Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/702

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690 SABINUS. stabbed Sabimis, mangled his bodj-, cnt off his head, and dragged his remains to the phice where the corpses of malefactors were thrown {in Gemo- nias). His children and his nephew Domitian made their escape. When the generals of Vespa- sian obtained possession of the city, the remains of Sabinus were interred with the honour of a cen- sor's funeral. Sabinus was a man of distinguished reputation, and of unspotted character. He had been engaged in military service for thirty-five years, and was equally illustrious in peace and in war. During the seven years that he had governed Moesia, and the twelve years he had held the praefecture of the city, the only charge ever brought against him was a too great copious- ness of speech. It was universally agreed, that before Vespasian became emperor, the dignity of the family centred in Sabinus. He left two sons, Flavius Sabinus [No. 4], and Flavins Clemens [Clemens.] (Pint. Olh. 5 ; Tac. Hist. i. 46, ii. 55, iii. 64 — 74, iv. 47 ; Dion Cass. Ixv. 17 ; Suet. Vesp. 1, Vitell. 15 ; Joseph. B. J. iv. 10. § 3, iv. ]]. §4 ; Eutrop. vii. 12 ; Aurel. Vict. Cues. 8.) 3. T. Flavius Sabinus, was consul suffectus with M. Caelius Sabinus in May and June, A. D. 69. He was one of the generals appointed by 0;ho to oppose the forces of Vitellius, but after the victory of the latter he made his submission to the conqueror {Tac. Hist. i. 77, ii. 36,51). We have followed Tillemont (^Histoire des Empereiirs,

  • ' Note 1 sur Othon ") in making this T. Flavius

Sabinus a different person from the praefect of the city mentioned above. Tacitus nowhere speaks of them as the same person, and it is moreover un- likely that the praefect of the city would have been sent away from Rome. Besides which, we find that after the death of Otho, the consul Flavius Sabinus caused his troops in the north of Italy to submit to the generals of Vitellius (Tac. Hist. ii. 5 1 ), while the praefect of the city at the same time made the city cohorts at Rome swear allegiance to Vitellius (Tac. Hist. ii. 55). In addition to which we learn from inscriptions that the praenomen of the consul was Tittis. The prae- nomen of the praefect of the city is not mentioned by Tacitus, but it could not have been Titus, as that was the praenomen of Vespasian. A diffi- culty, however, still remains, namely, why the younger brother Vespasian bore the surname of his father contrary to the general usage. But to this we reply, that it may have happened in this case, as in others, that there was a brother older than the other two, named Titus, who died after the birth of the future praefect of the city, but before the birth of Vespasian, and that the praenomen of the father was then given to the child born next. 4. Flavius Sabinus, the son of the praefect of the city [No. 2], was besieged with his father in the Capitol, but escaped when it was burnt down. He married Julia, the daughter of his cousin Titus. He was consul A. D. 82, with his cousin Domitian, but was afterwards slain by the emperor, on the frivolous pretext that the herald in proclaiming his consulship had called him Imperator instead of consul. Domitian's love for his wife was perhaps the real reason of his death. (Dion Cass. Ixv. 17 ; Philostr. Apollon. Tyan. vii. 3 ; Suet. Dom. 10.) SABI'NUS, JU'LIUS, a Lingon, joined in the revolt of Classicus, a. d. 70, his ambition being excited not only by his natural vanity, but by a false idea that he was descended from Julius SABINUS. Caesar. He ordered his followers to salute him as Caesar ; and with a large irregular body of Lingons he attacked the Sequani, and was defeated. He fled to a villa belonging to him, which he burnt, that he might be supposed to have perished in the flames, and hid himself in some subterranean chambers, where he was kept concealed for nine years by his friends and his wife Epponina, or Peponila. He was at length captured, taken to Rome, and there put to death by order of Ves- pasian. (Tac. Hist. iv. 55, 67 ; Dion Cass. Ixvi. 3, 16; Plut. Erot. 25, pp. 770, 771 ; Clas- sicus.) [P. S.] SABI'NUS, MASSU'RIUS, a hearer of Ateius Capito, was a distinguished jurist in the time of Tiberius, and he lived under Nero also, for the passage in Gaius (ii. 218) must certainly refer to this Sabinus, and not to Caelius. This is the Sabinus from whom the school of the Sabiniani took its name. [Capito,] Massurius was nearly fifty years of age before he was admitted into the Equestris Ordo, and he is said to have been poor enough to require pecuniary assistance from his hearers. He obtained under Tiberius the Jus Respondendi, which is a proof of his reputation as a jurist ; and it is further evidence of this, that the Sabiniani took their name not from Capito, but from his more distinguished pupil. There is no direct excerpt from Sabinus in the Digest, but he is often cited by other jurists, who commented upon his Libri ires Juris Civilis. Pomponius wrote at least thirty-six Libriad Sabinum, Ulpianus at least fifty-one, and Paulus at least forty-seven books. This fact in itself shows that the work of Massurius must have been considered to be a great authority. It is conjectured, but it is pure conjecture, that the arrangement was the same as that of the Libri XVIII. Juris Civilis of Q. Mucins Scaevola. A passage from Massurius is quoted by Gellius (x. 15), who, in another passage (iii. 16), quotes a passage of Plinius (//. N. vii. 5), in which Plinius quotes Massurius for a case in which a woman declared that she had gone thirteen months with child. Gellius (iv. 1, 2) quotes the second book of Massurius on the Jus Civile. In another pas- sage (v. 13) Gellius quotes the third book of the same work. In the fourteenth book (c. 2) he alludes to the same work, under the name of Com- mentarii. It is conjectured that Persius means to refer to the same work {Sat. v. 90), when he says — " Excepto si quid Masuri rubrica vetavit." On which see the note of Heinrich. Massurius is also mentioned by Arrian {Epist. iv. 3, Ulaaaovpiov pofxous). If Athenaeus (i. p. 1, c.) means this Massurius, his chronology is in great confusion. Numerous other works of Massurius are cited by name in the Digest : Commentarii de indigenis, Libri Memoralium, Fasti in two books at least (Macrob. Sat. i. 4), at least two books o{ Responsa (Dig. 14. tit. 2. 8. 4), apparently a commentary Ad Edictum (Dig. 38. tit. 1. s. 18), and Libn ad Vi- tellium. The fragments of the Libri Memorialium and of the Fasti are collected in Frotscher's Sallust (Grotius, Vitae Jurisconsult. ; Zimmern, GeschichU des Rom. Privatrechls, i. § 84 ; Puchta, Instit. i. § 99, and § 1 16, on the Jus Respondendi.) [G.L.] SABI'NUS, M. MINA'TIUS, a legate of Cn. Pompeius the younger, whose name appears ou coins. [See Vol. III. p. 489.]