Lucius Furius Philus was a Roman statesman who became

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

in 136 BC. He was a member of the

Scipionic Circle The Scipionic Circle, or the Circle of Scipio, was a group of philosophers, poets, and politicians patronized by their namesake, Scipio Aemilianus. Together they would discuss Greek culture, literature, and humanism. Alongside their philhellenic ...

, and particularly close to

Scipio Aemilianus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185–129 BC), known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a Roman general and statesman noted for his military exploits in the Third Punic War against Carthage and during the ...

. As proconsul, his allotted province was Spain. The consul of the previous year, Gaius Hostilius Mancinus, had recently suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Numantines and was forced to surrender, an event known as the ''foedus Mancinum''. As his successor in Spain, it was Furius Philus who handed Mancinus over to the Numantines as recompense for the annulled treaty. Furius was remembered for deliberately picking two of his personal enemies, a 'Q. Metellus' and a 'Q. Pompeius', as lieutenants for his Spanish command, apparently so that his achievements could be lauded by even those who disliked him. For this, he was remembered either as an admirable model of Roman self-confidence or as an example of Roman rashness.Dio Cassius
23.82
/ref> He is mentioned by

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

as the author of a work mentioning two sacral formulae to use against besieged cities, while

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

, in ''

de Republica ''De re publica'' (''On the Commonwealth''; see below) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive ...

'', praises the style of Furius' speeches.

References

Cassius Dio, Roman History
* Rawson, Elizabeth (1973) Scipio, Laelius, Furius and the Ancestral Religion, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 63, pp. 161–174 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Philus, Lucius 2nd-century BC writers {{AncientRome-politician-stub