Augarus, an Arabian who, for his good offices obtained the favours of Pompey, whom he vilely deceived. Dio Cassius.——A king of Osroene, whom Caracalla imprisoned, after he had given him solemn promises of friendship and support. Dio Cassius, bk. 78.

Augeæ, a town of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 21.——Another of Locris.

Augias and Augeas, son of Eleus, or Elius, was one of the Argonauts, and afterwards ascended the throne of Elis. He had an immense number of oxen and goats, and the stables in which they were kept had never been cleaned, so that the task seemed an impossibility to any man. Hercules undertook it, on promise of receiving as a reward the tenth part of the herds of Augias, or something equivalent. The hero changed the course of the river Alpheus, or, according to others, of the Peneus, which immediately carried away the dung and filth from the stables. Augias refused the promised recompense on pretence that Hercules had made use of artifice, and had not experienced any labour or trouble, and he further drove his own son Phyleus from his kingdom, because he supported the claims of the hero. The refusal was a declaration of war. Hercules conquered Elis, put to death Augias, and gave the crown to Phyleus. Pausanias says, bk. 5, chs. 2 & 3, that Hercules spared the life of Augias for the sake of his son, and that Phyleus went to settle in Dulichium; and that at the death of Augias his other son, Agasthenes succeeded to the throne. Augias received, after his death, the honours which were generally paid to a hero. Augias has been called the son of Sol, because Elius signifies the sun. The proverb of Augean stable is now applied to an impossibility. Hyginus, fables 14, 30, 157.—Pliny, bk. 17, ch. 9.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Apollodorus, bk. 2.

Augĭlæ, a people of Africa, who supposed that there were no gods except the manes of the dead, of whom they sought oracles. Mela, bk. 1.

Augīnus, a mountain of Liguria. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 2.

Augŭres, certain officers at Rome who foretold future events, whence their name, ab avium garritu. They were first created by Romulus, to the number of three. Servius Tullius added a fourth, and the tribunes of the people, A.U.C. 454, increased the number to nine; and Sylla added six more during his dictatorship. They had a particular college, and the chief amongst them was called Magister collegii. Their office was honourable; and if any one of them was convicted of any crime, he could not be deprived of his privileges; an indulgence granted to no other sacerdotal body at Rome. The augur generally sat on a high tower to make his observations. His face was turned towards the east, and he had the north to his left, and the south at his right. With a crooked staff he divided the face of the heavens into four different parts, and afterwards sacrificed to the gods, covering his head with his vestment. There were generally five things from which the augurs drew omens. The first consisted in observing the phænomena of the heavens, such as thunder, lightning, comets, &c. The second kind of omen was drawn from the chirping or flying of birds. The third was from the sacred chickens, whose eagerness or indifference in eating the bread which was thrown to them, was looked upon as lucky or unlucky. The fourth was from quadrupeds, from their crossing or appearing in some unaccustomed place. The fifth was from different casualties, which were called Dira, such as spilling salt upon a table, or wine upon one’s clothes, hearing strange noises, stumbling or sneezing, meeting a wolf, hare, fox, or pregnant bitch. From such superstitious notions did the Romans draw their prophecies. The sight of birds on the left hand was always deemed a lucky object, and the words sinister and lævus, though generally supposed to be terms of ill luck, were always used by the augurs in an auspicious sense. Cicero, de Divinatione.—Livy, bk. 1, &c.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.—Ovid, Fasti.

♦Augurīnus Julius, a Roman knight who conspired against Nero, &c. Tacitus, ♠Annals, bk. 15, ch. 70.

♦ ‘Tugurīnus Julius’ replaced with ‘Augurīnus Julius’
Placed in correct alphebetical order.

♠ ‘H. 15, c. 70’ replaced with ‘Annals, bk. 15, ch. 50’

Augusta, a name given to 70 cities in the Roman provinces in honour of Augustus Cæsar.——London, as capital of the country of the Trinobantes, was called Augusta Trinobantia.——Messalina, famous for her debaucheries, was called Augusta, as wife of the emperor Claudius. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 118.

Augustālia, a festival at Rome, in commemoration of the day on which Augustus returned to Rome, after he had established peace over the different parts of the empire.

Augustīnus, a bishop of Hippo in Africa, distinguished himself by his writings, as well as by the austerity of his life. In his works, which are numerous, he displayed the powers of a great genius, and an extensive acquaintance with the philosophy of Plato. He died in the 76th year of his age, A.D. 430. The best edition of his works is that of the Benedict, folio, Antwerp, 1700 to 1703, 12 vols.

Augustodūnum, now Autun, a town of Gaul, the capital of the ancient Ædui.

Augustŭlus, the last Roman emperor of the west, A.D. 475, conquered by Odoacer king of the Heruli.

Augustus Octaviānus Cæsar, second emperor of Rome, was son of 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.