Lucius Trebellius (tribune of the people 67 BC)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucius Trebellius was a politician of the late Roman Republic and held office in 67 BC. As one of the ten tribunes of the people .

In order to combat pirates in the Mediterranean , 67 BC applied for BC the tribune of the people Aulus Gabinius before the people's assembly (the Comitia tributa ) to transfer the command of the Mediterranean and all coastal areas to the important general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus . Two of his counterparts, the tribunes Lucius Trebellius and Lucius Roscius Otho, on the other hand, represented the opinion of the conservative Senate aristocracy , which did not want to accept this hitherto unique concentration of power in the hands of one man. Trebellius is said to be the ancient Cicero commentator Asconius Pedianusaccording to even have vowed to want to die sooner than to see the passage of the law. He therefore vetoed the bill, which was one of the traditional rights of the tribunes. The petitioner Aulus Gabinius reacted by interrupting the vote on his proposal and proposing to the people's assembly that Trebellius be removed from office immediately, since as a tribune he represented the interests of the Senate and not the people. Gabinius' procedure to have a tribune using his right of veto dismissed on this grounds was based on a historical model: it was already used by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 133 BC. BC, who wanted to enforce his extensive " Gracchian reform ".

At the suggestion of Aulus Gabinius, an additional vote on the removal of Lucius Trebellius was inserted. Since one constituency ( tribe ) voted in the Comitia tributa after the other, an intermediate result was announced every time it was a turn of a new tribe. When 17 of the 35 tribes had voted and each of them voted for the removal of Trebellius, it was foreseeable that the eighteenth would also vote in favor and thus the required majority would come about in the next ballot. Therefore Gabinius Trebellius offered to interrupt the vote at short notice and thereby save his office as tribune if he withdrew his veto on the original bill. Trebellius agreed and stayed in office. The vote on the supreme command of Pompey continued. The other tribune criticizing Pompeius, Lucius Roscius Otho, tried to influence it, but was so intimidated by the people present that he gave up his resistance. Ultimately, Gabinius' proposal was accepted through the adoption of the so-called Lex Gabinia .

Further information about the political career and personal background of Lucius Trebellius is not known. There is no evidence that he subsequently honored his oath handed down to Asconius Pedianus and committed suicide. Bruce A. Marshall suspects that the tribunes Trebellius and Roscius acted on behalf of Marcus Licinius Crassus . An indication of this is that Roscius was later given an officer position in Crassus' campaign against the Parthian Empire .

swell

Two ancient sources on the above-mentioned events have survived, the content of which is largely identical (except for the oath of Lucius Trebellius, which is only mentioned in the first report).

  • Commentary by Asconius Pedianus on the Pro Gaio Cornelio speech by Marcus Tullius Cicero , p. 72 in the edition by Albert Curtis Clark . Cicero himself dealt with the incident in the mentioned (not handed down) speech, but according to Asconius did not mention the name Lucius Trebellius.
  • Cassius Dio , Roman History 36,24,4 and 36,30,1 f.

It is possible that the historical work Historiae des Sallust , which has not been preserved, served as a common source for Asconius and Cassius Dio. It covered the period from 78 BC. BC to 67 BC BC and therefore probably also contained a description of the events surrounding the Lex Gabinia.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Bruce A. Marshall: A historical Commentary on Asconius. University of Missouri Press, Columbia 1985, ISBN 0-8262-0455-4 , p. 251.
  2. ^ Asconius Pedianus, Commentary on Pro Gaio Cornelio , p. 72 (Clark). With Cassius Dio this information is not proven,
  3. ^ Bruce A. Marshall: A historical Commentary on Asconius. University of Missouri Press, Columbia 1985, ISBN 0-8262-0455-4 , p. 252.
  4. ↑ Orationum Ciceronis quinque enarratio. Recogn. brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Albertus Curtis Clark. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1907.
  5. ^ Bruce A. Marshall: A historical Commentary on Asconius. University of Missouri Press, Columbia 1985, ISBN 0-8262-0455-4 , p. 52.
personal data
SURNAME Trebellius, Lucius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician and tribune
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC Chr.