Philus

• a Roman surname: L. Furius Philus, a consul A. U. C. 618, Cic. Rep. 1, 11, 17; 1, 13, 19; id. Lael. 4, 14; 6, 21; 7, 25 sq.

the name of a family of the patrician Furia gens.

1. P. Furius Sp. F. M. N. Philus, was consul B. C. 223 with C. Flaminius, and accompanied his colleague in his campaign against the Gauls in the north of Italy. [Flaminius, No. 1.] He was elected praetor in the third year of the second Punic war, B. C. 216, when he obtained the jurisdictio inter cices Romcanos et peregrinos ; and after the fatal battle of Cannae in this year, he and his colleague M. Pomponius Matho summoned the senate to take measures for the defence of the city. Shortly afterwards he received the fleet from M. Claudiius Marcellus, with which he proceeded to Africa, but having been severely wounded in an engagement off the coast he returned to Lilybaeum. In B. C. 214 he was censor with M. Atilius Regulus, but he died at the beginning of the following year, before the solemn purification (lustrumn) of the people had been performed; and Regulus accordingly, as was usual in such cases, resigned his office. These censors visited with severity all persons who had failed in their duty to their country during the great calamities which Rome had lately experienced. They reduced to the condition of aerarians all the young nobles, who had formed the project of leaving Italy after the battle of Cannae, among whom was L. Caecilius Metellus, who was quaestor in the year of their consulship, B. C. 214. As, however, Metellus was elected tribune of the plebs for the following year notwithstanding this degradation, he attempted to bring the censors to trial before the people, immediately after entering upon his office, but was prevented by the other tribunes from prosecuting such an unprecedented course. [Metellus, No. 3.] Philus was also one of the augurs at the time of his death. (Liv. 22.35, 55, 57, 23.21, 24.11, 18, 43, 25.2; V. Max. 2.9.8.)

2. P. Furius Philus, the son of the preceding, informed Scipio in B. C. 216, after the battle of Cannae, of the design of L. Caecilius Metellus and others to leave Italy, to which reference has been made above. (Liv. 22.53.)

3. P. Furius Philus, praetor B. C. 174, obtained Nearer Spain as his province. On his return to Rome he was accused by the provincials of repetundae. The elder Cato spoke against him : on the first hearing the case was adjourned (anpliatus), but fearing a condemnation, when it came on again, Philus went into exile to Praeneste, B. C. 171. (Liv. 41.21, 43.2; Cic. in Caecil. Div. 20 ; Pseudo-Ascon. in loc. p. 124, ed. Orelli; Meyer, Orut. Romn. Fragm. p. 97, 2nd ed.)

4. L. Furius Philus, probably brother of the preceding, was praetor B. C. 171, and obtained Sardinia as his province. He was one of the pontifices, and died in B. C. 170. (Liv. 42.28, 31, 43.13.)

5. L. Furius Philus, was consul B. C. 136 with Sex. Atilius Serranus. He received Spain as his province, and was commissioned by the senate to deliver up to the Numantines C. Hostilius Mancinuls, the consul of the preceding year. [Mancinus, No. 3.] On that occasion Philus took with him as legati Q. Pompeius and Q. Metelluts, two of his greatest enemies, that they might be compelled to bear witness to his uprightness and integrity.

A contemporary of the younger Scipio and ot Laelius, Philus participated with them in a love for Greek literature and refinement. He cultivated the society of the most learned Greeks, and was himself a man of no small learning for those times. He was particularly celebrated for the purity witi which he spoke his mother-tongue. He is introduced by Cicero as one of the speakers in his dialogue De Republica, and is described by the latter as a man "moderatissimus et continentissimus." (Dio Cass. Fraqm. lxxxv. p. 36, ed. Reimar.; V. Max. 3.7.5; Cic. de Off. 3.30, de Rep. 3.11, Brut. 28, de Or. 2.37, pru Arch. 7, de Leg. Ayr. 2.24, de Rep. 1.11 ad Att. 4.16, Lael. 4, 6, 19, 27.) His praenomen was Lucius, and not Publius, as it is erroneously given in one passage of Cicero (Cic. Att. 12.5.3), and by many modern writers.

6. M. Furius Philus, occurs only on coins, a specimen of which is annexed. The obverse represents the head of Janus with the legend M. Fovri. L.F., the reverse Pallas or Rome crowning a trophy, and below PILI.

(1) Publius, was consul B.C. 223 with C. Flaminius, and accompanied his colleague in his campaign against the Gauls in the north of Italy. He was praetor in 216, when he commanded the fleet with which he proceeded to Africa. In 214 he was censor with M. Atilius Regulus, but died at the beginning of the following year.

(2) Lucius, consul B.C. 136, received Spain as his province, and was commissioned by the Senate to deliver up to the Numantines C. Hostilius Mancinus, the consul of the preceding year. Philus, like his contemporaries Scipio Africanus the younger and Laelius, was fond of Greek literature and refinement. He is introduced by Cicero as one of the speakers in his dialogue De Republica.