Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1109

^ on th THERMUS. the figtires of animals (^■fjpia) with which they were adorned: vases thus decorated are frequently referred to by ancient authors, and numerous spe- cimens of them have been discovered. It is quite impossible, within the limits of this article, to state even the leading arguments on the two sides of the question ; and no opinion ought to be expressed upon it without a pretty full statement of the rea- sons for the conclusions come to. We must, there- fore, be content to refer readers, who are curious in such archaeological minutiae, to the treatises above mentioned, only adding an important observation made by another great scholar upon Welcker's arguments — *' Welckerus iis usus est argumentis, quae, ut mihi quidem videtur, labefactari possunt tantum non omnia." (Meineke, Frag. Com. Grace. vol. iii. p.221.) [P. S.] THERPMACHUS { ©-npifxaxos), was the Spar- tan harmost at Methymna in Lesbos, when the city was attacked by Thrasybulus, the Athenian, in B. c. 390. Therimachus gave battle to the enemy, and was defeated and slain. These events are placed by Diodorus in b. c. 392. (Xen. Hell. V. 8. §§ -28, 29 ; Diod. xiv. 94.) [E. E.] THERFMACHUS, a painter and statuary, flourished at 01. 107, b. c. 352, with Echion, who also practised both arts. No works of his are mentioned. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19, xxxv. 10. 8. 36. § 9.) [P. S.] THERMUS, MINU'CIUS. 1. Q. Minucius Q. F. L. N. Thermus (Fasti Capit.), served under Scipio as tribunus militum in the war against Han- nibal in Afiica in B. c. 202, was tribune of the plebs B. c. 201, curuie aedile b. o. 197, and in the same year was appointed one of the triumviri for found- ing six colonies on the coast of Italy (Appian, Pun. 36, 44 ; Liv. xxx. 40, xxxii. 27, 29, xxxiv. 45). In the following year, B.C. 196, he was praetor, and received the province of Nearer Spain, where he carried on the war with great success, and re- ceived in consequence the honour of a triumph on his return to Rome in B. c. IQo (Liv. xxxiii. 24, 26, 44, xxxiv. 10 ; Appian, Hisp. 39). In b. c. 193 he was consul with L. Cornelius Merula. He obtained Liguria as his province, where a for- midable insurrection had just broken out. He made Pisae his head- quarters, and carried on the war with vigour ; but in consequence of his in- feriority to the enemy in numbers, he was obliged to remain on the defensive and was twice in great peril during the campaign. In the follow- ing year B.C. 192, his imperium was prolonged, and he received additional troops, by means of which he was able to assume the offensive, and to gain a decisive victory over the Ligurians. Next }'ear his imperium was again prolonged, and he again gained a victory over the Ligurians, who had made an imexpected attack upon his camp in the night. He returned to Rome in B. c. 1 90, and sued for a triumph, but it was refused him, chiefly through the influence of M. Cato, who delivered on the occasion his two orations intitled De decern 'ominihiis and De falsis Pugnis. Cato accused him ving unjustly put to death ten freemen in his province, and of having in his petition for the triumph invented many false battles, and exag- gerated the number of the enemy that had been slain (Liv. xxxiv. 54, 55, xxxv. 3, 11, 20, 21, xxxvi. 38, xxxviii. 46 ; Gell. x. 3, xiii. 24 ; Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta., pp. 40 — 44, 2d ed.). There was also an oration of Cato intitled THERMUS. 1097 De mis Virtiitihis contra Tliennum., which is cited by Festus (pp. 182, 234), and other grammarians. Meyer {lUd. p. 45, foil.) supposes that Cato ac- cused Thermus in B. c 189, and that this oration was spoken in this year ; but this is improbable, as we know that Thermus served under Scipio Asiaticus in this year in the war against Antiochus. He and his brother Lucius were sent by Scipio to receive the oath of Antiochus to the treaty which was concluded at the end of the war. In the course of the same year he was nominated by the senate one of the ten commissioners to settle the affairs of Asia. He was killed in the following year, B.C. 188, while fighting under Cn. Manlius Viilso against the Thracians. (Appian, Syr. 39 ; Polyb'. xxii. 26 ; Liv. xxxvii. 55, xxxviii. 4 1, 46.) 2. L. Minucius Thermus, brother of the pre- ceding, served under Scipio Asiaticus, and along with his brother received the oath of Antiochus to the treaty concluded in b. c. 189. In b. c. 1/8 he served as legatus under the consul A. Manlius Vulso, in Istria. (Polyb. xxii. 26 ; Liv. xli. 8.) 3. Minucius Thermus, accompanied the con- sul L. Valerius Flaccus into Asia, in B. c. 86, and was there left by him in command of the troops in the following year. He was, however, deprived of the command by Fimbria shortly afterwards. (Appian, Alithr. 52 ; Dion Cass. Fragm. 129, p. 52. 31, ed. Keimar. ) 4. M. Minucius Thermus, propraetor in b. c. 81, accompanied L. Murena, Sulla's legate, into Asia. Thermus was engaged in the siege of My- tilene, and it was under him that Julius Caesar served his first campaign, and gained his first laurels (Suet. Caes. 2). [Caesar, p. 539, b.]. This Thermus has frequently been confounded with No. 3 ; but it must be observed that they were in Asia at different times, and moreover that No. 3 must have been an adherent of Marius, while No. 4 belonged to Sulla's party. (Comp. Druraann, Geschichte Roms^ vol. iii. p. 132, note 96.) 5. A. Minucius Thermus, was twice defended by Cicero in b. c. 59, and on each occasion ac- quitted. It is not stated of what crime he was accused. (Cic. pro Flacc. 39 ; comp. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. v. p. 619.) As Cicero says that the acquittal of Thermus caused great joy among the Roman people, we may conclude that he had previously filled some public office, and thus he may be the same as the Thermus who, when curator viae Flaminiae, sued for the consul- ship in B. c. 65. (Cic. ad Att. i. 1.) 6. Q. Minucius Thermus, was propraetor b.c. 51 and 50 in Asia, where he received many letters from Cicero, who praises his administration of the proTince {ad Fain. xiii. 53 — 57, comp. ad Att. v. 13, 20, 21. § 14, vi. 1. § 13). On the breaking out of the civil war he espoused the side of Pom- pey, and was sent with five cohorts to occupy Iguvium ; but on the approach of Curio with three cohorts, he fled from the town. In B. c. 43 he was sent by M. Lepidus as ambassador to Sex. Pom- peius. He appears afterwards to have followed the fortunes of Sex. Pompeius, for he is mentioned among the distinguished adherents of Pompeius, who deserted the latter in b. c. 35, and went over to Antonius. (Caes. B. C. i. 12 ; Cic. ad Att. vii. 13, Phil. xiii. 6 ; Appian, B. C. v. 139.) 7. Minucius Thermus, was a friend of Se- janus, and on the fall of the latter was put to