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.