A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. L.AureliusAvianiusSymmachus, who flourished about the middle of the fourth century, and is described by Ammianus Marcellinus (27.3.3), as worthy of being ranked among the brightest models of learning and virtue. From an inscription formerly preserved in the Capitol, and now in the vestibule of the Vatican Library, we learn that he enjoyed at various periods the dignities of praefect of the city (A. D. 364), an office in which he was the successor of Apronianus (Amm. Marc. l.c.), of consul (suffect. A. D. 376 ?), of propraefect of the praetorium at Rome and propraefect of the neighbouring provinces, of praefectus annonae, of pontifex major, and of quindecemvir S. F. In A. D. 360, he was despatched on an embassy to the emperor Constantius, at that time in the East (Amm. Marc. 21.12.24), and at different periods executed various diplomatic missions, to the entire satisfaction of the nobility. As a tribute to his wisdom, influence, and eloquence, he was usually called upon to deliver his opinion first in deliberations of the senate, and that body, with the consent and approbation of the emperors Valens and Valentinianus, passed a vote that a gilded statue should be erected in honour of him, which was dedicated on the 29th of April A. D. 377 in the consulship of Gratianus Augustus (IV.) and Merobaudes. By his wife, the daughter of Acyndinus, he was the father of