Gaius Furnius (Tribune of the People)

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Gaius Furnius (* around 85 BC; † after 17 BC) came from the Roman family of the veneer and was a politician and speaker of the outgoing Roman Republic .

Friendship with Cicero

The oratorically gifted Gaius Furnius joined the influential Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in his younger years . 51 BC BC Cicero administered the province of Cilicia , but wanted to prevent an extension of his governorship and asked Furnius, who was applying for the tribunate at that time , to act in this way. Furnius came to this request as a tribune of the people in 50 BC. BC also eagerly after. But Cicero was unhappy with the demand contained in Furnius' plebiscite that his recall should only take place if the anti-Roman Parthians by August 50 BC. B.C. would not make any ideas, as these often occurred in July. Furnius also worked to ensure that the contributions made by the speaker to Cilicia were appropriately recognized. In his capacity as tribune of the people, he then turned against the demand of the Optimates , on whose side Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus stood, that Gaius Julius Caesar should immediately surrender his province of Gaul .

When the civil war between Caesar and Pompey broke out in the next year (49 BC), Furnius took the side of Caesar, whom he served several times as a negotiator with Cicero. After Caesar 44 BC. When a conspiracy fell victim to BC, Furnius became a legate of the governor of Gallia Comata, Lucius Munatius Plancus . During the military conflict between the Senate and the later triumvir Marcus Antonius, he informed Cicero in letters that had not been received, among other things, about the troop movements in Gaul and Spain and this time acted as an intermediary between Plancus and the Senate. His in the year 43 BC The attempt to become a praetor was hostile to Cicero; in Gaul, Furnius would be more useful to the republic against Antony.

Followers of Antony

After the victory of the triumvirs - first against the Senate, then against the Caesar murderers - Furnius joined Marcus Antonius and supported his brother Lucius Antonius against Octavian, who had returned to Italy from the Macedonian theater of war . In the Peruvian War he defended 41 BC. BC the Umbrian city of Sentinum , but lost it to Octavian's general Quintus Salvidienus Rufus Salvius . In the winter of 41/40 BC BC he was one of those who, along with Lucius Antonius , were trapped in Perusia by enemy troops and who finally had to capitulate due to a famine. With two other emissaries he negotiated the surrender of the city and was treated extremely courteously by Octavian; the Antonians therefore had doubts about his loyalty.

40 BC Marcus Antonius and Octavian were reconciled again and in the next year the two rulers also reached a brief understanding with Sextus Pompeius in the Treaty of Misenum . Then Antony armed against the Parthians who had invaded Asia Minor . On Antony's order, Furnius went to North Africa to bring four legions from there to fight the dangerous enemies of Rome.

For Antonius, who was unrestrictedly ruling in the east of the Roman Empire, Furnius took over in 36/35 BC. The government of the province of Asia . Meanwhile, soon after the Treaty of Misenum, fighting broke out again between Octavian and Sextus Pompey. The latter had to be 36 BC. BC suffered a decisive defeat in the sea ​​battle at Naulochos and fled into the sphere of influence of Antonius. He landed on Lesbos , organized armaments and deployed his troops in early 35 BC. During negotiations with Antonius to Asia Minor. Furnius did not prevent him from doing so, as he did not have enough soldiers and Antonius had not yet given him the relevant orders. Despite Pompey's protest, Furnius called Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and the Galatian king Amyntas to help. After Pompey had fought for the first time, Furnius' strong cavalry units trapped him in the port of the Achaeans in the Troas . He was able to free himself and achieve further successes. But when Marcus Titius appeared with a large fleet, Pompey and his army marched into the interior of Bithynia . Furnius, Titius and Amyntas took up the chase. Pompey was overtaken by them and, after negotiations with Furnius, agreed to surrender to him. But Furnius apparently did not have the authority to conclude such an agreement and referred Pompey to Titius, as he apparently had the supreme command of the troops. Pompey, however, did not want to submit to Titius at all, was then captured by treason and executed by Titius.

In which since 33 BC The raging propaganda war, which preceded the decisive battle between Antonius and Octavian for sole rule in the Roman Empire, was also made an issue of Furnius. The Octavian side made the participation of Antony's lover Cleopatra VII in the military conflict between the triumvirs a scandal. Antonius' biographer Plutarch reports that Gaius Calvisius Sabinus , a partisan of Octavian and consul from 39 BC. BC, tried to prove the supposedly harmful influence of the Egyptian monarch during the preparations for war by making all kinds of allegations. In this context, Sabinus stated, among other things, that Furnius, "one of the best speakers in Rome", had just given a speech during a court hearing under Antonius' chairmanship, when Cleopatra's sedan chair had been carried by. Thereupon Antonius left his post and followed his lover. As a result of this incident, Sabinus apparently wanted to convey, the dignity of the court hearing was disturbed. However, Sabinus found little faith in his audience with his claims. Plutarch's emphasis on Furnius' oratorical fluency and activity is corroborated by other ancient writers; This is also supported by his frequent use as a negotiator.

Octavian's pardon and death

After Octavian's victory over Antonius (30 BC), Furnius was spared because his son of the same name had stood up for him with Octavian. As the now sole ruler, Octavian became Emperor Augustus and elevated Furnius in 29 BC. In the rank of consular. From then on, however, Furnius remained politically uninfluential and only died after his son's consulate, which this son held in 17 BC. Clad.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Cicero, epistulae ad Atticum 5, 2, 1.
  2. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad Atticum 6, 18, 3; epistulae ad familiares 15, 14, 5 and 8, 10, 3.
  3. ^ Cicero, epistulae ad Atticum 6, 1, 11.
  4. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad familares 8, 11; 2.
  5. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad familiares 8, 10.
  6. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad Atticum 9, 6, 11a and ö.
  7. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad familiares 10, 8, 5; 10, 10, 1; 10, 12, 1; 10, 24, 1.
  8. ^ Cicero, epistulae ad familiares 10, 25f.
  9. ↑ Appian , Civil Wars 5:30 ; Cassius Dio 48, 13.
  10. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5:40 .
  11. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 75.
  12. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5: 137-144; Cassius Dio 49, 17f .; among others
  13. ↑ Plutarch , Antonius 58, 11-59, 1; to Michael Grant : Cleopatra. A biography . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1998, ISBN 3-404-61416-X , p. 269 (German first 1977). and Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-15418-5 , pp. 208-209 .
  14. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad familiares 10, 26, 2; Tacitus , dialogus 21; Hieronymus , Chronicle ad annum 17 BC Chr.
  15. ↑ Seneca , de beneficiis 2, 25.
  16. ^ Cassius Dio 52, 42.
  17. ↑ Hieronymus, Chronicle ad annum 17 v. Chr.
personal data
SURNAME Furnius, Gaius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician and speaker
DATE OF BIRTH around 85 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 17 BC Chr.