Adventus, Marcus Oclatinus 5

Coemperor licinius. In 312 Constantine had won the battle of MILVIAN BRIDGE, gaining absolute control over the Western Empire. In the East, Licinius vied with maximinus DAIA for domination, and in 313 marched against this rival. Licinius triumphed; two men now controlled the world in an unstable alliance. In 316 the Danube and Balkan provinces became their battleground. Two collisions (at Cibalae and Mardia) resulted only in stalemate and eventually in a treaty By 323, Constantine marched once more, against the goths. After routing the barbarians along the Danube, he pursued them into Licinius’s territory and one year later forced a showdown.

The two rulers gathered their legions, each army totaling around 130,000 men. On July 3, 324, they engaged at Adrianople. Constantine set a large portion of his army on Licinius’s flank, while he led the main assault on the enemy’s naturally weakened center. The feint on the flank worked perfectly, and Constantine smashed Licinius’s middle. His army routed, Licinius fled, leaving behind some 40,000 men. Constantine pursued him to Byzantium.

Another battle was fought at sea on the Hellespont later in the month, and on September 18, 324, the last confrontation took place at Chrysopolis, where Constantine was again the victor. Licinius was executed in the following year, and Constantine was the sole ruler of the Roman world.

A second battle was fought at Adrianople on August 9, 378, between Emperor valens and the Goths. In 376, Valens, the Eastern emperor, received word that the Visigoths were being pushed in great numbers beyond the natural frontier of the Danube. The huns had invaded their lands, and the Visigoths, led by fritigern and Alav-ius, were asking permission to migrate and to settle across the Lower Danube, near Thrace. Valens allowed them to enter the empire with the demand that they surrender their arms and submit all male children as hostages. The hostages were handed over, the arms were not. The arrival of equally alarmed Ostrogothic remnants threw all of Thrace into confusion, and a war broke out. Rome faced Visigoth and Ostrogoth elements, as a general rebellion threatened the entire Danube front. In Thrace, Fritigern (Alavius having been killed in an ambush) joined the Ostrogoth kings, Alatheus and Saphrax (or Safrax), to duel with Valens’s Greek legate, Sebastian. The Goths were defeated several times by inferior forces.

GRATIAN, emperor of the West, took steps to pacify the Danube. Sensing that an opportunity was within his reach, not only to crush the barbarian hordes but also to lay claim to greatness for the act, Valens precipitately marched from Constantinople to attack the Goths. The emperor possessed nearly 60,000 men, mostly infantry, while Fritigern and his allies numbered over 100,000 evenly divided between horse and foot. On August 9, 378, Valens, unwilling to wait for Gratian, pressed his legions into battle.

His assault was well-timed, being launched while the mainly Ostrogoth cavalry was away The Visigoths, facing an organized army with their own limited cavalry on their flanks, were driven back into the large wagon camp that had been erected. Valens pushed on, but suddenly the Ostrogoths turned and made a charge that was to revitalize military tactics for the next thousand years. Crushed, routed and finally annihilated, the immobilized Roman legions were ridden down by the horsemen. Few escaped from the catastrophe. Valens died with 40,000 other Roman soldiers.

The battle of Adrianople was felt more deeply and politically than the number of casualties warranted. St. Ambrose called it “the end of all humanity, the end of the world,” a statement that was dramatic and prophetic. Rome was no longer invincible, and the barbarians were pressing on the frontiers.

Adriaticum Mare (Adriatic Sea) The Adriatic sea between Italy and the Balkans that served for many centuries as a conduit of trade and over which Grecian civilization spread throughout Italy. Although always plagued by pirates and natural hazards, the Adriatic played a role in the shaping of Roman economic power. Safe transport of vessels was made possible after the rise to power of Emperor Augustus (63 b. c.e.-14 c. e.), with the stationing of fleets as monitors of the sea lanes. The home port of these fleets was aquileia, at the head of the Adriatic, the largest trading city in the area.

See also piracy.

Aduatuca Also called Atuatuca in some records; an engagement between ambiorix and the Romans took place at this site in what is now Belgium in the winter of 54-53 b. c.e. Ambiorix, the tall chieftain of the Eburones, began an uprising against the widely scattered, winter-quartered Roman legions. The attack came as a surprise to Caesar’s lieutenant in northern Gaul, Q. Titurius sabi-nus. Sabinus’s command was spread over the countryside and was vulnerable to assault. Ambiorix was aware of the military risks in a frontal assault against the Roman positions, and offered safe passage to Sabinus and his troops. The Gallic chieftain did not keep his word. Sabinus and his men were slaughtered. Buoyed by his success, Ambiorix attacked Caesar’s other commander, Quintus Tullius Cicero, and suffered defeat. The entire region controlled by Ambiorix and his people was eventually overrun by Caesar during the gallic wars, and the rebellion ended.

Adventus, Marcus Oclatinus (160-after 218 c. e.) Roman general and official

Born in 160, Adventus began a military career and entered the frumentarii, the spy service of the empire, eventually becoming its chief. He later received a procu-

6 advocatus

Ratorship and served Emperor caracalla as one of his two prefects. The other prefect, macrinus, murdered Caracalla, thus handing the army the task of choosing an imperial successor. According to the historian Herodian, Adventus was the army’s first choice but declined because of his advanced age; Macrinus was elected in his place.

As emperor, Macrinus appears to have felt indebted to Adventus and appointed him a senator, a fellow consul and then prefect of the city These appointments, made in 218, angered the Senate and the Roman populace, who considered Adventus an assassin. Macrinus tried to make amends by replacing Adventus as prefect with Marius Maximus, which did nothing to appease the Senate. Macrinus died at the hands of Caracalla’s family, having no powerful protectors or friends. Adventus, the cause of so many of Macrinus’s problems, retired from public life.

Advocatus The legal presenter of a case in the Roman judicial system, requiring skill in law, precedence, history, and oratory The advocatus was a gifted speaker who could elevate his defense to an intellectual, philosophical, and rhetorical level that increased the chances of winning. The advocatus was distinct from the jurist in the Roman court system, but in the late empire a decline of jurists caused the roles to overlap and become blurred. Fees were originally banned for the advocati, but this tradition was abandoned. One of the greatest advocati in Roman history was cicero.

See also law.

Aedesius (c. 280/90-355 c. e.) Neoplatonic philosopher of the late fourth century

Aedesius studied in Syria under iamblichus. Aedesius’s students included the future Emperor JULIAN and the historian EUSEBIUS, bishop of Caesarea. Aedesius could be a staunch defender of his beliefs. When another Neopla-tonist, Hierocles, placed a virgin into a brothel in Egypt, Aedesius beat him severely with a stick for this act.

See also neoplatonism.

Aedile An administrator of Rome, taken from the Latin aedes, which meant “temple”; their usefulness and political position increased over the centuries. During the Republic, the aediles supervised the streets, temples, and quarters of Rome and, more important, the cura annonae, the distribution of the vital corn supply Augustus, like Caesar before him, made adjustments to their power, in order to create a more professional imperial administration. The historian Tacitus painted a rather clear picture of the role of the aediles during the early empire. They were to tend public buildings, keep the streets clean, police the city (although the urban COHORTS also fulfilled this task), and superintend the markets and the games. Also, the aediles helped supervise the cleaning up of the city, an activity that they did not perform particularly well. Aediles were also charged with the task of destroying any and all books condemned by the Senate and enforced all sumptuary laws.

Aedui A tribe centered in Gallic Burgundy, whose dealings with Rome were both successful and unfortunate. The Aedui became clients of the Republic in the late second century b. c.e., freeing themselves from the yoke of the AVERNI and the allobroges, for which they showed themselves grateful enough to earn the title of fratres, or “brothers.” The alliance with Rome allowed them to become the largest of the Gallic tribes. Their capital was founded at augustodonum, after Bibracte, their former capital, was abandoned in Caesar’s time.

The Aedui were always resentful of Roman domination, and on at least two occasions launched major rebellions against their conquerors. The first was in 21 c. e., when sacrovir, their king, led 40,000 Aedui and their allies against the legate Gaius SILIUS (1). The battle was quickly decided by Roman might, and Sacrovir killed himself. vindex, a Romanized Gaul, and the governor of the pacified region of Gallia Lugdunensis, rose up in 68 c. e., declaring that galba should be declared the princeps; the Aedui joined him. L. verginius rufus, the master of the legions of Germania Superior, smashed Vindex’s hopes in battle. The Aedui were not punished, because Rome’s attention was drawn to its own civil war of 69 c. e.

The relationship between the Aedui and the Romans was remarkably cordial and solid over the decades, a unique circumstance among the proud Gallic tribes. The Aedui aided Julius Caesar in his campaigns. Eventually, as clients of Rome, they were able to send representatives to serve in the Senate. As a result of their alliance with Rome, in the third and fourth centuries, the Aedui lands were destroyed by the constant wars of the empire, while the onslaught of barbarians from the east broke Aedui power.

Aegidius (d. 464 c. e.) A magister militum in Gaul in 458

Serving Emperor Majorian, he was one of Rome’s leading figures in a chaotic era of the Late Empire. Aegidius upheld Roman power at Arles, working with numerous tribes of the region, including the franks and the van dals. He was personally responsible for defeating the powerful Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths, who invaded Gaul. By 461, Aegidius was the principal opponent of Rome’s true master, ricimer, the German magister militum, who deposed Majorian and replaced him with LIBIUS SEVERUS. Only the continuing wars with Theodo-ric’s Visigoths kept Aegidius from advancing on Rome to take the throne himself. According to Gregory of Tours, the Franks offered him their own throne. Aegidius died in 464, perhaps by poison. He was a devout Christian and a Roman of strict ideals.

Aelian (Claudius Aelianus) (c. 170-235 c. e.) Writer and rhetorician

Heavily influenced by stoicism, Aelian was the author of two books of lasting interest, Natura Animalium and the Varia Historia, and is considered by some to be the author of the Peasant Letters as well.

Aelianus, Casperius (d. 98 a. d.) Prefect of the Praetorian Guard

Appointed by domitian Aelianus was soon replaced in the aftermath of a financial scandal. When Nerva came to the throne in 96, Aelianus regained his position with the Guard. As prefect of the powerful Praetorians, Aelianus drove his troops into a rage over the assassination of Emperor Domitian. The Praetorians raced to the palace and cornered the new emperor, demanding justice and the death of Domitian’s slayers (two of Nerva’s allies). Nerva was dismissed by the Praetorians. The guilty were soon removed and executed, and Emperor Nerva collapsed and died soon after. Trajan, the new emperor of Rome, summoned Aelianus and all of the other Praetorians involved. They arrived at Trajan’s base at cologne and were promptly slain for their treachery.

Aelius Caesar, Lucius (Lucius Ceionius Com-modus) (d. 138 c. e.) Adopted heir of Emperor Hadrian The son of a powerful senatorial family, Aelius came to the attention of Emperor Hadrian in 136. At the time, Hadrian was searching for an heir. Young, well educated and popular, Aelius was made consul in 136 and 137 and was officially adopted as Hadrian’s heir in 136, assuming the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. The emperor ordered the deaths of his own brother-in-law, Julius Servianus, and his grandson, because they could be considered rivals to the throne. Aelius’s daughter Fabia was then married to the future emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Aelius subsequently served on the Danube and returned to Rome during the winter of 137. In January 138, he suddenly became ill and died. His son was Lucius Verus.