Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/997

MAXIMIANUS. which are very numerous, and the early printed impressions, of which two at least, if not three, had appeared in tlie fifteenth century, exhibited a couplet which was altogether omitted by Gauricus, and that this couplet (iv. 25), Atque aliquis, cui caeca foret bene nota voluptas, Cantat, cantantem Maximianus amat, actually furnished the name of the real author, a name, be it remarked, prefixed to many MSS., and to these very early editions, it became evident that fraud had been at work, and that Gauricus had been guilty of deliberate imposture. Some time, however, elapsed before the most acute scholars could divest themselves of the impression that Gallus was in some way concerned with these productions. Gyraldus contended that one or two out of the six might be genuine ; Julius Caesar Scaliger went farther, and believed that only one was spurious, that on Aquilina ; while Barthius imagined that all anomalies might be explained by supposing that the sketches of Gallus had been overlaid and interpolated by a later and unskilful hand. By degrees these and similar positions were found untenable, and the whole fabric was acknow- ledged to be the workmanship of a semi-barbarous epoch. This being granted, the next task was to discover who Maximianus was, and when he flou- rished. This investigation cannot be pushed far. From his own words we conclude, as notioed above, that he was by birth an Etruscan : it would appear that he spent his youth at Rome, devoting himself to poetry and rhetoric, that he acquired wide- spread reputation as a speaker — Orator toto clarus in orbe fui, and that, when far advanced in life, he was de- spatched to the East on an important mission, involving the peaceful relations of two kingdoms. Beyond this we can scarcely advance. Goldastus, Fontanini, and Wernsdorf have, indeed, proved to their own satisfaction that he is the very Maximi- anus to whom king Theodoric addressed a letter preserved by Cassiodorus ( Variar. i. 21), and they have undertaken to determine the period and the object of the embassy. Their reasoning, however, is so shadowy that it completely eludes the grasp, and is in fact an elaborate attempt to create a sub- stantial reality out of nothing. The most stringent argument which they can find is based upon the couplet (iii. 47), Hie mihi, magnarum scrutator maxime rerum. Solus, Boeti, fers miseratus opem, where it is assumed that the person addressed must be Boethius the philosopher. Three out of the four names placed at the head of this article are probably fictitious. The MSS., we are assured, exhibit simply Maaimianus, or L. Maocimianus. The Editio Princeps, in fol, which, although without date, and without name of place or printer, is known by bibliographers to have been printed at Utrecht about 1473, bears for its title Maximiani PhUosopU atque Oratoris clarissiini EtJiica suavis et perjoconda, and a second edition, also very old, but without date, printed at Paris in 4to. by S. Jehannot and Petrus le Drou, commences Perjucundus, juvenum quoque mirum in modum demvlcens aminos, Libellus, qiiem nuganim Ma.riiniani immiiis Alexander intitidat, &c. The verses having for a long time after the publication MAXIMINUS. 983 of Gauricus been extensively circulated as the re- mains of Cornelius Gallus, were eventually allowed to retain his designation along with that of the lawful owner, and Etruscits is merely an epithet attached by some editor. The present division into six pieces is purely arbitrary, and originated, it would appear, with Gauricus. In many codices the whole are written as one continuous poem, with the following or some similar inscription, Facetum et perjucundum. Poema de Amoribus Maocimiani, Poetae doctissimi^ Oratoris stiavissimi. Labbe in his BiblioiJieca nova Manuscriptorum mentions other poems of Maximianus, which he dktinguishes. Super Senectute ; Regulam Metricam; Carmen de Virtute et Invidia, de Ira, Patienlia, et Avaritia ; but of these nothing is known, unless the first be another name for what we now possess. There is no reason to believe that the epigrams in the anthology found among the exercises of the twelve scholastic poets, one of whom is called Maximianus, have any connection with the individual whom we are now discussing. The elegies will be found under theii" best form in the Pottae Latini Minores of Wernsdorf, vol. vi. pars i. pi 269, who gives a detailed catalogue of the different editions. For further information consult Goldastus, Epist. dedic. ad Ovidii Opuscula Erotica, Francf. 1610 ; Ber- nardus Moneta, m Menagianis, ed. tert., Paris, 1715, vol. i. p. 336 ; Souchaye, Mtmoires de VAcademie des Inscriptions, vol. xvi. ; Fontanini, Historia Litter. AquUeiae, 4to. Rom. 1 742, lib. i. c. 3 ; Withofius, Maximianus primaevae integr. restit-, 8vo. 1741. [W. R.] MAXIMILLA, EGNATIA. [Egnatia.] MAXIMPNUS I., Roman emperor, a.d. 235— 238. C. Julius Verus Maximinus was born in a village on the confines of Thrace, of barbarian pa- rentage, his father Micca being a Goth, his mother Ababa a German, from a tribe of the Alani. Brought up as a shepherd, he attracted the atten- tion of Septimius Severus, by his gigantic stature and marvellous feats of strength, was permitted to enlist in the cavalry, was appointed one of the guards in immediate attendance on the person of the emperor, and soon gained the good-will of his officers and the respect of his fellow-soldiers. Under Caracalla he attained to the rank of centurion, and was familiarly designated, from his prowess, Milo, Antaeus, or Hercules. Being regarded with sus- picious hatred by Macrinus, the assassin of his patron, he retired for a while to his native province, where he acquired some property, and maintained a cordial intercourse with his barbarian countrj^men, to whom he was an object of no small pride and admiration. Returning to Rome upon the accession of Elagabalus, although disgusted by his profligate folly, he accepted the appointment of tribune, studiously absenting himself, however, from court during the whole reign. By Alexander he was re- ceived with great distinction, was entrusted with the important task of organising the great host, collected chiefly from the East, for the invasion of Germany, was eventually, if we can trust the de- sultory and indistinct narrative of the Augustan historian, nominated general-in-chief of all the armies, and hopes were held out that his son would receive in marriage the sister of the emperor. But even these honours did not satisfy his ambition. Taking advantage of the bad feeling which existed among the troops, he ai-tfully contrived to stimulate 3b 4