The Tribunate of Cornelius

William McDonald

doi:10.1017/S000983880001185X

The Tribunate of Cornelius

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

William McDonald

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Cornell University

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The two years which intervened between the consulship of Pompey and Crassus 70 B.C. and the tribunate of Cornelius in 67 B.C. are for the most part neglected in standard histories of the period. It is true that they were uneventful, if by uneventful meant the absence of open hostilities between the two political parties. a careful investigation of the political affiliations of the men who were prominent these years, and of the significance of events which usually are considered of moment, reveals political undercurrents which go far towards explaining meaning, not only of what happened in 67 B.C, but also of the more serious four years later.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 3-4 , June 1929 , pp. 196 - 208

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S000983880001185X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1929

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^{page 197 note 1} Asconius (ed. Clark, ), p. 58Google Scholar, 11. 11 sqq.

^{page 197 note 2} Ibid., p. 59, 11. 4 sqq.

^{page 197 note 3} Ibid., p. 79, 11. 20 sqq.

^{page 197 note 4} Ibid., p. 60, 11. 19 sqq.

^{page 198 note 1} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 4.

^{page 198 note 2} Ibid. XXXVI. 43.

^{page 198 note 3} Sall, . Cat. XXX. 3Google Scholar ; cf. XXXII. 3 sqq. Too ought not to be made of his connexion Clodius. He married one of the sisters of, but so also did Lucullus, whose conservatism is above suspicion. Clodius, it must remembered, was a patrician of the bluest, and though in his conduct at this time there is ample evidence of potentialities for evil, is nothing to show that he assumed the róle of leader of the Roman mob until after the célèbre of December, 62 B.C. After that Clodius ceased to be in the good graces his brother-in-law, who omitted to name him in his will (Cic, . ad Att. I. 16, 10)Google Scholar .

^{page 198 note 4} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 38.

^{page 199 note 1} There are other recorded incidents in his life make it clear that his devotion to optimate was not of the inactive kind. In 63 B.C. he joined with Catulus in an effort to induce to incriminate Caesar in the conspiracy. (Sail, . Cat. XLIX. 1.)Google Scholar afterwards, at the memorable debate in the on December the fifth, he was one of those spoke for death (Cic, . ad Att. XII. 21)Google Scholar . It fitting that on his return from the governorship of Gallia Narbonensis he should be prosecuted by Caesar for maladministration

^{page 199 note 2} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 38. Of all the Popular of 70 B.C., this summary action on the part the censors probably caused the most resent among the patres. It was calculated to the career of the more notorious of the of Sulla. Among them was Antonius, was guilty of flagrant maladministration in, Achaea and on his return was prosecuted by. (Asconius, p. 84, 11. 12 sqq.)

^{page 200 note 1} Asconius, pp. 57 sqq.

^{page 200 note 2} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 38–40.

^{page 201 note 1} Dio does not precisely say that the proposal of Cornelius was in the form of a relatio ad senatum. But, since it was adopted by the concilium, and the senate had no authority to reject or modify a plebiscitum, it could not have been in latter form.

^{page 201 note 2} The lex Aelia et Fufia; see explanation infra.

^{page 201 note 3} This inference is drawn from the passage Dio (XXXVI. 39) which reads: ἐπεί δὲ αἳ τε ἀΡχαιρεσίαι προεπηϒϒελμέναι ησαν, καὶ καγἀ τοῦΤ, οὺδν προνομοθετηθῆναι πρὸ αὐτῶν ἒξη, καὶ οὶ σποδαπχιῶντες φολλα καὶ κακάέν τψ διακένῳ τούτῳ έποίουν ὣστε καὶ σϕαγὰς γίγνεσθαι τόν τε νόμον έψηϕίσαντο καί πρὀ ἐκείνων ἐσενεχθῆναι καὶ ϕρονρἀν τοῖς ὐπάγοις δοθῆναι and a passage in Cicero's letters (ad Att. I. 16, 13) Lurco autem tribunus pl. qui magistratum *insimul cum lege alia* iniit, solutus et Aelia et Fufia ut legem de ambitu ferret…. This letter was written in July, 61 B.C., very shortly before the comitia of that year. The of 61 B.C., as described in this letter of, is very similar to that which we are now. Lurco, a tribune, desired to carry law on bribery. But the consular elections already been announced. Accordingly he be dispensed from the provisions of the lex Aelia et Fufia, in order that he may summon a legislative assembly before the holding of the consular comitia. In 67 B.C. the consuls are anxious to carry a law on bribery. The same of dispensation has to be gone through. describes it accurately enough, but he fails to mention that the law from which the consul to be dispensed was the lex Aelia et Fufia. (There were originally two laws, the lex Aelia the lex Fufia, and the lex Fufia, which came to be considered and spoken of as one lex Aelia et Fufia.)

^{page 202 note 1} I am here following the clear and accurate of Asconius. Dio's inaccurate statement reads: ἀγανακτήσας οῦν έπὶ τούτοις ὀ Κορνήλιος γνώμην ἐποιήσατο μὴ ἐξεῖναι τοῖς βουλευταῖς μήτε ἀρχήν τινι ἐξω νόμων αἰτήσαντι διδόναι μήτε ἀλλο μηδὲν τῶν τῷ δήμψ προσηκόντων ψηϕΙζεσθαι

^{page 202 note 3} Cic. de imb. Cn. Pomp. I. 2.

^{page 202 note 3} Asconius, p. 58, 11. 11 sqq.

^{page 202 note 4} Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 39.

^{page 202 note 5} Asconius, p. 75, 11. 20 sqq. The phrase maiore manu implies that Piso was protected by bodyguard at the assembly before which he to carry his law.

^{page 203 note 1} Cic, . ad Alt. I. xiGoogle Scholar .

^{page 203 note 2} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 38.

^{page 203 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 203 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 204 note 1} The special function of the diuisor was to magistradistribute bribes. Perhaps their duties them peculiarly liable to detection. Evidently Cornelius thought the diuisores to be the vulnerable part of the elaborate system.

^{page 204 note 2} Asconius, p. 74, 11. 21 sqq.

^{page 204 note 3} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 38 (πικρότατα ἐπιτίμια).

^{page 204 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 204 note 5} Asconius, p. 69, 11. 12 sq.

^{page 204 note 6} Scholia Bobiensia, p. 361 Or. The preceding in the Scholia Bobiensia reads: damnati Cornelia hoc genus poenae ferchant ut magistratuum petitione per decent annos abstinerent. It is clear to what lex Cornelia the scholiast. There was a lex Cornelia Boebia passed 181 B.C. (Livy XL. 19, 11), and also another lex de ambitu passed in the consulship of Cn. Dolabella and M. Fulvius Nobilior, 5g B.C. (Livy, Ep. XLVII). But the words aliquanto postea seem to point to an enactment of more recent date, and possibly a law of this was passed by the dictator Sulla.

^{page 205 note 1} Cic, . pro Murena 23, 46Google Scholar . the pirates, and paved the way for the Manilian

^{page 205 note 2} Asconius, p. 50, 11. 4 sqq. law of 66 B.C. Crassus and Caesar, of course,

^{page 205 note 3} Cornelius was responsible for the passage favoured the granting of the commission, not of another important law. The words of Asconius are Aliam deinde legem Cornelius, etsi nemo Sulla, or sympathy with his political ambitions, repugnare ausus est, multis tamen inuitis tulit, ut praetores ex edictis suis perpetuis ius dicerent: quaeres studium aut gratium ambitiosis praetorihus quiuarie ius dicere assueuerant sustulit (Asconius, years both parties said their prayers with their P. 59. 11 7 sqq). The aim of this law, as enactments by the praetors in the interests of patronage. It was another blow aimed at the senatorial bloc. It attempted especially to destroy the elaborate system of privilege, according to which public contracts (συμβόλαια) were awarded (Dio XXXVI. 40). In this year, too, the Gabinian law was passed, which gave Pompey an extraordinary command in the war against the pirates, and paved the way for the Manilian law of 66 B.C. Crassus and Caesar, of course, favoured the granting of the commission, not because of personal affection for the disciple of Sulla, or sympathy with his political ambitions, but because they knew full well that the fear of a military dictatorship would make a recalcitrant senate more amenable. For the next seven years both parties said their prayers with their eyes to the East.

^{page 205 note 4} It is interesting to note that both Volcatius and Lepidus took a moderate position during the Civil War, and decided not only not to flee with Pompey, but even to attend Caesar's senate, though they privately expressed their disgust at the turn of affairs (Cic, . ad Att. VIII. 15, 2)Google Scholar .

^{page 205 note 5} Asconius, p. 65, 11. 5 sqq.

^{page 205 note 6} Ibid., p. 65, 11. 6 sqq.; p. 59, 11. 18 sqq.

^{page 206 note 1} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 42.

^{page 206 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 206 note 3} Asconius, p. 64, 11. 11. sq.

^{page 206 note 4} None of the nobiles believed Manilius when he said that the inspiration of his law de liberlinorum suffragiis was Crassus. This phenomenon of senatorial inability to believe anything which might incriminate Crassus occurs more than once, and the reason for it is to be sought in the predominating financial influence of the latter.

^{page 206 note 5} Asconius, p. 89, 11. 6 sqq.

^{page 206 note 6} Dio Cassius XXXVI. 41; Asconius, p. 75, 11. 4 sqq.

^{page 207 note 1} For an excellent discussion see Hardy, E. G., The Catilinarian Conspiracy (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1924)Google Scholar, Chap. 2.

^{page 207 note 2} Suetonius, nius are the evidence of a contemporary historian, Tanusius Geminus, the edicta of Bibulus, the orationts of C. Curio pater, and a letter of Cicero to Accius.

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