Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 143 BC)

Appius Claudius Pulcher (Latin: APP•CLAVDIVS•APP•F•APP•N•PVLCHER) was a Roman politician of the 2nd century BC.

Life

Son of Gaius Claudius Pulcher (who was consul in 177), he was appointed consul in 143 BC, and, to obtain a pretext for a triumph, attacked the Salassi, an Alpine tribe. He was at first defeated, but afterwards, following the directions of the Sibylline Books, gained a victory. [Frontinus, "the Waters of the City of Rome", 7.] [Dio Cassius, "Fragments", lxxix. lxxx.] [Orosius, v. 4.] On his return the celebration of the triumph was refused; but he triumphed at his own expense, and when one of the tribunes attempted to drag him from his car, his daughter Claudia, one of the Vestal Virgins, walked by his side up to the capital. [Cicero, "For Marcus Caelius", 14] [Suetonius, "Life of Tiberius", 2.] Next year he was an unsuccessful candidate for the censorship, though he afterwards held that office with Quintus Fulvius Nobilior, probably in 136 BC. [Dio Cassius, "Fragments", lxxxiv.] [Plutarch, "Tiberius Gracchus", 4.] He allied with Tiberius Gracchus who married his daughter Claudia. Appius backed Tiberius' land reform bill and in 133 BC with Tiberius and Tiberius' brother, Gaius Gracchus, was chosen commissioner for the division of the lands. [Livy, "Epitoma Oxyrrhynci reperta", 58] [Johann Caspar von Orelli, "Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Collectio", No. 570.] [Velleius Paterculus, ii. 2.] Their post allowed them to survey the "ager publicus", publicly owned land that Tiberius wanted to distribute among veterans of the Punic War. Another faction in the Senate opposed them and Tiberius was assassinated in 132 BC. Appius lived at enmity with Publius Scipio Aemilianus. [Plutarch, "Aemilius Paulus", 38.] [Cicero, "On the Republic", i. 19.] He died shortly after Tiberius Gracchus, [Appian, "Civil Wars", i. 18.] probably in 130 BC.Fact|date=February 2007 He was one of the Salii, an augur, and princeps senatus. [Macrobius, "Saturnalia", ii. 10.] [Plutarch, "Tiberius Gracchus", 4.] Cicero, [Cicero, "Brutus" or "History of famous orators", 28.] says, that his style of speaking was fluent and vehement. He married Antistia.

Notes

References

"This entry incorporates public domain text originally from:"
*William Smith (ed.), "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology", 1870.