Decius

Dĕcĭus, a.

• An ancient Italian praenomen: Decius Magius, Liv. 23, 7, 10; Vell. 2, 16, 2 al.—
• II The name of an eminent plebeian gens at Rome. Its bestknown members were the two Decii (P. Decius Mus, father and son), who, as consuls, voluntarily devoted themselves to death to save their country (the former, in the Latin war, at Veseris, B.C. 340, the latter, in the Samnite war, at Sentinum, B.C. 295), Liv. 8, 9; 10, 27 sq.; Val. Max. 1, 7, 3; 5, 6, 5 sq.; Flor. 1, 14, 3; 1, 17, 7; Cic. Off. 2, 4, 16; id. Div. 1, 24, 51; id. Fin. 2, 19, 61; id. de Sen. 13, 43; Prop. 3, 11, 62 (4, 10, 62 M.). —Genit.: Deci, id. 4 (5), 1, 45. Cicero also mentions the grandson, who devoted himself at Asculum in the war against Pyrrhus, B.C. 279, Cic. Tusc. 1, 37, 89; id. Fin. 2, 19, 61 fin.—Hence,
• • • 1 Dĕcius, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Decius, lex, of P. Decius Mus, Liv. 9, 30.—
    • 2 Dĕcĭānus, a, um, of or belonging to Decius: exercitus (i. e. of the second Decius), Liv. 10, 31.—
• III An artist at Rome, B.C. 56, Plin. 34, 7, 18, § 44.

Decius, a, um, Name einer röm. gens, aus der am berühmtesten die beiden Decii (P. Decius Mus, Vater u. Sohn), die sich als Konsuln zur Rettung des Vaterlandes (der Vater im Latinerkriege, i. J. 340 v. Chr., der Sohn im Samniterkriege, i. J. 295 v. Chr.) freiwillig dem Tode weihten, Liv. 8, 9, 1 sqq.; 10, 28, 6 sqq. Cic. Tusc. 1, 89: devotio P. Decii consulis, Liv. 9, 10, 3: Deciorum devotio, Min. Fel. 7, 3: Deciorum devotiones, Cic. de nat. deor. 3, 16: u. so Plur. Decii außerdem bei Cic. Sest. 143. Verg. georg. 2, 169. Sen. contr. 9, 25, 9. Claud. Probr. et Olybr. cons. 147. Augustin. de civ. dei 5, 14. – Dav. Deciānus, a, um, decisch, exercitus, des Decius (des Sohnes), Liv. 10, 31, 3.

Dĕcĭus, (9) ĭī, m. et Dĕcĭī, ĭōrum, m. , Décius, les Décius [nom de trois illustres Romains qui se dévouèrent pour la patrie] : Cic. Off. 3, 16 ; Liv. 8, 9, 1 ; 10, 28, 12 || Décius Magius, citoyen de Capoue : Liv. 23, 10, 3 || Dèce, empereur romain || -cĭus, a, um, de P. Décius Mus : Liv. 9, 30.

De'cius

1. M. Decius, one of the deputies sent to the senate by the plebeians during their secession to the sacred mount in B. C. 495. (Dionys. A. R. 6.88.)

De'cius

2. M. Decius, tribune of the people in B. C. 311, when he carried a plebiscitum, that the people should appoint duumviri naxales to restore and equip the Roman fleet. (Liv. 9.30.)

De'cius

3. P. Decius, one of the legates who in B. C. 168 brought to Rone the news of the defeat of the Illyrians, and of the capture of their king Genthius. (Liv. 45.3.)

De'cius

4. P. Decius, according to Cicero (de Orat. 2.31) and Aurelius Victor (de Vir. Ill. 72), whereas Livy (Liv. Epit. 61) calls him Q. Decius, was tribune of the people in B. C. 120. L. Opimius, who had been consul the year before, was brought to trial by the tribune Decius for having caused the murder of C. Gracchus, and for having thrown citizens into prison without a judicial verdict. The enemies of Decius asserted that he had been induced by bribes to bring forward this accusation. Four years later, B. C. 115, Decius was praetor urbanus, and in that year he gave great offence to M. Aemilius Scaurus, who was then consul, by keeping his seat when the consul passed by him. The haughty Scaurus turned round and ordered him to rise, but when Decius refused, Scaurus tore his gown and broke the chair of Decius to pieces; at the same time he commanded that no one should justice at the hands of the refractory praetor. It is not improbable that the hostile feeling between the two men may have arisen from the fact that Scaurus had induced Opimius to take up arms against C. Gracchus, to whose party Decius evidently belonged. Cicero speaks of Decius as an orator who emulated M. Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of C. Gracchus, and remarks that he was as turbulent in his speeches as he was in life. It is probably this Decius who is alluded to in a fragment of the poet Lucilius, which is preserved by Cicero. (De Orat. 2.62, comp. 2.30, 31, Brut. 28, Part. orat. 30.)

De'cius

5. P. Decius, a colleague of M. Antony in the septemviratus. Cicero says of him, with a fine irony, that he endeavoured to follow the example of his great ancestors (the Decii), by sacrificing himself to his debts, that is, by joining Antony, through whose influence he hoped to get rid of his debts. He accompanied Antony in the war of Mutina, but was taken prisoner there. Afterwards, when Octavian wished for a reconciliation with Antony, he allowed Decius to return to his friend. (Cic. Phil. 11.6, 13.13; Appian, App. BC 3.80.)

De'cius

6. Decius, is mentioned by Appian (App. BC 4.27) among those who were proscribed after the formation of the triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus. Decius and Cilo, on hearing that their names were on the list, took to flight, but as they were hurrying out of one of the gates of Rome, they were recognized by the centurions and put to death. [L.S]

De'cius Jube'llius

a Campanian, and commander of the Campanian legion which the Romans stationed at Rhegium in B. C. 281 for the protection of the place. Decius and his troops, envious of the happiness which the inhabitants of Rhegium enjoyed, and remembering the impunity with which the Mamertines had carried out their disgraceful scheme, formed a most diabolical plan. During the celebration of a festival, while all the citizens were feasting in public, Decius and his soldiers attacked them; the men were massacred and driven into exile, while the soldiers took the women to themselves. Decius put himself at the head of the city, acted as tyrannus perfectly independent of Rome, and formed connexions with the Mamertines in Sicily. He at first had endeavoured to palliate his crime by asserting that the Rhegines intended to betray the Roman garrison to Pyrrhus. During the war with Pyrrhus the Romans had no time to look after and punish the miscreants at Rhegium, and Decius for some years enjoyed the fruits of his crime unmolested. During that period he was seized by a disease of the eyes, and not venturing to trust a Rhegine physician, he sent for one to Messana. This physician was himself a natire of Rhegium, a fact which few persons knew, and he now took the opportunity to avenge on Decius the wrongs he had inflicted upon Rhegium. He gave him something which he was to apply to his eyes, and which, however painful it might be, he was to continue till the physician should return from Messana. The order was obeyed, but the pain became at last quite unbearable, and Decius in the end found that he was quite blind. After the death of Pyrrhus, in B. C. 271, Fabricius was sent out against Rhegium; he be sieged the place, and took it. All the survivors of the Campanian legion that fell into his hands, upreceive wards of three hundred men, were sent to Rome, where they were scourged and beheaded in the forum. The citizens of Rhegium who were yet alive were restored to their native place. Decius put an end to himself in his prison at Rome. (Appian, Samnit. Excerpt. 9.1-3; Diodor. Fragm. lib. xxii.; Liv. Epit. 12, 15; Plb. 1.7; V. Max. 7.7.15.) [L.S]

De'cius

Roman emperor, A. D. 249-251, whose full name was C. Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, was born about the close of the second century at Bubalia, a village in Lower Pannonia, being the first of a long series of monarchs who traced their origin to an Illyrian stock. We are altogether unacquainted with his early career, but he appears to have been entrusted with an important military command upon the Danube in A. D. 245, and four years afterwards was earnestly solicited by Philippus to undertake the task of restoring subordination in the army of Moesia, which had been, however, disorganized by the revolt of Marinus. [Philippus ; Marinus.] Decius accepted this appointment with great reluctance, and many misgivings as to the result. On his appearance, the troops deeming their guilt beyond forgiveness, offered the envoy the choice of death or of the throne. With the sword pointed to his heart he accepted the latter alternative, was proclaimed Augustus, and forced by the rebels to march upon Italy, having previously, according to Zonaras, written to assure his sovereign that his faith was still unbroken, and that he would resign the purple, as soon as he could escape from the thraldom of the legions. Philippus, not trusting these professions, hastened to meet his rival in the field, encountered him in the vicinity of Verona, was defeated, and slain. This event took place towards the end of A. D. 249.

The short reign of the new prince, extending to about thirty months, was chiefly occupied in warring against the Goths, who now, for the first time, appeared as a formidable foe on the north eastern frontier, and having crossed the Danube, under Cniva their chief, were ravaging the Thracian provinces. The details of their invasion are to found in Jornandes, Zosimus, and the fragments of Dexippus, but these accounts appear so contradictory, that it is impossible, in the absence of an impartial historian, to explain or re concile their statements. It would seem that the barbarians, in the first instance, repulsed Decius near Philippopolis, and were thus enabled to take that important city, but having lost their best troops during these operations, and finding them selves surrounded by the Romans who were now advancing from different points, they offered to purchase an unmolested retreat by the surrender of their prisoners and plunder. These overtures being rejected, the Goths turned to bay, and gave battle near Abricium late in the year A. D. 251. After a deadly struggle, their desperate valour, aided by the incautious confidence of the Romans, prevailed. The son of the emperor was slain by an arrow, while Decius himself, with his best troops, became entangled in a marsh, and were cut to pieces or engulfed.

Some proceedings in the civil administration of this epoch, which at first sight would be considered as wholly without connexion with each other, but which were in reality intended to promote the accomplishment of the same object, deserve special attention. The increasing weakness of the state was every day becoming more painfully apparent, and the universal corruption of public morality was justly regarded as a deepseated canker which must be eradicated, before any powerful effort could be made for restoring healthful vigour to the body politic. Two remedies suggested themselves, and were immediately called into action. It was determined to revive the censorship and to persecute the Christians. It was hoped that, by the first, order and decency might be revived in the habits of social life; it was imagined that, by the second, the national religion might be restored to its ancient purity, and that Rome might regain the favour of her gods. The death of Decius prevented the new censor, Valerian, the same who afterwards became emperor, from exerting an authority which could scarcely have produced any beneficial change; but the eager hate of Pagan zealots was more prompt in taking advantage of the imperial edict, and made much havoc in the church. Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem, lamented the martyrdom of their bishops Fabianus, Babylas, and Alexander; Origen was subjected to cruel tortures, while Alexandria was the scene of a bloody massacre. In Africa, vast numbers, falling away from the truth, disowned their belief, and after the danger was past, the readmission of these renegades, comprehended under the general appellation of Lapsi, gave rise to various bitter controversies, which distracted for a long period the ecclesiastical councils of the west. [Cyprianus.]

Of the general character of Decius it is impossible to speak with certainty, for our authorities are scanty, and the shortness of his public career afforded little opportunity for its development. Victor pronounces a warm panegyric, declaring that his disposition was most amiable, that he was highly accomplished, mild and affable in his civil relations, and a gallant warrior in the field. Zosimus and the Christian historians, writing under the influence of strong feeling, have severally represented him as a model of justice, valour, liberality, and all kingly virtues, or as a monster of iniquity and savage cruelty, while even, in modern times, the tone adopted by Tillemont on the one hand, and by Gibbon on the other, can scarcely be pronounced fair or dispassionate, the language of the latter especially being such as to mislead the unlearned reader both as to the nature and extent of our information, and to induce him to conclude that we posses materials for pronouncing a judgment which do not in reality exist.

(Victor, de Caes. 29; Epit. 29; Eutrop. 9.4; Trebell. Pollio Valerian. 100.1; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 6.39, &c; Zosim. 1.21-23; Zonar. 12.19, 20; Jornandes, R. G. 100.16, &c. For the family of Decius, see Herennia Etruscilia, Herennius Etruscus, Hostilianus.) [W.R]

De'cius

a Roman statuary, by whom there was an admired colossal head in the Capitol. He perhaps lived in the first century B. C., but his date is very doubtful. [Chares.] [P.S]

Decius

(1) Publius Decius Mus, a celebrated Roman consul, who, after many glorious exploits, devoted himself to the Manes for the safety of his country in a battle against the Latins, B.C. 337. His son, Decius, imitated his example, and devoted himself in like manner in his fourth consulship, when fighting against the Gauls and the Samnites at Sentinum, B.C. 296. His grandson is said to have done the same in the war against Pyrrhus and the Tarentines, B.C. 280 (Liv.vii. 21 foll.; id. viii. 10; Val. Max. v. 6).

(2) Gaius Messius Quintus Traiānus. A native of Pannonia, sent by the emperor Philip to put down a sedition in Moesia. Instead of obeying his master's command, he assumed the imperial purple. His disaffected troops, it is said, forced him to this step. The emperor immediately marched against him, and a battle was fought near Verona, which terminated successfully for Decins, and Philip was either slain in the conflict or put to death after he fell into the conqueror's power. This took place A.D. 249, and from this period is dated the commencement of the reign of Decius. It was one of short duration, about two years. During this time, however, he proved a very cruel persecutor of the Christians. He greatly signalized himself against the Persians, but was slain in an action with the Goths, who had invaded his dominions. In advancing upon them he was, with the greater part of his troops, entangled in a morass, where, being surrounded by the enemy, he perished under a shower of darts, A.D. 251, aged fifty years. See Victor, De Caes. 29; Eutrop. ix. 4; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 39, etc.; Zonar.xii. 19, 20.