Quintus Lutatius Catulus (Consul 102 BC)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quintus Lutatius Catulus (* around 150 BC; † 87 BC ) was a Roman politician of the late Republic and in 102 BC Together with Gaius Marius consul . He was also active as a poet and writer.

Life

Catulus, son of a father of the same name and a Popillia, was probably 109 BC. BC as praetor governor of the province of Sicily. He applied three times in vain for the consulate in the years 106-104 BC. And was only with his fourth application for the year 102 BC. Successful. Together with his colleague Gaius Marius , who already held the fourth consulate, he led the command against the Cimbri and Teutons . The task of defending the Alpine passes fell to Catulus, but he was soon forced to save himself in a panic retreat across the Po . The Cimbri were then but in 101 BC. Defeated by the combined armies of Marius (consul for the fifth time) and Catulus as proconsul on the Raudine plain near Vercellae . He celebrated a triumph together with Marius . But when the main share of honor went to Marius, Catulus became his opponent. He allied himself with Sulla in the civil war . When Marius in 87 BC BC took over the rule by force, Catulus killed himself to forestall a condemnation.

Catulus had a great fortune that he used to beautify the city of Rome . Two buildings are known as Monumenta Catuli : the temple of Fortuna huiusque diei , which commemorates the day of Vercellae, and the Porticus Catuli , which he had built from the proceeds of the Cimbrian booty. His son of the same name was 78 BC. Chr. Consul. In addition, according to Cicero, he was the first to give a funeral oration, the laudatio funebris , for a woman, his deceased mother .

Works

Catulus was an excellent orator, poet and prose writer, well versed in Greek literature . He is said to have written under the title De consulatu et de rebus gestis suis the history of his consulate and the war against the Cimbri and Teutons in the style of the Greek historian Xenophon .

Likewise, as a rule, another historical work in (at least) four books is ascribed to him, which was entitled Communes Historiae or Communis Historia . This historical work describes the time from the mythical arrival of Aeneas in Italy to the founding of Rome. However, the assignment of this work is not without controversy, as only one Lutatius is named as the author . Only a few fragments of the historical work have survived.

Two of his epigrams have survived, one to the celebrated actor Quintus Roscius Gallus , the other of an erotic character in the manner of Callimachus .

swell

literature

  • R. Geoffrey Lewis: Catulus and the Cimbri, 102 BC In: Hermes . Volume 102, Number 1, 1974, pp. 90-109, JSTOR 4475822 .
  • Werner Suerbaum : Q. Lutatius Catulus. In: Werner Suerbaum (Ed.): The archaic literature. From the beginnings to Sulla's death (= Handbook of the Latin Literature of Antiquity. Volume 1). CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-48134-5 , pp. 447-453.
  • Uwe Walter : The Communes Historiae des Lutatius: Introduction, fragments, translation, commentary. In: Göttingen Forum for Classical Studies . Volume 12, 2009, pp. 1–15 ( online ).

Web links

Remarks

  1. Plutarch, Marius 27.10.
  2. Cicero, De Oratore 2.44.
  3. Uwe Walter: The Communes Historiae des Lutatius: Introduction, fragments, translation, commentary. In: Göttingen Forum for Classical Studies. Year 12, 2009, p. 1–15, here p. 1 f., But who also sticks to Catulus.
  4. Uwe Walter: The Communes Historiae des Lutatius: Introduction, fragments, translation, commentary. In: Göttingen Forum for Classical Studies. Year 12, 2009, pp. 1–15, here pp. 4–14, (text, translation and brief commentary).
  5. Cicero, De Natura Deorum 1.79.
  6. Aulus Gellius 19.9.