Octavius
1.
Nepos, Cn., Roman praetor B.C. 168, and appointed
to the command of the fleet against Perseus. He pursued this monarch, after his defeat by
Aemilius Paulus, to the island of Samothrace, and there obtained his surrender. For this he
was rewarded with a naval triumph. In B.C. 165 he was consul with M. Torquatus. Having been
sent, three years after this, into Syria, at the head of a deputation to act as guardians to
the young king, Antiochus Eupator, he was assassinated by order, as was supposed, of Lysias,
a relative of the previous monarch, who claimed the regency during the minority of Antiochus.
The arrogant and haughty conduct of Octavius appears to have hastened his fate. The Senate,
however, erected a statue to his memory.
2.
Cn., was consul B.C. 87, along with Cinna. Being himself attached
to the party of Sulla , and having the support of the Senate, he drove his colleague out of
the city. Marius, however, having returned this same year and re-entered Rome with Cinna ,
Octavius was put to death.
3.
Gaius, the father of Augustus, was praetor B.C. 61,
and distinguished himself by the correctness and justice of his decisions. After his
praetorship he was appointed governor of Macedonia, and defeated the Ressi and other Thracian
tribes, for which he received from his soldiers the title of Imperator. He died at Nola, on
his return from his province. Octavius married Atia, the sister of Iulius Caesar, and had by
this union Octavius (afterwards Augustus) and Octavia, the wife of Antonius.
4.
The name of the emperor
Augustus before his
adoption by Iulius Caesar. See
Augustus.
