. Remus went to mount Aventine, and Romulus to mount Palatine. Remus saw first a flight of six vultures, and soon after, Romulus 12; and therefore, as his number was greater, he began to lay the foundations of the city, hoping that it would become a warlike and powerful nation, as the birds from which he had received the omen were fond of prey and slaughter. Romulus marked with a furrow the place where he wished to erect the walls; but their slenderness was ridiculed by Remus, who leaped over them with the greatest contempt. This irritated Romulus, and Remus was immediately put to death, either by the hand of his brother or one of the workmen. When the walls were built, the city was without inhabitants; but Romulus, by making an asylum of a sacred grove, soon collected a number of fugitives, foreigners, and criminals, whom he received as his lawful subjects. Yet, however numerous these might be, they were despised by the neighbouring inhabitants, and none were willing to form matrimonial connections with them. But Romulus obtained by force what was denied to his petitions. The Romans celebrated games in honour of the god Consus, and forcibly carried away all the females who had assembled there to be spectators of these unusual exhibitions. These violent measures offended the neighbouring nations; they made war against the ravishers with various success, till at last they entered Rome, which had been betrayed to them by one of the stolen virgins. A violent engagement was begun in the middle of the Roman forum; but the Sabines were conquered, or, according to Ovid, the two enemies laid down their arms when the women had rushed between the two armies, and by their tears and entreaties raised compassion in the bosoms of their parents and husbands. The Sabines left their original possessions and came to live in Rome, where Tatius their king shared the sovereign power with Romulus. The introduction of the Sabines into the city of Rome was attended with the most salutary consequences, and the Romans, by pursuing this plan, and admitting the conquered nations among their citizens, rendered themselves more powerful and more formidable. Afterwards Romulus divided the lands which he had obtained by conquest; one part was reserved for religious uses, to maintain the priests, to erect temples, and to consecrate altars; the other was appropriated for the expenses of the state; and the third part was equally distributed among his subjects, who were divided into three classes or tribes. The most aged and experienced, to the number of 100, were also chosen, whom the monarch might consult in matters of the highest importance, and from their age they were called senators, and from their authority patres. The whole body of the people were also distinguished by the name of patricians and plebeians, patron and client, who by mutual interest were induced to preserve the peace of the state, and to promote the public good. Some time after Romulus disappeared as he was giving instructions to the senators, and the eclipse of the sun, which happened at that time, was favourable to the rumour which asserted that the king had been taken up to heaven, 714 B.C., after a reign of 39 years. This was further confirmed by Julius Proculus, one of the senators, who solemnly declared, that as he returned from Alba, he had seen Romulus in a form above human, and that he had directed him to tell the Romans to pay him divine honours under the name of Quirinus, and to assure them that their city was doomed one day to become the capital of the world. This report was immediately credited, and the more so as the senators dreaded the resentment of the people, who suspected them of having offered him violence. A temple was raised to him, and a regular priest, called Flamen Quirinalis, was appointed to offer him sacrifices. Romulus was ranked by the Romans among the 12 great gods, and it is not to be wondered that he received such distinguished honours, when the Romans considered him as the founder of their city and empire, and the son of the god of war. He is generally represented like his father, so much that it is difficult to distinguish them. The fable of the two children of Rhea Sylvia being nourished by a she-wolf, arose from Lupa, Faustulus’s wife, having brought them up. See: [Acca]. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bks. 1 & 2.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 4, &c.—Justin, bk. 43, chs. 1 & 2.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Plutarch, Romulus.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 3, ch. 2; bk. 5, ch. 3.—Pliny, bk. 15, ch. 18, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, lis. 342, 605.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, lis. 616 & 845; Fasti, bk. 4, &c.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 3.—Juvenal, satire 18, li. 272.
Romŭlus Sylvius, or Alladius, a king of Alba.——Momyllus Augustulus, the last of the emperors of the western empire of Rome. His country was conquered A.D. 476, by the Heruli, under Odoacer, who assumed the name of king of Italy.
Romus, a son of Æneas by Lavinia. Some suppose that he was the founder of Rome.——A son of Æmathion sent by Diomedes to Italy, and also supposed by some to be the founder of Rome.
Roscia lex, de theatris, by Lucius Roscius Otho the tribune, A.U.C. 685. It required that none should sit in the first 14 seats of the theatre, if they were not in possession of 400 sestertia, which was the fortune required to be a Roman knight.
Roscianum, the port of Thurii, now Rossano.
Quintus Roscius, a Roman actor, born at Lanuvium, so celebrated on the stage that every comedian of excellence and merit has received his name. His eyes were naturally distorted, and he always appeared on the stage with a mask, but the Romans obliged him to act his characters without, and they overlooked the deformities of his face, that they might the better hear his elegant pronunciation, and be delighted with the sweetness of his voice. He was accused on suspicion of dishonourable practices; but Cicero, who had been one of his pupils, undertook his defence, and cleared him of the malevolent aspersions of his enemies, in an elegant oration still extant. Roscius wrote a treatise, in which he compared with great success and much learning the profession of the orator with that of the comedian. He died about 60 years before Christ. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1.—Quintilian.—Cicero, For Quintus Roscius the Actor; On Oratory, bk. 3; de Divinatione, bk. 1, &c.; Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 3, &c.—Plutarch, Cicero.——Sextus, a rich citizen of Ameria, murdered in the dictatorship of Sylla. His son, of the same name, was accused of the murder, and eloquently defended by Cicero, in an oration still extant, A.U.C. 673. Cicero, For Quintus Roscius the Actor.——Lucius, a lieutenant of Cæsar’s army in Gaul.——Otho, a tribune, who made a law to discriminate the knights from the common people at public spectacles.
Rosiæ campus, or Rosia, a beautiful plain in the country of the Sabines, near the lake Velinum. Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 712.—Cicero, bk. 4, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 15.
Rosillanus ager, a territory in Etruria.
Rosius, a harbour of Cilicia.——A man made consul only for one day under Vitellius, &c. Tacitus.
Rosulum, a town of Etruria, now Monte Rosi.
Rotomagus, a town of Gaul, now Rouen.
Roxāna, a Persian woman, taken prisoner by Alexander. The conqueror became enamoured of her and married her. She behaved with great cruelty after Alexander’s death, and she was at last put to death by Cassander’s order. She was daughter of Darius, or, according to others, of one of his satraps. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 4; bk. 10, ch. 6.—Plutarch, Alexander.——A wife of Mithridates the Great, who poisoned herself.
Roxolāni, a people of European Sarmatia, who proved very active and rebellious in the reign of the Roman emperors.
Rubeæ, the north cape at the north of Scandinavia.
Rubellius Blandus, a man who married Julia the daughter of Drusus, &c.——One of the descendants of Augustus, treacherously put to death by Nero, &c. Tacitus.——Plautus, an illustrious Roman who disgraced himself by his arrogance and ambitious views. Juvenal, satire 8, li. 39.
Rubi, now Ruvo, a town of Apulia, from which the epithet Rubeus is derived, applied to bramble bushes which grew there. The inhabitants were called Rubitini. Horace, bk. 1, satire 5, li. 94.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 266.
Rubĭcon, now Rugone, a small river of Italy, which it separates from Cisalpine Gaul. It rises in the Apennine mountains, and falls into the Adriatic sea. By crossing it, and thus transgressing the boundaries of his province, Julius Cæsar declared war against the senate and Pompey, and began the civil wars. Lucan, bk. 1, lis. 185 & 213.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 32.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 15.
Rubiēnus Lappa, a tragic poet in the age of Juvenal, conspicuous as much for his great genius as his poverty. Juvenal, satire 7, li. 72.
Rubīgo, a goddess. See: [Robigo].
Rubo, the Dwina, a river which falls into the Baltic at Riga.
Rubra saxa, a place of Etruria, near Veii, at the distance of above eight miles from Rome. Martial, bk. 4, ltr. 64, li. 15.—Livy, bk. 3, ch. 49.
Rubria lex, was enacted after the taking of Carthage, to make an equal division of the lands in Africa.
Rubrius, a Roman knight accused of treason under Tiberius, &c. Tacitus.——A man who fled to Parthia on suspicion that the Roman affairs were ruined.——A friend of Vitellius.——An obscure Gaul in great favour with Domitian. Juvenal, satire 4, li. 145.——An officer in Cæsar’s army.
Rubrum mare (the Red sea), is situate between Arabia, Egypt, and Æthiopia, and is often called Erythræum mare, and confounded with the Arabicus sinus, and the Indian sea. Pliny, bk. 6, chs. 23 & 24.—Livy, bk. 36, ch. 17; bk. 42, ch. 52; bk. 45, ch. 9.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 686.—Lucan, bk. 8, li. 853.
Rudiæ, a town of Calabria near Brundusium, built by a Greek colony, and famous for giving birth to the poet Ennius. Cicero, For Archias, ch. 10.—Silius Italicus, bk. 12, li. 396.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Ruffīnus, a general in Gaul in the reign of Vitellius, &c. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 2, ch. 94.
Ruffus Crispīnus, an officer of the pretorian guards under Claudius. He was banished by Agrippina for his attachment to Britannicus and Octavius the sons of Messalina, and put himself to death. His wife Poppæa Sabina, by whom he had a son called Ruffinus Crispinus, afterwards married Nero. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 12, ch. 42; bk. 16, ch. 17.——A soldier presented with a civic crown for preserving the life of a citizen, &c.
Rufiāna, a town of Gaul, now Rufash, in Alsace.
Rufilius, a Roman ridiculed by Horace, satire 2, li. 27, for his effeminacy.
Julius Rufinianus, a rhetorician, &c.
Rufinus, a general of Theodosius, &c.
Rufræ, a town of Campania, of which the inhabitants were called Rufreni. Cicero, bk. 10, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 71.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 568.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 739.
Rufrium, a town of Samnium, now Ruvo. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 25.
Rufus, a Latin historian. See: [Quintius].——A friend of Commodus, famous for his avarice and ambition.——One of the ancestors of Sylla, degraded from the rank of a senator because 10 pounds’ weight of gold were found in his house.——A governor of Judæa.——A man who conspired against Domitian.——A poet of Ephesus in the reign of Trajan. He wrote six books on simples, now lost.——A Latin poet.——Sempronius. See: [Prætorius].
Rugia, now Rugen, an island of the Baltic.
Rugii, a nation of Germany. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 43.
Rupilius, an officer surnamed Rex, for his authoritative manners. He was proscribed by Augustus and fled to Brutus. Horace, bk. 1, satire 7, li. 1.——A writer whose treatises de figuris sententiarum, &c., were edited by Runken, 8vo, Leiden, 1786.
Ruscino, a town of Gaul at the foot of the Pyrenees. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 24.——A seaport town of Africa. Livy, bk. 30, ch. 10.
Ruscius, a town of Gaul.
Rusconia, a town of Mauritania. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 24.
Rusellæ, an inland town of Etruria destroyed by the Romans. Livy, bk. 28, ch. 45.
Ruspĭna, a town of Africa near Adrumetum. Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 260.—Hirtius, African War, li. 640.
Rustĭcus Lucius Junius Arulenus, a man put to death by Domitian. He was the friend and preceptor of Pliny the younger, who praises his abilities, and he is likewise commended by Tacitus, bk. 16, Histories, ch. 26.—Pliny, bk. 1, ltr. 14.—Suetonius, Domitian.——A friend of Marcus Aurelius.
Rusuccurum, a town of Mauritania, believed to be modern Algiers.
Rutēni, a people of Gaul, now Ruvergne, in Guienne. Cæsar, Gallic War.
Rutila, a deformed old woman, who lived near 100 years, &c. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 48.—Juvenal, satire 10, li. 294.
Publius Rutilius Rufus, a Roman consul in the age of Sylla, celebrated for his virtues and writings. He refused to comply with the requests of his friends because they were unjust. When Sylla had banished him from Rome he retired to Smyrna, amidst the acclamations and praises of the people; and when some of his friends wished him to be recalled home by means of a civil war, he severely reprimanded them, and said, that he wished rather to see his country blush at his exile, than to plunge it into distress by his return. He was the first who taught the Roman soldiers the principles of fencing, and by thus mixing dexterity with valour, rendered their attacks more certain, and more irresistible. During his banishment he employed his time in study, and wrote a history of Rome in Greek, and an account of his own life in Latin, besides many other works. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 563.—Seneca, de Beneficiis.—Cicero, Brutus; On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 53.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 2, ch. 3; bk. 6, ch. 4.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 9.——A Roman proconsul, who is supposed to have encouraged Mithridates to murder all the Romans who were in his province.——Lupus, a pretor, who fled away with three cohorts from Tarracina.——A rhetorician. Quintilian, bk. 3, ch. 1.——A man who went against Jugurtha.——A friend of Nero.——Claudius Numantianus, a poet of Gaul, in the reign of Honorius. According to some he wrote a poem on mount Ætna. He wrote also an itinerary, published by Burman in the Poetæ Latini Minores, Leiden, 4to, 1731.
Rutilus, a rich man reduced to beggary by his extravagance. Juvenal, satire 11, li. 2.
Rutŭba, a river of Liguria, falling from the Apennines into the Mediterranean. Lucan, bk. 2, li. 422.——Of Latium, falling into the Tiber. Lucan, bk. 2, li. 422.
Rutŭbus, a gladiator, &c. Horace, bk. 2, satire 7, li. 96.
Rŭtŭli, a people of Latium, known as well as the Latins, by the name of Aborigines. When Æneas came into Italy, Turnus was their king, and they supported him in the war which he waged against this foreign prince. The capital of their dominions was called Ardea. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 883; Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 455, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, 7, &c.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.
Rŭtŭpæ, a seaport town on the southern coasts of Britain, abounding in excellent oysters, whence the epithet of Rutupinus. Some suppose that it is the modern town of Dover, but others Richborough or Sandwich. Lucan, bk. 6, li. 67.—Juvenal, satire 4, li. 141.
Ryphæi montes. See: [♦][Rhiphæi].
[♦] ‘Rhipæi’ replaced with ‘Rhiphæi’