Manius Aquillius (Consul 101 BC)

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Manius Aquillius († 88 BC in Pergamon ) was a politician of the Roman Republic who came from the plebeian nobility . 101 BC He officiated as consul and ended the second slave war in Sicily , later incited the war against King Mithridates VI. of Pontus, but succumbed to this and was cruelly executed by him.

Life

Lineage, early career, and struggle against Athenion

Manius Aquillius was a member of the noble family of Aquillians and probably the son of the consul of the same name from 129 BC. BC He clothed around 104 BC The praetur and then acted as a legate of Gaius Marius in his war against the Cimbri . When Marius 103 BC BC went to Rome to apply for his fourth consulate , he appointed Aquillius commander in chief of his army.

101 BC BC Aquillius rose to the highest office of the state, the consulate, which he held together with Gaius Marius, for whom this was now the fifth. The Senate instructed Aquillius to wage the three-year slave war against Athenion in Sicily. The consul did indeed succeed in fighting a successful battle against Athenion and personally killing him in a duel; he suffered serious injuries himself. But the war did not end there, as more than ten thousand armed Athenions were holed up in permanent places. Aquilius besieged them, cut off their food supplies and forced them to surrender because of hunger.

100-99 BC Aquillius remained in the position of proconsul in Sicily and was only now able to end the slave war completely. The Senate greeted him as emperor on his return to Rome and allowed him to celebrate an Ovatio . But Lucius Fufius stern 98 BC. Against him, because he had extorted during the administration of Sicily. Although Aquillius's guilt was evidently proven, his skilful defense attorney, the orator Mark Antony , succeeded in obtaining an acquittal for him by pointing out his warlike merits and showing the wounds he had suffered in battle.

Fight against Mithridates VI. of pontus and death

There is no record of Aquillius for the next few years after his acquittal. 90/89 BC He was at the head of a Roman embassy sent by the Senate to Asia Minor , which together with the governor of the province of Asia , Gaius Cassius , was led by the Pontic king Mithridates VI. expelled kings Nicomedes IV of Bithynia and Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia should reinstate their kingdoms. Aquillius was able to carry out the task assigned to him without resistance from Mithridates VI. do successfully. But the former consul strove to find a reason for military action in order to be able to extort money. He therefore demanded that the Pontic king should pay him the costs incurred, which was rejected. As a result, he caused King Nicomedes IV, in excess of his powers, to undertake raids in Mithridates' empire.

In response, Mithridates VI, who initially refrained from taking immediate military action, sent Pelopidas as a negotiator to the Roman ambassadors to complain to them about the attack by Nicomedes IV. The Romans should prevent the Bithynian king from further forays into his territory, or at least allow him to defend it. But the Roman side only double-faced to understand that although Mithridates VI. would not want to see treated unfairly by the Bithynian king, but would also not be willing to accept a war against Nicomedes IV. Since his diplomatic protest had remained fruitless, Mithridates VI. to the counteroffensive. His son Ariarathes IX marched on his behalf . in Cappadocia and expelled Ariobarzanes I. without much effort. Thereupon Pelopidas traveled again as a negotiator of Mithridates VI. with peaceful assignments to the Roman ambassadors, who, however, harshly ordered not to touch Bithynia and Cappadocia. This led to the outbreak of the First Mithridatic War between the Pontic king and the Roman Empire, for which Aquillius had worked.

Aquillius evidently ignored all reservations in his avarice, underestimated the power of the Pontic king and perhaps kept his troops inferior to his own. He formed four army groups from his armed forces and commanded one of these himself. This contingent at his disposal supposedly comprised 40,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 horsemen, with whom he posted himself on the road from Bithynia to Pontos. Two equally strong armies were under the command of the two other Roman generals, Gaius Cassius and the governor of Cilicia , Quintus Oppius . Their ally, King Nicomedes IV, reportedly commanded 50,000 infantrymen and 6,000 cavalrymen. Finally, Aquillius was able to rely on a fleet anchored off Byzantium . The opposing army of the Pontic king numbered 250,000 infantrymen and 40,000 horsemen, plus allied aid contingents. These troop strengths handed down from Appian are likely to be exaggerated.

The beginning of 88 BC Fighting against Mithridates VI. were very unhappy for the Romans. After first Nicomedes' army suffered a heavy defeat, Mithridates VI. personally against Aquillius. While Nicomedes fled to Gaius Cassius, Aquillius, whose army was beginning to disintegrate, had to back down. At Proton Pachion, Aquillius was completely defeated and his camp was conquered, whereupon he fled across the Sangarios River to Pergamon . But even there he feared for his safety and therefore sought refuge in Mytilene on Lesbos , but was passed on to Mithridates VI by the residents there. delivered. The Pontic king thought he was the real warmonger and treated him very cruelly. Aquillius was dragged through the cities of Asia Minor, presented to spectators tied to a donkey, locked in a cage and finally killed in Pergamum on Mithridates' orders. The execution was carried out in such a way that King Aquilius had molten gold poured into his mouth; a punishment by which the Roman's insatiable greed for gold should be hinted at.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Plutarch , Marius 14.
  2. ↑ Cassiodorus , Chronicle ad annum 101 BC. BC (with false prenom Marcus ); and other consular fasts.
  3. ↑ Diodor , Bibliothéke historiké 36,10; Florus , Epitoma de Tito Livio 2.7; brief mentions in Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita librorum periochae 69; Obsquens , Liber de prodigiis 45; Cicero , In Verrem actio 3,125; 5.5; 5.14; Cicero, De lege agraria 2.83; on this Scholia Bobiensia p. 246.
  4. ↑ Cicero, De oratore 2,195; Poseidonios with Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 5,213.
  5. ↑ See Cicero, Pro L. Valerio Flacco 98.
  6. ↑ Cicero, De oratore 2,124; 2,188; 2.194 ff .; Cicero, Brutus 222; Cicero, In Verrem actio 5.3; Cicero, Pro M. Fonteio 38; Cicero, Pro L. Valerio Flacco 98; Quintilian , Institutio oratoria 2,15,7; Livy, Ab urbe condita librorum periochae 70.
  7. ↑ Iustinus , Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 38,3,4.
  8. ↑ Appian , Mithridateios 11 f. (who gives the governor Cassius the false prenomen Lucius); Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 38,5,10.
  9. ↑ Appian, Mithridateios 12-14.
  10. ↑ Appian, Mithridateios 15-17.
  11. ^ Appian, Mithridateios 17.
  12. ↑ Appian, Mithridateios 19; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 38,3,8 and 38,4,4; Livy, Ab urbe condita librorum periochae 77.
  13. ↑ Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana 2,18,3; Livy, Ab urbe condita librorum periochae 78.
  14. ↑ Appian, Mithridateios 21; Pliny , Naturalis historia 33.48; Poseidonios with Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 5,213; Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 37,27; brief allusions to Cicero, De imperio Cn. Pompei 11; Cicero, Pro M. Aemilio Scauro 3.2; Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes 5,14.
personal data
SURNAME Aquillius, Manius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aquilius, Manius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 101 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 88 BC Chr.
Place of death Pergamon