Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius
Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius (floruit 361 – 384) was a Roman politician, praefectus urbi of Rome from 368 to 370 and Roman consul in 379. Olybrius has been characterized as belonging to "the breed of flexible politicians who did well both under Valentinian I [...] and under Gratian."[1]
Life
Olybrius was a member of the senatorial aristocracy of Rome.
He was the son of Clodius Celsinus Adelphius, who had been praefectus urbi in 351, and of Faltonia Betitia Proba, a poet. His brother, Faltonius Probus Alypius, was praefectus urbi of Rome in 391. Proba converted to Christianity, and later had her husband and their sons, Olybrius included, convert to the same religion.
Olybrius married Turrania Anicia Juliana, a member of the
He reached the rank of
During his office as praefectus urbi, which was generally calm and balanced, he arrested two suspected poisoners. He led the investigations, but he got ill and they passed to the praefectus annonae, Maximinus. He was then succeeded by Publius Ampelius.
In his consulate he was posterior to his colleague, the poet
It is also known that Olybrius was in Sirmium when he was appointed consul by Gratian, who also had already conferred upon Olybrius the Praetorian prefecture of the East.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus records a trial in which he was a judge. A land-owner called Scirtius had been dispossessed of his property and had complained to Symmachus, who had then issued a decree giving the land back to Scirtius. Symmachus tells that he discovered that Olybrius was behind this misappropriation and that some of the agents had tried to avoid the restitution of the stolen property, even kidnapping people and bribing witnesses. Thus Olybrius is depicted as violent and greedy. This view is somehow confirmed by Ammianus Marcellinus' description of Olybrius' office as prefect: the historian, in fact, describes Olybrius as overly interested in luxury.[5]
References
- ^ Hagith Sivan, Ausonius of Bordeaux: Genesis of a Gallic Aristocracy (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 133 online.
- ^ Settipani, Christian. ADDENDUM et CORRIGIENDA (juillet 2000-octobre 2002) for Continuite Gentilice et Continuite Familiae Das Les Familles Senatoriales Romaines a L'Epoque Imperialle: Mythe et Realite. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~prosop/publications/volume-two.pdf Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine (2002)
- ^ Settipani, Christian. Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne (France: Éditions Christian, 1989).
- ^ Settipani, Christian. "Ruricius, premier évêque de Limoges et ses alliances familiales." Francia, 18 (1991), p. 196, 218.
- ISBN 0-521-42273-6, pp. 116-7.
Sources
- John Robert Martindale, Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 640–642.