Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/620

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
loc cit.
loc cit.

602 CAPITO. cases, to have prevailed in practice. This proceeded partly, perhaps, from the great authority acquired by Masurius Sabinus, and from the numerous com- mentators who wrote libri ad Sabinum. Among these, indeed, were some of the opposite party. According to Blume's celebrated hypothesis, first suggested by Jac. Godefroi, one of the great divisions in most of the titles of the Digest con- sisted of extracts from the writings of annotations on Sabinus. Some Sabinian influence may also have been exerted upon Roman jurisprudence through the labour of the Sabinian Salvius Ju- lianus in recasting the praetor's edict. But there never was any general determination in favour of either school. In some points, Proculus and his party were preferred. For example, Gains (ii. 21 ) mentions a rescript of Hadrian, and(ii. 195) another of Antoninus Pius, against certiiin theoretical con- clusions of the Sabinians (' nostri praeceptores') and in favour of the " diversae scholae auctores." The agreement of the majority of the jurists autho- rized by the emperor jura condere, rather than the creed of this or that sect, became under the empire the test of legal orthodox}'. (Plin. //. A^. xiv. 15 ; Rutilius, c. 48, in Franckii Viiae Tripar- titae JCtorum, contains several questionable state- ments, without giving his authorities. He enters into conjectures as to the fomily of the jurist, and treats of several Romans of the name of Capito. Bertrand, ii. 51. 3 ; Guil. Grot. i. 12. 6 ; Ant. Augustinus, de Nomiiiibus Propriis Pandectanim, in Otto's Thesaunis, i. 226; Chr. Thomasii, Com- paraiio Antistii Lcdteonis et Aieii Capttonis, 4 to. Lips. 1683 ; Com. Van Eck, de Vita^ Moribus, et Siudiis M. Antistii Labeonis et C. Aieii Capitonis, ed. Oelrichs, Thes. Nov. Diss. i. 825—856 ; And. M. Molleri, Selecta quaedam, ^'c, ib. vol. ii. tom. ii. pp. Ill— 126; Maiansius, ad XXX JCtos, ii. 167—186 ; Zimmem. R. R. G. i. §§ 82, 83.) [J. T. G.] CA'PITO, CLAU'DIUS, a Roman orator, a contemporary of the younger Pliny. {Ep. vi. 13.) CA'PITO, COSSUTIA'N US, a Roman advo- cate in the reigns of Claudius and Nero, who ap- pears to have used his profession as a mere means for enriching himself. For this reason he and some of his profession opposed a law by which advocates were to be forbidden to accept any fees from their clients. In A. D. 56 he obtained Cilicia as his province, and there he acted with the same avarice and impu- dence as he had done before at Rome. In the year following, the Cilicians accused him of extortion, and he was condemned, in consequence of which he lost his senatorial rank. But this he afterwards received back, through the mediation of Tigellinus, his father-in-law; and shortly after, a. d. 62, he accused the praetor Antistius Sosianus of high treason. In a. d. 66, Annaeus Mela, the brother of the philosopher Seneca, and father of the poet Annaeus Lucan, left a large legacy to Tigellinus and Cossutianus Capito, the latter of whom came forward in the same year as the accuser of Thrasea Paetus, for Thrasea had formerly supported the cause of the Cilicians against him, and had been instru- mental in bringing about his condemnation. Ca- pito was rewarded by Nero for this base act with an immense sum of money. (Tac. Ann. xi. 6, &c., xiii. 33, xiv. 48, xvi. 17, 21, 22, 26, 28, 33; Juv. Sat. viii. 93, &c.) [L. S.] CA'PITO, FONTEIUS. 1. T. Fonteius Ca- pito, was praetor in B. c. 178, and obtained the CAPITO. command in Hispania Ulterior, which was left to him also for the year following, with the title of proconsul. (liiv. xl. 59, xli. 2, 19.) 2. P. Fonteius Capito, was praetor in b. c. 169, and obtained Sardinia as his province. (Li v. xliii. 13, 17.) 3. C. Fonteius Capito, a friend of M. Antony, accompanied Maecenas, in b. c. 37, when he was sent by Octavianus to Antony to restore friend- ship between Octavianus and Antony. Capito remained with Antony, and was soon after sent by him to Egypt, to fetch Cleopatra to Syria. He is probably the same person as the C. Fonteius Capito who was appointed consul suffectus, in b. c. 33, together with M Acilius. There is a coin of his extant with the heads of Antony and Cleopa- tra, and on which Capito is called propraetor, and bears the praenomen Caius. (Horat. Sat. .. 5. 32 ; Plut. Anton. 36 ; Eckhel, Docir. Num. v. p. 219.) 4. C. Fonteius Capito, a son of C. Fonteius Capito, the friend of M. Antony. [No. 3.] He was consul in A. D. 12, together with Gernianicus, and afterwards had, as proconsul, the administra- tion of the province of Asia. Many years later, in A. D. 25, he was accused by Vibius Serenus, apparently on account of his comluct in Asia; but, as no sufficient evidence was adduced, he was ac- quitted. (Fasti Cap.; Suet. Cal. 8; Tac. ^««.iv. 36.) 5. C. Fonteius Capito, consul in a. d. 59 to- gether with C. Vipsanius. (Tac. Ann. xiv. I ; Plin. //. N. ii. 72, vii. 20 ; Solin. 6.) 6. L. Fonteius Capito, consul in a. d. 67 to- gether with C. Julius Rufus, as we learn from the Fasti Siculi and the Chronicon of Cassiodorus ; but whether he is the same as the Fonteius Capito who was put to death in Germany in the reign of Galba, a. d. 68, on the ground of having attempted to excite an insurrection, is uncertain. (Tac. Hist. i. 7, 37, 52, iii. 62, iv. 13; Suet. Galb. 11; Plut. Galb. 15, where ^povr/fios should be changed into ^6vr-f{ios. ) It is uncertain to which of the Capitos the two following coins belong : the praenomen Publius would lead us to refer them to No. 2. The former contains on the obverse a head of Mars with a trophy behind it and the inscription P. Fonteivs P. F. Capito III. Vir., and on the reverse a man riding on horseback at full gallop, with two men below fighting, and the inscription Man. Font. Tr. Mir.. The latter coin contains on the obverse the head of Concordia with the inscription P. Fonteivs Ca- pito III. Vir. Concordia, and on the reverse a double portico with the inscription T. Didi. Imp. ViL. Pvbl. [L. S.]