FESTUS (?

See also:

• RUFUS, GAIUS VALGIUS
• RUFUS, LUCIUS VARIUS (c 74—14 B.c.)

RuFUS or RUFIUS)  , one of the Roman writers of breviaria (epitomes of Roman history) . The reference to the defeat of the Goths at Noviodunum (A.D . 369) by the emperor Valens, and the fact that the author is unaware of the constitution of Valentia as a province (which took place in the same year) are sufficient indication to fix the date of composition . Mommsen identifies the author with Rufius Festus, proconsul of Achaea (366), and both with Rufius Festus Avienus (q.v.), the translator of Aratus . But the absence of the name Rufius in the best MSS. is against this . Others take him to be Festus of Tridentum, magister memoriae (secretary) to Valens and proconsul of Asia, where he was sent to punish those implicated in the conspiracy of Theodorus, a commission which he executed with such merciless severity that his name became a byword . The work itself (Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani) is divided into two parts—one geographical, the other historical . The chief authorities used are Livy, Eutropius and Florus . It is extremely meagre, but the fact that the last part is based on the writer's personal recollections makes it of some value for the history of the 4th century . Editions by W . Forster (Vienna, 1873) and C . Wagener (Prague, 1886) ; see also R .

Jacobi, De Festi breviarii fontibus (Bonn, 1894), and H . Peter, Die geschichtliche Lilt. fiber die romische Kaiserzeit ii . p . 133 (1897), where the epitomes of Festus, Aurelius Victor and Eutropius are compared .