Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/73
ATTICUS, Titus Pomponius, the friend of Cicero, was one of the most distinguished men during the period of the decline and fall of the Roman republic. His life gives an admirable picture of the classical man of culture, who, withdrawing from the stir of political affairs, devoted himself to literary and artistic pursuits. He was born at Rome 109 B.C., and was thus three years older than Cicero, along with whom he and the younger Marius were educated. His family is said to have been of noble and ancient descent ; his father belonged to the equestrian order, and was very wealthy. "When Pomponius (who afterwards received the surname Atticus, on account of his long resi dence at Athens, and his intimate acquaintance with Greek literature) was still a young man, his father died, and he at once took the prudent resolution of transferring himself and his fortune to Athens, in order to escape the dangers of the civil war, in which he might have been involved through his connection with the murdered tribune Sulpicius Rufus. Here, in retirement, he contrived to keep himself free from the entanglements of faction, while preserving friendly relations with all parties. Sulla, who urged him to come to Rome and join his party, took no offence at his refusal, but treated him with marked kindness. He assisted the younger Marius and Brutus with money when they were fleeing from their enemies, and remained on the most cordial terms with Cæsar and Pompey, Antony and Octavianus. His most intimate friend, however, was Cicero, whose correspondence with him extended over many years, and who seems to have found his prudent counsel and sympathy a remedy for all his many troubles. His private life was tranquil and happy. He did not marry till he was 53 years of age, and his only child became the wife of Vipsanius Agrippa, the distinguished minister of Augustus. His large fortune was increased on the death of his uncle, L. Cæcilius, who bequeathed to him the greater part of his property. He formed a large library at Athens, and kept a staff of slaves engaged in making copies of valuable works. He probably derived considerable profits from the sale of these books. In 32 B.C. he was seized with an illness believed to be incurable. He resolved not to protract a painful and hopeless struggle, and died after five days of voluntary starvation. As might have been expected from his easy temper and equable disposition, Atticus professed a mild Epicureanism, but. philosophical problems, as such, do not seem to have had much interest for him ; he was emphatically a man of literature. Of his writings none are extant, but we have notices of two, one a Greek history of Cicero's consulship, the other, in Latin, on Roman annals, a subject to which he had given much attention. This work was highly commended for its minute exactness, chronological accuracy, and simple style.
ATTICUS HERODES, Tiberius Claudius, a very wealthy citizen of Athens, was born about 104 A.D. His grandfather s estates had been confiscated for treachery, but the fortunes of the family had been restored by the discovery in his father s house of an enormous sum of money, which the Emperor Nerva permitted them to retain. This great wealth Herodes afterwards increased by his marriage. He received a careful education under the most distinguished masters of the time, and specially devoted himself to the study of oratory, to excel in which seems to have been the ruling motive of his life. While very young he delivered a speech before one of the emperors; but it was so ill received that he was with difficulty restrained from throwing himself into the Danube. He ultimately attained to great celebrity as a speaker and as a feacher of rhetoric. Among his pupils were Marcus Aurellas and Lucius Verus. He was highly esteemed by the Antonines, particularly by Aurelius, and received many marks of favour, among others the archonship at Athens and the consulate at Rome. Atticus is principally celebrated, however, for the vast sums he expended on public purposes. He built at Athens a great race-course of marble from Pentelicus, and a splendid musical theatre, called the Odeum. At Corinth he built a theatre, at Delphi a stadium, at Thermopylae hot baths, at Canusium in Italy an aqueduct. He even contemplated cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, but it is said did not dare to carry out his plan because the same thing had been unsuccessfully attempted before by the Emperor Nero. Many of the partially ruined cities of Greece were restored by Atticus, and numerous inscriptions testify their gratitude to their bene factor. His wealth, and, it is reported, some disagreement with regard to one of the provisions of his father s will, roused up the enmity of the Athenians against him. He withdrew from Athens, and resided at his villa near Marathon, where he died about 180 A.D. None of his writings are extant.