Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/195

FRONTINUS. 145) tells us that Fortuna Virilis was worshipped by women, who prayed to her that she might pre- serve their charms, and thus enable them to please their husbands. Her surnames, in general, express either particular kinds of good luck or the per- sons or classes of persons to whom she granted it. Her worsliip was of great importance also at Antium and Praeneste, where her sortes or oracles were very celebrated. {^Did. of Ant. s. v. Oracu- lum; Hartung, die Relig. d. tiom. vol. ii. p. 233, &c. Comp. Tyche.) [L. S.] FORTUNATIA'NUS, ATI'LIUS, a Latin grammarian, author of a treatise (Ars) upon pros- ody, and the metres of Horace, which will be found in the collection of Putschius. The work is extremely defective and in great confusion, the diiferent parts being in many places jumbled toge- ther in defiance of all order or arrangement. For- tunatianus cannot be later than the fifth century, since he is quoted by Cassiodorus, and his diction, us exhibited in an epistle dedicatory addressed to a young senator (p. 2685, ed. Putsch.), is very pure and graceful. [W. R.] FORTUNATIA'NUS, CU'RIUS or CHl'- RIUS, a Roman lawyer, flourished about the middle of the fifth century after Christ, a short time before Cassiodorus, by whom he is quoted. He drew up a compendium of technical rhetoric, by way of question and answer, in three books, com- piled from the chief ancient authorities both Greek and Latin, under the title Curii Foiiuyialiani Con- sulti Artis Rhetoricae Scholicae Lihn tres, a produc- tion which at one period was held in high esteem as a manual, from being at once comprehensive and concise. This writer must not be confounded with the Curius Fortunatianus who, as we are told by Capi- tolinus ( Majc. et Balb. 4), composed a history of the reign of Maximus and Balbinus, nor with Fortunatianus, an African, bishop of Aquileia, mentioned by St. Jerome ( de Viris III. 97) as a commentator on the Gospels. The Editio Princeps of the Ars Rlietorica was printed at Venice, fol. 1523, in a volume contain- ing Rufinianus and other authors upon the same subject ; a second edition, revised by P. Nannius, appeared at Lou vain, 8vo. 1550 ; a third, by Ery- thraeus, at Strasburg, 8vo. 1568. The piece will be found also in the " Rhetores Latini Antiqui," oiPithou, Paris, 4to. 1599, p. 38—78. [W. R.j FO'SLIA GENS, patrician, of which only one family name, Flaccinator, appears in history. The family was early extinct. [W. B. D.] FRANGO. [Fango.] FRONTI'NUS, SEX. JULIUS, of whose origin and early career we know nothing, first ap- pears in history under Vespasian, at the beginning of A. D. 70, as praetor urbanus, an office which he speedily resigned in order to make way for Do- mitian, and it is probable that he was one of the consules suffedi in A. D. 74. In the course of the following year he succeeded Cerealis as governor of Britain, where he distinguished himself by the conquest of the Silures, and maintained the Roman power unbroken until superseded by Agricola in A. D. 78. In the third consulship of Nerva (a. d. 97) Frontinus was nominated czirator aquarum., an appointment never conferred, as he himself informs us, except upon the leading men of the state {de Aq. 1 ; comp. 102) ; he also enjoyed the high dignity of augur, and his death must have FRONTINUS. 181 happened about a. d. 106, since his seat in the college was bestowed upon the younger Pliny soon after that period. From an epigram in Martial we might conclude that he was twice elevated to the consulship ; but since his name does not appear in the Fasti, we are unable to detennine the dates, although, as stated above, we may infer that this honour was bestowed upon him, for the first time at least, before his journey to Britain, since the generals despatched to command that province were generally consulars. Two works undoubtedly by this author are still extant : — 1. Strategematicon Libri IV. or, if we ob- serve the distinction drawn by the author, Straie- ffematicon Libri III. and Strategicon Liber witis, forming a sort of treatise on the art of war, de- veloped in a collection of the sayings and doings of the most renowned leaders of antiquity. The anecdotes in the first book relate to the various con- tingencies which may precede a battle, those in the second to the battle itself and its results, those in the third to the forming and raising of sieges, while those in the fourth, or the Strategica, com- prehend various topics connected with the internal discipline of an army and the duties of the com- mander. This compilation, which presents no par- ticular attractions in style, and seems to have been formed without any very critical investigation of the authorities from which some of the stories are derived, m.ust have been published about a. d. 84, soon after the return of Frontinus from Britain, for we find Domitian named more than once with the title of Germanicus, together with frequent allusions to the German war, but no notice whatsoever of the Dacian or other subsequent campaigns. II. De Aquaeductibus Urbis Romae Libri II., a treatise, composed, as we have already pointed out, after the year 97. The language is plain and un- pretending, while the matter forms a valuable con- tribution to the history of architecture. We learn from the preface to the Strategematica, that Frontinus had previously written an essay Z'e Scientia Militari^ and Aelian speaks of a disqui- sition on the tactics employed in the age of Homer, both of which are lost. The Editio Princeps of the Strategematica was printed by Euch. Silber, 4to. Rom. 1487. The best editions are that of F. Oudendorp, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1731, reprinted, with additions and cor- rections, by Con. Oudendorp, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1779, and that of Schwebel, 8vo. Lips. 1772. There is an early translation into our own lan- guage dedicated to Henry VIIL, entitled " The Stratagems, Sleyghtes, and Policies of Warre, gathered together by S. Julius Frontinus, and translated into English by Rycharde Morysine," 8vo. Lond. 1539 ; and another by M.D. A.B.D. 12mo. Lond. 1686, to which is added " a new col- lection of the most noted stratagems and brave ex- ploits of modern generals ; with a short account of the weapons offensive and defensive, and engines commonly used in war." There are also transla- tions into German by Schbffer, fol. Meyntz, 1582 , by Motschidler, 8vo. Wittemberg, 1540 ; by Tacius, fol. Ingolst. 1542, including Vegetius, re- printed fol. Frank. 1578 ; and by Kind, 8vo. Leips. 1750, along with Polyaenus : into French by Remy Rousseau, about 1514 ; by Wolkir, fol. Paris, 1536, along with Vegetius ; by Perrot, 4to. Paris, 1664; and anonymous, 8vo. Paris, 1772: into Italian by Fr. Lucio Durantino, 8vo. Vineg. N 3