Publius Cornelius Lentulus (Sura)

Publius Cornelius Lentulus, nicknamed Sura, (d. December 5, 63 BC) was one of the chief figures in the Catiline conspiracy and also a stepfather of Mark Antony.

When accused by Sulla (to whom he had been quaestor in 81 BC) of having squandered the public money, he refused to render any account, but insolently held out the calf of his leg ("sura"), on which part of the person boys were punished when they made mistakes in playing ball. He was praetor in 75, governor of Sicily 74, consul 71.

In 70, being expelled from the senate with a number of others for immorality, he joined Catiline. Relying upon a Sibylline oracle that three Cornelii should be rulers of Rome, Lentulus regarded himself as the destined successor of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Lucius Cornelius Cinna. When Catiline left Rome after Cicero's second speech "In Catilinam", Lentulus took his place as chief of the conspirators in the city. In conjunction with C. Cornelius Cethegus, he undertook to murder Cicero and set fire to Rome, but the plot failed owing to his timidity and indiscretion.

Ambassadors from the Allobroges being at the time in Rome, the bearers of a complaint against the oppressions ot provincial governors, Lentulus made overtures to them, with the object of obtaining armed assistance. Pretending to fall in with his views, the ambassadors obtained a written agreement signed by the chief conspirators, and informed Q. Fabius Sanga, their "patron" in Rome, who in his turn acquainted Cicero.

The conspirators were arrested and forced to admit their guilt. Lentulus was compelled to abdicate his praetorship, and, as it was feared that there might be an attempt to rescue him, he was put to death in the Tullianum on December 5, 63 BC, along with other senatorial supporters of Catiline. The legitimacy of the death sentence, which was carried out on the personal command of the consuls and without the proper judicial process, was disputed, and formally unconstitutional at the time, although the consuls had semi-dictatorial powers under the decree of Senatus consultum ultimum. Cicero was later exiled in 58 BC after the apprehention of people's tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher, accused of mastering the unlawful execution of roman citizens, among them Sura. He was exhonerated the following year, though, and recalled in a landslide vote margin by the senate.

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*Dio Cassius xxxvii. 30, xlvi. 20
*Plutarch, "Cicero", 17
*Sallust, "Catilina"
*Cicero, "In Catilinam", iii., iv.; "Pro Sulla", 25.
* March, Duane A., "Cicero and the 'Gang of Five'," Classical World, volume 82 (1989) 225-234
*1911