Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/109

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ALBINUS.
ALBINUS.
91

upon these genealogies,) was consul B. C. 466. (Liv. 3.2; Dionys. A. R. 9.60.) He was one of the three commissioners sent into Greece to collect information about the laws of that country, and was a member of the first decemvirate in 451. (Liv. 3.31, 33; Dionys. A. R. 10.52, 56.) He commanded, as legatus, the centre of the Roman army in the battle in which the Aequians and Volscians were defeated in 446. (Liv. 3.70.)

3. A. Postumius Albus REGILLENSIS, A. F. P. N., apparently son of No. 1, was consul B. C. 464, and carried on war against the Aequians. He was sent as ambassador to the Aequians in 458, on which occasion he was insulted by their commander. (Liv. 3.4, 5, 25; Dionys. A. R. 9.62, 65.)

4. SP. POSTUMIUS SP. F. A. N. ALBUS REGILLENSIS, apparently son of No 2, was consular tribune B. C. 432, and served as legatus in the war in the following year. (Liv. 4.25, 27.)

5. P. Postumius Albinus Regillensis, A. F. A. N., whom Livy calls Marcus, was consular tribune B. C. 414, and was killed in an insurrection of the soldiers, whom he had deprived of the plunder of the Aequian town of Bolae, which he had promised them. (Liv. 4.49, 50.)

6. M. Postumius Albinus Regillensis, A. F. A. N., is mentioned by Livy (5.1) as consular tribune in B. C. 403, but was in reality censor in that year with M. Furius Camillus. (Fasti Capitol.) In their censorship a fine was imposed upon all men who remained single up to old age. (V. Max. 2.9.1; Plut. Cam. 2; Dict. of Ant. s.v. Uxorium.)

7. A. Postumius Albinus Regillensis, consular tribune B. C. 397, collected with his colleague L. Julius an army of volunteers, since the tribunes prevented them from making a regular levy, and cut off a body of Tarquinienses, who were returning home after plundering the Roman territory. (Liv. 5.16.)

8. SP. POSTUMIUS ALBINUS REGILLENSIS, consular tribune B. C. 394, carried on the war against the Aequians; he at first suffered a defeat, but afterwards conquered them completely. (Liv. 5.26, 28.)

9. Sp. Postumius Albinus, was consul B. C. 334, and invaded, with his colleague T. Veturius Calvinus, the country of the Sidicini; but, on account of the great forces which the enemy had collected, and the report that the Samnites were coming to their assistance, a dictator was appointed. (Liv. 8.16, 17.) He was censor in 332 and magister equitum in 327, when M. Claudius Marcellus was appointed dictator to hold the comitia. (8.17, 23.) In 321, he was consul a second time with T. Veturius Calvinus, and marched against the Samnites, but was defeated near Caudium, and obliged to surrender with his whole army, who were sent under the yoke. As the price of his deliverance and that of the army, he and his colleague and the other commanders swore, in the name of the republic, to a humiliating peace. The consuls, on their return to Rome, laid down their office after appointing a dictator; and the senate, on the advice of Postumius, resolved that all persons who had sworn to the peace should be given up to the Samnites. Postumius, with the other prisoners, accordingly went to the Samnites, but they refused to accept them. (Liv. 9.1-10 ; Appian, de Reb. Samn. 2-6; Cic. de Off. 3.30, Cato, 12.)

10. A. Postumius Albinus, A. F. L. N., was consul B. C. 242 with Lutatius Catulus, who defeated the Carthaginians off the Aegates, and thus brought the first Punic war to an end. Albinus was kept in the city, against his will, by the Pontifex Maximus, because he was Flamen Martialis. (Liv. Epit. 19, 23.13; Eutrop. 2.27; V. Max. 1.1.2.) He was censor in 234. (Fasti Capitol.)

11. L. Postumius Albinus, A. F. A. N., apparently a son of the preceding, was consul B. C. 234, and again in 229. In his second consulship he made war upon the Illyrians. (Eutrop. 3.4; Oros. 4.13; Dio Cass. Frag. 151; Plb. 2.11, &c., who erroneously calls him Aulus instead of Lucius.) In 216, the third year of the second Punic war, he was made praetor, and sent into Cisalpine Gaul, and while absent was elected consul the third time for the following year, 215. But he did not live to enter upon his consulship; for he and his army were destroyed by the Boii in the wood Litana in Cisalpine Gaul. His head was cut off, and after being lined with gold was dedicated to the gods by the Boii, and used as a sacred drinking-vessel (Liv. 22.35, 23.24; Plb. 3.106, 118; Cic. Tusc. 1.37.)

12. Sp. Postumius Albinus, L. F. A. N., was praetor peregrinus in B. C. 189 (Liv. 37.47, 50), and consul in 186. In his consulship the senatusconsultum was passed, which is still extant, suppressing the worship of Bacchus in Rome, in consequence of the abominable crimes which were committed in connexion with it. (39.6, 11, &c.; V. Max. 6.3.7; Plin. Nat. 33.10; Dict. of Ant. p. 344.) He was also augur, and died in 179 at an advanced age. (Liv 40.42; Cic. Cato, 3.)

13. A. Postumius Albinus, A. F. A. N., was curule aedile B. C. 187, when he exhibited the Great Games, praetor 185, and consul 180. (Liv. 39.7, 23, 40.35.) In his consulship he conducted the war against the Ligurians. (40.41.) He was censor 174 with Q. Fulvius. Their censorship was a severe one; they expelled nine members from the senate, and degraded many of equestrian rank. They executed, however, many public works. (41.32, 42.10; comp. Cic. Ver. 1.41.) He was elected in his censorship one of the decemviri sacrorum in the place of L. Cornelius Lentulus. (Liv. 42.10.) Albinus was engaged in many public missions. In 175 he was sent into northern Greece to inquire into the truth of the representations of the Dardanians and Thessalians about the Bastarnae and Perseus. (Plb. 26.9.) In 171 he was sent as one of the ambassadors to Crete (Liv. 42.35); and after the conquest of Macedonia in 168 he was one of the ten commissioners appointed to settle the affairs of the country with Aemilius Paullus. (45.17.) Livy not unfrequently calls him Luscus, from which it would seem that he was blind of one eye.

14. SP. POSTUMIUS ALBINUS PAULLULUS, A. F. A. N., probably a brother of No. 13 and 15, perhaps obtained the surname of Paullulus, as being small of stature, to distinguish him more accurately from his two brothers. He was praetor in Sicily, B. C. 183, and consul, 174. (Liv. 39.45, 41.26, 43.2.)

15. L. Postumius Albinus, A. F. A. N., probably a brother of No. 13 and 14, was praetor B. C. 180, and obtained the province of further Spain. His command was prolonged in the follow-