Licinius

Lĭcĭnĭus, a,

• name of a Roman gens.
• • • 1 The tribune C. Licinius Crassus, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 9; Cic. Lael. 25, 96.—
    • 2 The triumvir M. Licinius Crassus, Cic. Div. 2, 9, 22; Ov. F. 6, 465.—
    • 3 L. Licinius Crassus, the famous orator, Cic. de Or. 3, 20, 74; Tac. Dial. 34.—In fem.: Lĭcĭnĭa, ae, a daughter of the orator L. Licinius Crassus, Cic. Brut. 58, 211.—Also, a vestal, Cic. Brut. 43, 160.—
• II Hence,
• • A Lĭcĭnĭus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a Licinius, Licinian: lex, of various kinds, esp. the lex de sodaliciis, Cic. Planc. 15, 36; cf. the Index legum, Orell. Cic. Opera, vol. viii. p. 199 sq.: lex Licinia et Mucia de civibus redigundis, Cic. Cornel. Fragm. 10, vol. xi. p. 11 B. and K.: lex de modo agrorum, Liv. 34, 4; cf. Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 9 al.: atria, named after L. Licinius Crassus, auction-halls, Cic. Quint. 3, 12; 6, 25.—
  • B Lĭcĭnĭānus, a, um, adj., Licinian: olea, introduced by a Licinius, Cato R. R. 6, 2: jugera, the lands distributed to the plebeians by C. Licinius Stolo, Col. 1, 3, 10; id. Arb. 17.—
  • • 2 Lĭcĭ-nĭāni, ōrum, m., a surname of the sons and descendants of Cato the Censor, by his first wife, Licinia; to distinguish them from those by the second, who where called Salonii or Saloniani, Plin. 7, 14, 12, § 62.

Licinius, a, um, Name einer röm. gens, aus der am bekanntesten C. Licinius Crassus, Volkstribun, Varro r. r. 1, 2, 9. Cic. de amic. 96, u. dessen Tochter Licinia, eine Vestalin, Cic. de dom. 136. Cic. Brut. 160. – ferner L. Licinius Crassus, ausgezeichneter Redner, Cic. Brut. 143 sqq.; de or. 3, 74. Tac. dial. 34, u. dessen Töchter (die eine von Mucia, der Tochter des Q. Mucius Scävola Augur, die andere von Lälia, der Tochter des C. Lälius Sapiens), Cic. Brut. 211. – u. M. Licinius Crassus, der Triumvir, Cic. de div. 2, 22. Ov. fast. 6, 465 sqq. Flor. 3, 11, 1 sqq.; 4, 9. 1. Val. Max. 1, 6, 11: ders. dives Crassus, Varro sat. Men. 36 u. Crassus, Apul. apol. 20. – Adi. licinisch, lex, Varro, Cic. u.a. – Dav. Liciniānus, a, um, licinianisch, Cato u. Colum. – subst., Liciniānī, ōrum, m., die Nachkommen des Cato Censorius von seiner Gattin Licinia, die Licinianer, Plin.

Lĭcĭnĭus, (9) ĭī, m. , nom dʼune famille romaine où lʼon distingue lʼorateur C. Licinius Crassus et le triumvir M. Licinius Crassus : Varro R. 1, 2, 9 ; Cic. Br. 143 ; Læl. 96 ; Div. 2, 22 ; Ov. F. 6, 465 || -ĭus, a, um, de Licinius : Cic. Planc. 36 ; Liv. 34, 4.

Licinius Calvus Stolo or Calvus Stolo

4. C. Licinius Calvus, surnamed Stolo, which he derived, it is said, from the care with which he dug up the shoots that sprung up from the roots of his vines. He brought the contest between the patricians and plebeians to a crisis and a happy termination, and thus became the founder of Rome's greatness. He was tribune of the people from B. C. 376 to 367, and was faithfully supported in his exertions by his colleague L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were:

1. That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls should be elected as in former times, one of whom should always be a plebeian.

2. That no one should possess more than 500 jugers of the public land, or keep upon it more than 100 head of large and 500 of small cattle.

3. A law regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor, which ordained that the interest already paid for borrowed money should be deducted from the capital, and that the remainder of the latter should be paid back in three yearly instalments.

4. That the Sibylline books should be entrusted to a college of ten men (decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians, that no falsifications might be introduced in favour of the patricians. These rogations were passed after a most vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who, in accordance with the first of them, obtained the consulship for the year B. C. 366. Licinius himself too received marks of the people's gratitude and confidence, by being elected twice to the consulship, in B. C. 364 and 361; but some years later he was accused by M. Popilius Laenas of having transgressed his own law respecting the amount of public land which a person might possess. Avarice had tempted him to violate his own salutary regulations, and in B. C. 357 he was sentenced to pay a heavy fine. (Plin. Nat. 17.1, 18.4 ; Varro, De Re Rust. 1.2; Liv. 6.35, 42, 7.1, 2, 9, 16; Florus, 1.26; Aur. Vict. De Vir. Illustr. 20 ; Plut. Camill. 39; Diod. 15.82, 95; Zonar. 7.24 ; V. Max. 8.6.3; comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, iii. p. 1, &c.) [L.S]

Lici'nius

1. C. Licinius, was, according to Livy (2.33), one of the first tribunes of the plebs, B. C. 493, who was elected with only one colleague, L. Albinius, and according to the same writer, these two immediately elected three others. According to other writers the number of two remained unchanged for a time; and, according to others again, among whom is Dionysius (6.89), five were originally elected by the people, and of them, two were Licinii, namely Caius and Publius. (Comp. Liv. 2.58; Ascon. in Cic. Cornel. p. 76, with Orelli's note; Plut. Cor. 7.)

Lici'nius

2. Sp. Licinius, tribune of the plebs, B. C. 481, according to Livy (2.43). Dionysius (9.1) gives the name Sp. Icilius [Icilius, No. 1]; and in favour of the latter there is the fact, that in no other instance do we find the praenomen Spurius in the Licinia gens.

Lici'nius

3. SEX. LICINIUS, a senator, whom Marius ordered to be hurled down the Tarpeian rock, on the 1st of January, B. C. 86, the day on which lie entered upon his seventh consulship. (Liv. Epit. 80; Plut. Mar. 45; Dio Cass. Fragm. 120.)

Lici'nius

4. The name of three or four slaves or freedmen, mentioned by Cicero, of whom the only one deserving of notice is the Licinius, an educated slave belonging to C. Gracchus, who used, according to the well-known story, to stand behind his master with a musical instrument, when he was speaking, in order to moderate his tone. This slave became afterwards a client of Catulus. (Plut. TG 2; Cic. de Or. 3.60; Gel. 1.11.)

Lici'nius

Roman emperor (A. D. 307-324), whose full name was Publius Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus Licinius, was by birth a humble Dacian peasant, the early friend and companion in arms of the emperor Galerius, by whom, with the consent of Maximianus Herculius and Diocletian, after the death of Severus [Severus, Flavius Valerius] and the disastrous issue of the Italian campaign [Maxentius], he was raised at once to the rank of Augustus without passing through the inferior grade of Caesar, and was invested with the command of the Illyrian provinces at Carmentum, on the 11th of November, A. D. 307. Upon the death of his patron, in 311, he concluded a peaceful arrangement with Daza [Maximinus 11.], in terms of which he acknowledged the latter as sovereign of Asia, Syria, and Egypt, while he added Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace to his own former dominions, the Hellespont, with the Bosporus, forming the common boundary of the two empires. Feeling, however, the necessity of strengthening himself against a rival at once ambitious, unscrupulous, and powerful, he entered into a league with Constantine, and after the termination of the struggle with Maxentius, during which he had acted the part of a watchful spectator rather than of a sincere ally, received in marriage (A. D. 313) Constantia, the sister of the conqueror, to whom he had been betrothed two years before. Meanwhile, Maximinus, taking advantage of the absence of his neighbour, who was enjoying the splendours of the nuptial festivities at Milan, placed himself at the head of a for midable army, and setting forth in the dead of winter succeeded, notwithstanding the obstacles offered to his progress by the season, in passing the straits, stormed Byzantium in April, and soon after captured Heracleia also. But scarcely had he gained possession of the last-named city when Licinius, who had hurried from Italy upon receiving intelligence of this treacherous invasion, appeared at the head of a small but resolute and well-disciplined force to resist his further progress. The battle which ensued was obstinately contested, and the result was long doubtful, but the bravery of the troops from the Danube, and the great military talents of their leader, at length prevailed. Maximinus fled in headlong haste, and died a few months afterwards at Tarsus, thus leaving his enemy undisputed master of one half of the Roman empire, while the remainder was under the sway of his brother-in-law Constantine. It was little likely that two such spirits could long be firmly united by such a tie, or that either would calmly brook the existence of an equal. Accordingly, scarce a year elapsed before preparations commenced for the grand contest, whose object was to unite once mote the whole civilised world under a single ruler. The leading events are detailed elsewhere [Constantinus, p. 834], and therefore it will suffice briefly to state here that there were two distinct wars; in the first, which broke out A. D. 315, Licinius was compelled by the decisive defeats sustained at Cibalis in Pannonia, and in the plain of Mardia in Thrace, to submit and to cede to the victor Greece, Macedonia, and the whole lower valley of the Danube, with the exception of a part of Moesia. The peace which followed lasted for about eight years, when hostilities were renewed, but the precise circumstances which led to this fresh collision are as obscure as the causes which produced the first rupture. The great battle of Hadrianople (3rd July, A. D. 323) followed by the reduction of Byzantium, and a second great victory achieved near Chalcedon (18th September), placed the eastern Augustus absolutely at the mercy of his kinsman, who, although he spared his life for the moment, and merely sentenced him to an honourable imprisonment at Thessalonica, soon found a convenient pretext for commanding the death of one who had long been the sole impediment in his path to universal dominion.

However little we may respect the motives, and however deeply we may feel disgusted by the systematic hypocrisy of Constantine, we can feel no compassion for Licinius. His origin, education, and early habits might very naturally inspire him with a distaste for literature. although they could scarcely justify or excuse the rancour which he ever manifested towards all who were in any way distinguished by intellectual acquirements, and a life passed amidst a succession of scenes in which human nature was exhibited under its worst aspect, was by no means calculated to cherish any of the purer or softer feelings of the heart. But while he had all and more than all the vices which such a career might produce, he had none of the frank generosity of a bold soldier of fortune. He was not only totally indifferent to human life and suffering, and regardless of any principle of law or justice which might interfere with the gratification of his passions, but he was systematically treacherous and cruel, possessed of not one redeeming quality save physical courage and military skill. When he destroyed the helpless family of Maximinus he might plead that he only followed the ordinary usage of Oriental despots in extirpating the whole race of a rival; but the murders of the unoffending Severianus, of Candidianus the son of his friend and benefactor Galerius, who alone had made him what he was, of Prisca and of Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian [Valeria], form a climax of ingratitude and cold-blooded ferocity to which few parallels can be found even in the revolting annals of the Roman empire. (Zosim. 2.7, 11, 17-28; Zonar. 13.1; Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 40, 41, Epit. 40, 41; Eutrop. 10.3, 4; Oros. 7.28.)

[W.R]

Lici'nius

whose full name was Flavius Valerius Licinianus Licinius, was a son of the emperor Licinius and Constantia [Constantia ; Theodora], and was born A. D. 315. On the first of March 317, when not yet twenty months old, he was proclaimed Caesar along with his cousins Crispus and Constantinus, and in 319 was the colleague in the consulship of his uncle Constantine the Great. But the poor boy was stripped of all his honours upon the downfal of his father in 323, and, according to Eutropius, whose account is corroborated by St. Jerome, was put to death in 323, at the same time with the ill-fated Crispus [Crispus]. It appears from medals that he enjoyed the haughty titles of Jovius and Dominus in common with his father; but although coins have been described on which he appears with the epithet Augustus we have no reason to believe that he had any formal claim to this designation, which was probably annexed to his name by moneyers in ignorance or flattery. (Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 41, Epit. 41; Eutrop. 10.4; Zosim. 2.20; Theophan. Chron. ad ann. 315.)

[W.R]

Lici'nius Caeci'na

[Caecina.]

Lici'nius Geta

Geta.]

Lici'nius Pro'culus

[Prroculus.

Licinius

(1) C. Licinius Calvus, surnamed Stolo, a name said to be derived from the care with which he dug up the shoots (stolones) from the roots of his vines. He brought the contest between the patricians and plebeians to a happy termination, and thus became the founder of Rome's greatness. He was tribune of the people from B.C. 376 to 367, and was faithfully supported in his exertions by his colleague, L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were: (a) That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls should be elected, one of whom should always be a plebeian. (b) That no one should possess more than 500 iugera of the public land, or keep upon it more than 100 head of large, and 500 of small cattle. (c) A law regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor. (d) That the Sibylline Books should be intrusted to a college of ten men (decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians. These rogations were passed after a vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who obtained the consulship, 366. Licinius himself was elected twice to the consulship, 364 and 361. Some years later he was accused by M. Popilius Laenas of having transgressed his own law respecting the amount of public land which a person might possess. He was condemned and sentenced to pay a heavy fine (Livy, vi. 35; vii. 1, 9, 16; Val. Max. viii. 6, 3).

(2) C. Licinius Macer , an annalist and orator, who was impeached of extortion by Cicero, and, finding that the verdict was against him, committed suicide, B.C. 66.

(3) C. Licinius Macer Calvus, son of the last, a distinguished orator and poet, was born B.C. 82, and died about 47 or 46, in his thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year. His most celebrated oration was delivered against Vatinius, who was defended by Cicero, when he was only twenty-seven years of age. His elegies were very warmly extolled by Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid. All his works are lost. He was very short of stature, so that Catullus calls him (53) Salaputium disertum, “the eloquent Tom Thumb.” (Cf. Quint. x. 1, 115.)

(4) A Roman emperor, ruling A.D. 307-324. He was a Dacian peasant by birth, and was raised to the rank of Augustus by the emperor Galerius. He afterwards had the dominion of the East. He carried on war first with Maximinus II., whom he defeated A.D. 314, and subsequently with Constantine, by whom he was in his turn defeated, 315. A second war broke out between Licinius and Constantine in 323, in which Licinius was not only defeated, but deprived of his throne. In the following year he was put to death by Constantine, 324. See Constantinus.