Quintus Lutatius Catulus
Encyclopedia
Quintus Lutatius Catulus (149-87 BC) was consul
of the Roman Republic
in 102 BC, and the leading public figure of the gens
Lutatia
of the time. His colleague in the consulship was Gaius Marius
, but the two feuded and Catulus sided with Sulla
in the civil war of 88–87 BC
. When the Marians regained control of Rome in 87, Catulus committed suicide rather than face prosecution.
and Teutones Catulus was sent to defend the passage of the Alps
but found himself compelled to retreat across the Po River
, his troops having been reduced to a state of panic. But the Cimbri were defeated on the Raudine plain
, near Vercellae
, by the united armies of Catulus and Marius. Despite their joint success, the two commanders regarded each other as bitter rivals and after the war built competing temples to demonstrate divine favor.
When the chief honour for victory over the Cimbri
was given to Marius, Catulus turned vehemently against his former co-commander and sided with Sulla to expel Marius, Cornelius Cinna
, and their supporters from Rome. When Cinna and Marius regained control of the city in 87, Catulus was prosecuted by Marius's nephew, M. Marius Gratidianus
. Rather than accept the inevitable guilty verdict, he committed suicide.
and prose
writer, and was well versed in Greek literature
. He wrote a history of his consulship (De consulatu et de rebus gestis suis) in the manner of Xenophon
. A non-extant epic on the Cimbrian War, sometimes attributed to him, was more likely written by Archias
. Catulus's contributions to Latin poetry are considered his most significant literary achievements. He is credited with introducing Hellenistic epigram
to Rome and fostering a taste for short, personal poems that comes to fruition with the lyric oeuvre of Valerius Catullus
in the 50s BC. Among his circle of literary friends, who ranged widely in social position and political sympathies, were Valerius Aedituus
, Aulus Furius, and Porcius Licinius.
Pliny
lists him among distinguished men who wrote short poems that were less than austere (versiculi parum severi). Only two epigram
s by Catulus have been preserved, both directed at men. Cicero
preserves two of Catulus's couplets
on the celebrated actor Roscius
, who is said to make an entrance like a sunrise: "though he is human, he seems more beautiful than a god."
The other epigram, modeled directly after Callimachus
, is quoted by Aulus Gellius
and may be paraphrased in prose as follows:
"The willingness of a member of the highest Roman aristocracy to toss off imitations of Hellenistic sentimental erotic poetry (homosexual at that)," notes Edward Courtney, "is a new phenomenon in Roman culture at this time."
. Two buildings were known as "Monumenta Catuli": the temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei
, to commemorate the day of Vercellae, and the Porticus Catuli
, built from the sale of the Cimbrian spoils.
An approximate chronology of the marital affairs of Catulus is as follows;
c.126 married Domitia
125/4 birth of Catulus Capitolinus
c.111 death or divorce of Domitia
c.109 praetor this year, married Servilia
She was probably eldest daughter (b.c.124) of his coeval, and colleague as praetor, Q. Servilius Caepio (cos. 106). The latter's apparently promiscuous daughters (plural) were harshly abused as whores by Timagenes of Alexandreia.
c.108 birth of Lutatia (mother of Hortensia oratrix and Q. Hortensius the poet and Caesarian)
105 Arausio disaster and disgrace and imprisonment of Q. Caepio
104 Caepio escaped into exile and Catulus discarded his daughter Servilia
103 Catulus married Claudia (probably of the Marcelli, daughter of Marius' friend and legate M. Marcellus pr.c.105) and finally elected cos. for 102 after three previous defeats. About the same year the discarded Servilia was married by M. Livius Drusus (tr.pl. 91; c.127-91 BC) and Caepio filius (q.urb. 100; c.127-90 BC) wed Livia the sister of his close friend Drusus.
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
in 102 BC, and the leading public figure of the gens
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
Lutatia
Lutatius
Lutatius was the name of an ancient Roman family . They rose into prominence during the First Punic War and produced several consuls during the subsequent generations, but were not one of the gentes maiores. The Lutatii were noble plebeians....
of the time. His colleague in the consulship was Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
, but the two feuded and Catulus sided with Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
in the civil war of 88–87 BC
Sulla's first civil war
Sulla's first civil war was one of a series of civil wars in ancient Rome, between Gaius Marius and Sulla, between 88 and 87 BC.- Prelude - Social War :...
. When the Marians regained control of Rome in 87, Catulus committed suicide rather than face prosecution.
As general
In the war against the CimbriCimbri
The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...
and Teutones Catulus was sent to defend the passage of the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
but found himself compelled to retreat across the Po River
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
, his troops having been reduced to a state of panic. But the Cimbri were defeated on the Raudine plain
Battle of Vercellae
The Battle of Vercellae, or Battle of the Raudine Plain, in 101 BC was the Roman victory of Consul Gaius Marius over the invading Germanic Cimbri tribe near the settlement of Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul....
, near Vercellae
Vercelli
Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...
, by the united armies of Catulus and Marius. Despite their joint success, the two commanders regarded each other as bitter rivals and after the war built competing temples to demonstrate divine favor.
When the chief honour for victory over the Cimbri
Cimbrian War
The Cimbrian War was fought between the Roman Republic and the Proto-Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons , who migrated from northern Europe into Roman controlled territory, and clashed with Rome and her allies...
was given to Marius, Catulus turned vehemently against his former co-commander and sided with Sulla to expel Marius, Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
, and their supporters from Rome. When Cinna and Marius regained control of the city in 87, Catulus was prosecuted by Marius's nephew, M. Marius Gratidianus
Marcus Marius Gratidianus
Marcus Marius Gratidianus was a praetor and a partisan of the popularist faction led by his uncle Gaius Marius during the Roman Republican civil wars of the 80s...
. Rather than accept the inevitable guilty verdict, he committed suicide.
As author
Catulus was distinguished as an orator, poetLatin poetry
The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus are the earliest Latin literature that has survived, composed around 205-184 BC, yet the start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to the first performance of a play in verse by a...
and prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
writer, and was well versed in Greek literature
Greek literature
Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, throughout the whole period in which the Greek-speaking people have existed.-Ancient Greek literature :...
. He wrote a history of his consulship (De consulatu et de rebus gestis suis) in the manner of Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
. A non-extant epic on the Cimbrian War, sometimes attributed to him, was more likely written by Archias
Aulus Licinius Archias
Aulus Licinius Archias was a Greek poet born in Antioch in Syria . In 102 BC, his reputation having been already established, especially as an improvisatore, he went to Rome, where he was well received amongst the highest and most influential families. His chief patron was Lucullus, whose gentile...
. Catulus's contributions to Latin poetry are considered his most significant literary achievements. He is credited with introducing Hellenistic epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
to Rome and fostering a taste for short, personal poems that comes to fruition with the lyric oeuvre of Valerius Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
in the 50s BC. Among his circle of literary friends, who ranged widely in social position and political sympathies, were Valerius Aedituus
Valerius Aedituus
Valerius Aedituus was a Roman poet of the 1st century BCE. He is known for his epigrams; otherwise there is very little information, what there is being in the form of literary references....
, Aulus Furius, and Porcius Licinius.
Pliny
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...
lists him among distinguished men who wrote short poems that were less than austere (versiculi parum severi). Only two epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s by Catulus have been preserved, both directed at men. Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
preserves two of Catulus's couplets
Elegiac couplet
The elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years later...
on the celebrated actor Roscius
Quintus Roscius Gallus
-Life:Endowed with a handsome face and manly figure, he studied the delivery and gestures of the most distinguished advocates in the Forum, especially Q Hortensius, and won universal praise for his grace and elegance on the stage. He especially excelled in comedy. Cicero took lessons from him...
, who is said to make an entrance like a sunrise: "though he is human, he seems more beautiful than a god."
The other epigram, modeled directly after Callimachus
Callimachus
Callimachus was a native of the Greek colony of Cyrene, Libya. He was a noted poet, critic and scholar at the Library of Alexandria and enjoyed the patronage of the Egyptian–Greek Pharaohs Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes...
, is quoted by Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
and may be paraphrased in prose as follows:
"The willingness of a member of the highest Roman aristocracy to toss off imitations of Hellenistic sentimental erotic poetry (homosexual at that)," notes Edward Courtney, "is a new phenomenon in Roman culture at this time."
As builder
Catulus was a man of great wealth, which he spent in beautifying RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Two buildings were known as "Monumenta Catuli": the temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei
Largo di Torre Argentina
Largo di Torre Argentina is a square in Rome, Italy, that hosts four Republican Roman temples, and the remains of Pompey's Theatre. It is located in the ancient Campus Martius....
, to commemorate the day of Vercellae, and the Porticus Catuli
Porticus Catuli
The Porticus Catuli was a landmark on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome. It was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus to commemorate his joint victory with Gaius Marius over the Cimbri at Vercellae....
, built from the sale of the Cimbrian spoils.
Marriage and descendants
Three wives are attested for Catulus;- DomitiaDomitiaDomitia is the name of women from the gens Domitius of Ancient Rome. Women from the gens include:* Domitia, wife of Quintus Lutatius Catulus and mother of Quintus Lutatius Catulus...
of the AhenobarbiAhenobarbusAhenobarbus was the name of a plebeian family of the Domitia gens in the late Republic and early Principate of ancient Rome. The name means "red-beard" in Latin...
, who was mother of his homonymous son Quintus Lutatius CatulusQuintus Lutatius Catulus (Capitolinus)Quintus Lutatius Catulus , sometimes called "Capitolinus", was a politician in the late Roman Republic. His father was the like-named Quintus Lutatius Catulus , also a politician.-Biography:...
(consul 78, censor 65 BC). - ServiliaServilia (2nd century BC)Servilia was the wife of Quintus Lutatius Catulus, the consul during 102 BC. Their daughter Lutatia married the orator Quintus Hortensius, for which reason Cicero calls Servilia Hortensius's "socrus" or mother-in-law ....
of the CaepioCaepioCaepio may refer to:*Quintus Servilius Caepio*Quintus Servilius Caepio the Younger...
nes, who was mother of his daughter Lutatia Q. Hortensi, the wife of the great orator Q. Hortensius HortalusQuintus HortensiusQuintus Hortensius Hortalus was a Roman orator and advocate.At the age of nineteen he made his first speech at the bar, and shortly afterwards successfully defended Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, one of Rome's dependants in the East, who had been deprived of his throne by his brother. From that time...
(consul 69). - Claudia, of uncertain familyClaudius (gens)The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic...
but probably of the Marian aligned branch of Claudi Marcelli. This was probably Catulus' longest marriage (c.103-87 BC) if, as seems likely, he wed her to secure Marian support for his election as a consul, which he only belatedly achieved at the comitia in 103 for 102 BC. However, she is only attested as his wife at the time of his death at the end of 87 BC. There is no record of any children by this match.
An approximate chronology of the marital affairs of Catulus is as follows;
c.126 married Domitia
125/4 birth of Catulus Capitolinus
c.111 death or divorce of Domitia
c.109 praetor this year, married Servilia
She was probably eldest daughter (b.c.124) of his coeval, and colleague as praetor, Q. Servilius Caepio (cos. 106). The latter's apparently promiscuous daughters (plural) were harshly abused as whores by Timagenes of Alexandreia.
c.108 birth of Lutatia (mother of Hortensia oratrix and Q. Hortensius the poet and Caesarian)
105 Arausio disaster and disgrace and imprisonment of Q. Caepio
104 Caepio escaped into exile and Catulus discarded his daughter Servilia
103 Catulus married Claudia (probably of the Marcelli, daughter of Marius' friend and legate M. Marcellus pr.c.105) and finally elected cos. for 102 after three previous defeats. About the same year the discarded Servilia was married by M. Livius Drusus (tr.pl. 91; c.127-91 BC) and Caepio filius (q.urb. 100; c.127-90 BC) wed Livia the sister of his close friend Drusus.
Ancient sources
- PlutarchPlutarchPlutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, Life of Marius and Life of Sulla - Appian, Bellum Civile i. 74
- Velleius Paterculus ii. 21
- FlorusFlorusFlorus, Roman historian, lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian.He compiled, chiefly from Livy, a brief sketch of the history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus . The work, which is called Epitome de T...
iii. 21 - Valerius MaximusValerius MaximusValerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He worked during the reign of Tiberius .-Biography:...
vi. 3, ix. 13 - CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, De OratoreDe OratoreDe Oratore is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BCE. It is set in 91 BCE, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the social war and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius Orator, the other great orator of this dialogue, dies...
iii. 8 and BrutusBrutus (Cicero)Cicero's Brutus is a history of Roman oratory. It is written in the form of a dialogue, in which Brutus and Atticus ask Cicero to describe the qualities of all the leading Roman orators up to their time. It was composed in 46 B.C.-Further reading:*G. V...
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