- Publius Vatinius
Publius Vatinius was a Roman statesman during the last decades of the Republic.
Biography
Early Political Life
Vatinius was
quaestor in63 BC , the same year Marcus Tullius Cicero wasconsul . Cicero believed that Vatinius was elected on account of the influence of one of the consuls. Cicero sent him to Puteoli to prevent the gold and silver from being carried away from the city; but his extortions were so oppressive that the inhabitants were obliged to complain of his conduct to the consul. He later served as alegatus underGaius Cosconius . Again Cicero claims that while there he carried out robbery and extortion. [Cicero , " [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0020:text=Vat. In Vatinium] ", passim.]In the service of Caesar
In
59 BC he was tribune of the plebs and sold Fact|date=February 2008 his services to Gaius Julius Caesar, who was then consul along withMarcus Calpurnius Bibulus . Vatinius was a most zealous partisan for Caesar. He brought forward several proposals before the people, including the bill by which Caesar received the provinces ofCisalpine Gaul and IIlyricum for five years, to which the senate afterwards added the province ofTransalpine Gaul . Cicero accuses him of setting the auspices at defiance, of offering violence to the consul Bibulus, of filling the forum with soldiers, and of crushing the veto of his colleagues in the tribunate by force of arms. It was during his tribunate that Vatinius brought forward the informerLucius Vettius , who accused many of the most distinguished men in the state, and among others Cicero, of a plot against the life of Pompey. [Cicero , "Epistulae ad Atticum", [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0022:text=A:book=2:letter=24 ii.24;] "pro Sestio" [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0020:text=Sest.:chapter=63 63] ]Vatinius left Rome with Caesar to serve as a "
legatus " in Gaul. [Julius Caesar , "de Bello Gallico", [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=8:chapter=46 viii.46.] ] But soon he returned to Rome to run for further political offices; but he failed in standing for thepraetor ship. His animosity towards Cicero continued and he appeared as a witness against Milo and Sestius, two of Cicero's friends. Cicero spoke on behalf of Sestius with a scathing speech against the character of Vatinius. [Cicero , "pro Sestio", passim; "ad Quintem fratrem" [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0022:text=Q%20FR:book=2:letter=4 ii.4.] ]Praetorship
After a fair amount of turmoil, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and
Marcus Licinius Crassus were elected to the consulship for55 BC . Marcus Porcius Cato was put forward by the aristocrats for the praetorship. To counter him, Pompeius and Crassus secured the election for Vatinius and thus successfully defeated Cato. [Plutarch , "Cato minor", [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Minor*.html#42 42;] "Pompey", [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey*.html#52 52.] ] After his year in office, Vatinius was accused of bribery byGaius Licinius Calvus . Calvus had previously accused Vatinius, but this was his most eloquent speech. Vatinius even interrupted him to exclaim, " I ask you, judges, if I am to be condemned because the accuser is eloquent." [Seneca the Elder , "Controversiae", iii. 19.] Cicero, despite his previous attacks against Vatinius, defended him. He did this because he was afraid of offending the triumvirs and wanted their protection fromPublius Clodius . [Cicero , "Epistulae ad Familiares", [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0022:text=F:book=1:letter=9 i.9.] ] His acquittal though was more likely due to bribery by his partrons instead of Cicero's speech.ervice during the civil wars
Vatinius returned to Gaul in
51 BC where he was again a "legatus" for Julius Caesar. He stayed with Caesar during the start of the civil war. [Julius Caesar , "de Bello Civili", [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0076:book=3:chapter=17 iii.19.] ] While in Greece, Caesar sent him with peace proposals to Pompeius. But instead of serving at thebattle of Pharsalus , he defendedBrundisium from Decimus Laelius, who lead an attack on the city with part of Pomperius's fleet. [Julius Caesar , "de Bello Civili", [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0076%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D82 iii.100.] ]In return for his success, Vatinius was rewarded with the consulship in
47 BC . In46 BC he defeatedMarcus Octavius , a Pompeian partisan with a large army, in Illyricum, for which he received an "ovatio ". [Appian , "Illyrian Wars", [http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_illyrian_3.html#§13 13.] ] He was forced to surrender his army toMarcus Junius Brutus in 44, after the death of Caesar, when Brutus went toMacedon ia to take command of his province, because Vatinius's troops had declared in favor of Brutus. [Dio Cassius , "Roman History", [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/47*.html#21 xlvii.21;]Livy , "Periochae", [http://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae116.html#118 118;]Appian , "The Civil Wars", [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/4*.html#75 iv.75.] ]The last we hear of him is from the
Capitoline Fasti as having triumphed in December,43 BC .References
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