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Brutus, in ancient Rome

(Encyclopedia)Brutus bro͞oˈtəs [key], in ancient Rome, a surname of the Junian gens. Lucius Junius Brutus, fl. 510 b.c., was the founder of the Roman republic. He feigned idiocy to escape death at the hands of L...

Bibulus

(Encyclopedia)Bibulus (Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus) bĭbˈyo͝oləs [key], d. 48 b.c., Roman statesman. The colleague in the consulship with Julius Caesar in 59 b.c., he did everything in his power to block each move...

Pliny the Elder

(Encyclopedia)Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus) plĭˈnē [key], c.a.d. 23–a.d. 79, Roman naturalist, b. Cisalpine Gaul. He was a friend and fellow military officer of Vespasian, becoming eventually an arm...

Thistlewood, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Thistlewood, Arthur, 1770–1820, British conspirator. He acquired revolutionary views while traveling in France and America and, after his return to England, joined the revolutionary Spencean Society...

Louis the German

(Encyclopedia)Louis the German, c.804–876, king of the East Franks (817–76). When his father, Emperor of the West Louis I, partitioned the empire in 817, Louis received Bavaria and adjacent territories. In the ...

Albert II, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Albert II, 1934–, king of the Belgians (1993–2013), the younger son of Leopold III. He married Donna Paola Ruffo de Calabria in 1959; they have three children. Albert became king when Baudouin, hi...

Henry the Lion

(Encyclopedia)Henry the Lion, 1129–95, duke of Saxony (1142–80) and of Bavaria (1156–80); son of Henry the Proud. His father died (1139) while engaged in a war to regain his duchies, and it was not until 1142...

Clodius

(Encyclopedia)Clodius (Publius Clodius Pulcher) klōˈdēəs [key], d. 52 b.c., Roman politician. He belonged to the Claudian gens (see Claudius), and his name is also written as Publius Claudius Pulcher. He was br...

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