A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

was praefect of Gaul and Lower Germany in the reign of the emperor Nero, and the successor of Paulinus in that post. When the Frisians had occupied and taken into cultivation a tract of land near the banks of the Rhine, Dubius Avitus demanded of them to quit it, or to obtain the sanction of the emperor. Two ambassadors accordingly went to Rome; but, although they themselves were honoured and distinguished by the Roman franchise, the Frisians were ordered to leave the country they had occupied, and those who resisted were cut down by the Roman cavalry. The same tract of country was then occupied by the Ampsivarii, who had been driven out of their own country by the Chanci, and implored the Romans to allow them a peaceful settlement. Dubius Avitus gave them a haughty answer, but offered to their leader. Boiocalus, who was a friend of Rome, a piece of land. Boiocalus declined the offer, which he looked upon as a bribe to betray his countrymen; and the Ampsivarii immediately formed an alliance with the Tenchteri and Bructeri to resist the Romans by force of arms. Dubius Avitus then called in the aid of Curtilius Mancia and his army. He invaded the territory of the Tenchteri, who were so frightened that they renounced the alliance with the Ampsivarii, and their example was followed by the Bructeri, whereby the Ampsivarii were obliged to yield. (Tac. Ann. 13.54, 56; Plin. Nat. 34.18.)

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