OTILO
OUSIA
full of terrors and haunted by the spectre of themurdered emperor (Sueton. c. 7), but the senatehad sworn fidelity to him, and so far thingslooked hopeful. Hearing that the legions inGermany had elected Vitellius as emperor beforethe death of Galba, and taken the oath of alle-giance to him, Otho on the one hand proposed analliance in marriage and a share in the empire,and on the other prepared for war. Thechief strength of Vitellius, himself gluttonous andsluggish, lay in the support of Fabius Valensand Alienus Caesina, who commanded legions inLower Germany. The provinces of Gallia Nar-bonensis, Gallia Lugdunensis, Aquitania andSpain declared for him, and Otho found it neces-sary to leave Rome for the north of Italy tocheck their progress. At first the army of Othomet with some partial and indecisive successes.His generals urged him to avoid a decisive action,but his impetuosity led him to risk all on thefate of a single battle. The two armies accord-ingly met not far from Bedriacum, uear the con-fluence of the Adda and the Po, and Otho’stroops were utterly routed. Making no furtherattempt at resistance he determined on suicidewith a singular calmness, took leave of kinsmenand friends, wrote letters to his sisters, gavepresents to his servants, burnt all letters thatmight have compromised his adherents, lay downfor a few hours of sleep, and woke on the 15thof April to plunge a dagger in his heart. (Sueton.Otho; Plutarch, Otho; Tacit. Ann. xiii.; Hist.i. 2 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiv., and we may add, asgiving a vivid picture of the emperor's characterand actions, Corneille's tragedy of Othon.')
[E. H. P.]
OTILO. [Odilo.]
OTREIUS (1), bishop of Melitina in UpperArmenia and metropolitan ; one of the leadingorthodox prelates in the latter part of the 4thcentury, the successor of Uranius. Euthymius,afterwards the celebrated abbat of Palestine,when a child of three or four years old wascommitted to his care by his parents, a.d. 379.He attended the orthodox council of Tyana, A.D.367 (Labbe, ii. 99 ; Soz. H. E. vi. 12), as wellas the oecumenical council of Constantinople,A.D. 381 (Labbe, ii. 955). At this time he wasnominated, together with Gregory Nyssen andHelladius of Caesarea, one of the centres oforthodoxy for the diocese of Pontus (Soz. H. E.vii. 9; Socr. H. E. v. 8 ; Cod. Theod. do Fid .Cathol. xvi. tit. i. lex 3, tom. vi. p. 9). Basilwrote to Otreius, a.d. 374, after the exile ofEusebius of Samosata, suggesting that theyshould console one another under so great acalamity, Otreius sending him all the intelli-gence he could gain from Samosata, and Basilall he could learn from Thrace, the place ofEusebius's banishment. (Basil, Ep. 181 [316].)
[E. V.]
OTREIUS (2), bishop of Arabissus in Ar-menia, the place in which Chrvsostom tookrefuge in 405 from the incursions of the Jsaurians.Chrysostom had previously sent a presbyter,named Terentius, to him to obtain some relicsof martyrs, of which he had a large store ofundoubted genuineness (avafupta^i}T 7 jra) for theuse of Rufinus the missionary in Phoenicia, whorequired them for the consecration of the
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churches he was building. (Chrys, Ep, 126;Mansi, iii. 569 ; Le Quien, i. 445.) [E. V.]
OTRENUS ZOTICUS. [Zoticus.]
OTTILIA, abbess. [Odilia.]
OUDOCEUS (Oudoc, Oudochus, Dochu),
third bishop of Llandaff and one of the chiefsaints of Wales, being the last of the three, SSDubricius, Teilo, and Oudoceus. He was son o iBudic, who had fled from Cornugallia (Cornou-*ailles) in Brittany, and, finding refuge in Demetia,Dyfed, or West Wales, in the time of king AircolLawhir, had married Anauued or Arianwedd,daughter of Ensic and sister of St. Teilo. Oudo-ceus was born in Cornugallia after Budic hadbeen called to the throne. He was brother ofSt. Ismael and martyr Tyfei, and early devotedto religion and learning. On the occasion of avisit by St. Teilo to Brittany, Oudoceus accom-panied him to Wales, and ultimately succeededhim in the see of Llandaff, probably in thesecond half of the 6th century. If facts are tobe inferred from the Llandaff charters, he was apowerful bishop, receiving many gifts to the seefrom his contemporaries Meurig ap Tewdrig,Athrwys ap Meurig, and Morgan ap Athrwys,kings of Glamorgan, and exercising disciplineupon kings or reguli at the synods of Llandaff(Lib. Laud. by Rees, 139, 143, 172 ; Wilkins,Cone. i. 17, 18). These synods appear to havebeen provincial and wholly disciplinary, thepresence of the three great abbats, with theircongregations, being specially registered. Hisconsecration for the see has become a point ofgreat interest, as it is said (Lib. Land. 84, 124,conf. Ussher, Wks. v. 109-10) that he was sent“ ad Dorobornensem civitatem, ad beatum archi-episoopum, ubi sacratus est episcopus ecclesiaeLandaviae, in honore Sancti Petri fundatae."But it is clear that this is a later controversialdevice for magnifying the position and preroga-tive of Llandatf in opposition to the rival sees;in itself it was impossible, if Canterbury wereto be the place of consecration. He suc-ceeded to a smaller jurisdiction than St. Teiloheld, as Menevia was administered by St. Ceneu;he was partially a contemporary of SS. Cadocand Gildas. But near the close of his life he re-tired from his see and lived in holy seclusion onthe banks of the Wye. His feast is July 2. Hisdates are all uncertain, but his death probablyoccurred early in the 7th century, though Pinius(Boll. Acta SS. 2 Jul. i. 284) would preferabout a.d. 564.
Our authorities on the Life of St. Oudoceus areVita B. Oudocei Land. Archiep. (in Lib. Landby Rees, 123 sq.) and Capgrave’s summary (Nov.Leg. Angl. f. 258), which appears also in theBollandists* useful memoir (Acta SS. 2 Jul. i.283-6); Cressy (Ch.Hist. Brit. xii. c. 9) translatesfrom Capgrave and the Llandaff charters, andUssher (Wks. vi. 81) quotes from them. (Seealso Hardy, Descript. Cat. i. 145-6 ; Haddan andStubbs, Counc. i. 125; Wharton, Angl. Sacra ,ii. 669 ; Godwin, De Pr. Ang. 619 ; Rees, W. SS.253, 274.) [J. G.]
OUEN, ST. [Audoenus.]
OUSIA, recluse. [Usia.]