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Antonius (2)

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(a frequent Roman name), the name of several men in Josephus. (See ANTONY).

1. LUCIUS, third son of Marcus Antonius Creticus, and younger brother of Marc Antony, became tribune in B.C. 44, and consul in B.C. 41. Upon the death of Julius Caesar, he actively supported his brother's cause as triumvir (Dion Cass. 48:5); but in the issue he was besieged in Perusia, and forced to surrender, B.C. 40. He was shortly afterward appointed to the command of Iberia, after which we hear no more of him (Smith, Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v. Antonius, 14). Cicero describes him as infamous (Philippians 3:12; Php 5:7, 11; Php 12:8, etc.), but with exaggeration (Drumann, Gesch. Roms, p. 527). His decree as "Roman vice-quaestor and vice-praetor" to the Sardians in favor of the Jews is recited by Josephus (Ant. 14, 10, 17).

2. MARCUS (surnamed PRIMUS) a native of Tolosa, in Gaul, received in his boyhood the epithet of Beko, i.e. in Gallic a cock's beak (Suetonius, Vitell. 18; Martial, 9:10). He afterward went to Rome, and rose to the dignity of senator; but, having been degraded for forgery, he was banished (Tacit. Ann. 14, 40). After the death of Nero (A.D 68), he was restored to his former rank by Galba, and appointed to the command of the seventh legion in Pannonia. When the fortunes of Vitellius began to fail (A.D. 68), Antonius was one of the first generals of Europe to declare in favor of Vespasian, to whom he subsequently rendered the most important military services (Smith's Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v. Primus). His dispossession of the forces of Vitellius from Rome is related by Josephus (War, 4, 11, 2 and 3). His haughty behavior in consequence, however, appears thenceforth to have left him in. comparative obscurity (Tacit. Hist. 2, 86; Dio Cass. 65:9-18).

3. A captain of the Roman garrison at Ascalon, attacked by the Jews in the beginning of the final struggle (Joseph. War, 3, 2, 1). It is uncertain whether he was the same with the centurion who lost his life during the siege of Jotapata by the treachery of one of the Jews who had fled into the neighboring caves (ib.3, 7, 35).