FESTUS (? RUFUS or RUF rUS), one of the Roman writers of breviaria (epitomes of Roman history). The fact that he refers to the defeat of the Goths at Noviodunum (A.D. 369) by Valens, but is unaware of the con stitution of Valentia as a province (which took place in the same year) fixes the date of composition. Mommsen identifies the author with Rufius Festus, proconsul of Achaea (366), and both with Rufius Festus Avienus (q.v.), the translator of Aratus. But the absence of the name Rufius in the best mss. is against this. Others take him to be Festus of Tridentum, magister mem oriae (secretary) to Valens who, as proconsul of Asia, punished with merciless severity those implicated in the conspiracy of Theodorus. The work itself (Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani) is divided into two parts—one geographical, the other historical. The chief authorities used are Livy, Eutropius and Florus. It is extremely meagre, but the last part, which is based on the writer's personal recollections, is of some value for the history of the fourth century.
Editions by W. Forster (1873) and C. Wagener 0886) ; see also R. Jacobi, De Festi breviarii fontibus (1874) , and H. Peter, Die geschichtliche Litt. fiber die romische Kaiserzeit ii, p. 133 where the epitomes of Festus, Aurelius Victor and Eutropius are compared.