Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/628

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610
CARAUSIUS.
CARBO.

avggg., or, in some cases, laetitia. avggg., or hilaritas. avggg. On a second coin we find a laurelled head with imp. c. caravsivs. p. f. avg., and on the reverse jovi. et. hercvli. cons. avg., indicating Jovius Diocletianus and Herculius Maximinianus, and to a third we are indebted for the name M. Aurelius Valerius, an appellation probably borrowed from his recently adopted brother. These transactions took place about a. d. 287, and for six years the third Augustus maintained his authority without dispute; but upon the elevation of Constantius the efforts of the new Caesar were at once directed to the recovery of Britain. Boulogne fell after a protracted siege, and Constantius was making active and extensive preparations for a descent upon the opposite coast, when Carausius was murdered by his chief officer, Allectus. This happened in 293. Such are the only facts known to us with regard to this remarkable man. Of his private character and domestic policy we are unable to speak, for the abusive epithets applied to him so liberally by the panegyrists indicate nothing except the feelings entertained at the imperial court, which could have been of no friendly description. (Eutrop. ix. 21; Aurel. Vict. Caes. xxxix., Epit. xxxix., who calls this emperor Charausio; Oros. vii. 25; Panegyr. Vet. ii. 12, iv. 6—8, 12, v. 4, 11, vi. 5, 8, vii. 9, viii. 25; Genebrier, l'Histoire de Carausius prouvée par les Médailles, Paris, 4to. 1740; Stukely, Medallic History of Carausius, London, 4to. 1757–59, full of the most extravagant conjectures and inventions.)

coin of carausius.

CARAVA'NTIUS, the brother of Gentius, king of the Illyrians, against whom the praetor L. Anicius Gallus was sent in b. c. 168. Caravantius fell into the hands of Gallus, and with his brother Gentius and the rest of the royal family walked before the chariot of Gallus in his triumph in the following year. (Liv. xliv. 30, 32, xlv. 43.)

CARBO, the name of a plebeian family of the Papiria gens.

Stemma Carbonum.

 
 
 
 
 
1. C. Papirius Carbo, Pr. b. c. 168.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. C. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 120.
 
3. Cn. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 113.4. M. Papirius Carbo.
 
5. P. Papirius Carbo.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. C. Papirius Carbo Arvina, Trib. Pleb. b. c. 90.
 
7. Cn. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 85, 84, 82.

1. C. Papirius Carbo, praetor in b. c. 168, when he obtained the province of Sardinia; but he appears not to have gone into his province, as the senate requested him to remain at Rome and there to exercise jurisdiction in cases between citizens and peregrini. (Liv. xliv. 17, xlv. 12.)

2. C. Papirius Carbo, born about b. c. 164, a son of No. 1, and a contemporary and friend of the Gracchi; but though he apparently followed in the footsteps of Tib. Gracchus, yet his motives widely differed from those of his noble friend, and towards the end of his life he shewed how little he had acted upon conviction or principle, by deserting his former friends and joining the ranks of their enemies. After the death of Tiberius Gracchus he was appointed his successor as triumvir agrorum dividendorum, and shortly after, in b. c. 131, he was elected tribune of the people. During the year of his tribuneship he brought forward two new laws: 1. That a person should be allowed to be re-elected to the tribuneship as often as might be thought advisable: this law, which was strenuously opposed by P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus the younger, was supported by C. Gracchus; and 2. A lex tabellaria, which ordained that the people should in future vote by ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws. In his tribuneship he continued to hold the office of triumvir agrorum dividendorum. The difficulties connected with carrying out the division of land according to the Sempronian agrarian law created many disturbances at Rome, and Scipio Africanus, the champion of the aristocratical party, was found one morning dead in his bed. Among the various suspicions then afloat as to the cause of his death, one was that Carbo had murdered him, or at least had had a hand in the deed; and this report may not have been wholly without foundation, if we consider the character of Carbo. After his tribuneship, Carbo continued to act as the friend and supporter of the Gracchi. Upon the death of C. Gracchus, L. Opimius, his murderer, who was consul in b. c. 121, put to death a great number of the friends of the Gracchi: but at the expiration of his consulship he was accused of high treason by the tribune Q. Decius, and Carbo, who was now raised to the consulship himself (b. c. 120), suddenly turned round, and not only undertook the defence of Opimius, but did not scruple to say, that the murder of C. Gracchus had been an act of perfect justice. This inconsistency drew upon him the contempt of both parties, so that, as Cicero says, even his return to the aristocratical party could not secure him their protection. The aristocracy could not forget that he was suspected of having murdered Scipio, and seem to have been waiting for an opportunity to crush him. In b. c. 119 the young orator L. Licinius Crassus brought a charge against him, the exact nature of which is not known, but as Carbo foresaw his condemnation, he put an end to his life by taking cantharides. Valerius Maximus (iii. 7. § 6) states, that he was sent into exile. Carbo was a man of great talents, and his oratorical powers are mentioned by Cicero with great