Gaius Considius Longus (died 46 BC) was a Roman politician and general in the last years of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

. As a commander in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, he fought on the

Pompeian Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. A ...

side during

Caesar's Civil War Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was a civil war during the late Roman Republic between two factions led by Julius Caesar and Pompey. The main cause of the war was political tensions relating to Caesar's place in the Republic on his expected ret ...

and was killed by his own retinue in 46 BC as he attempted to escape after

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's victory at

Thapsus Thapsus, also known as Tampsus and as Thapsus Minor to distinguish it from Thapsus in Sicily, was a Carthaginian and Roman port near present-day Bekalta, Tunisia. Geography Thapsus was established on Ras ed-Dimas, an easily defended promont ...

Life

Considius held the

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

ship at an unknown date, not later than 52 BC, and followed it by governing the province of

as ''

propraetor In ancient Rome, a promagistrate () was a person who was granted the power via '' prorogation'' to act in place of an ordinary magistrate in the field. This was normally ''pro consule'' or ''pro praetore'', that is, in place of a consul or praet ...

''. During his administration in 50 BC, he travelled to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

to seek the

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 thro ...

ship, leaving Quintus Ligarius as his representative. When Caesar's Civil War broke out, he returned to Africa with other supporters of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

. He and P. Attius Varus are described as ''legatus pro praetore'' in an inscription from Curubis (modern Korba), which they fortified: they would have held the office as subordinate commanders first to Pompey, then, after Pompey's death in 48 BC, to

Metellus Scipio Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio (c. 95 – 46 BC), often referred to as Metellus Scipio, was a Roman senator and military commander. During the civil war between Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction led by Pompey, he was a staunch sup ...

, who succeeded Pompey to command of the senatorial side against

. Considius held Hadrumentum with one

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Aviazione Legionaria, Italian air force during the Spanish Civil War * A legion is the regional unit of the Italian carabinieri * Spanish Legion, ...

and took part in successful operations against Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio. By the time that Caesar reached Africa in 46 BC, Considius had increased his troops to two legions and 700 cavalry. Caesar's legate

Lucius Munatius Plancus Lucius Munatius Plancus () was a Roman Senate, Roman senator, Roman consul, consul in 42 BC, and Roman censor, censor in 22 BC with Paullus Aemilius Lepidus. He is one of the classic historical examples of men who have managed to surviv ...

tried to negotiate with Considius, sending a captive to him carrying a letter. Considius asked who it was from. On hearing that it was from "the ''imperator'' Caesar", he replied "The only ''imperator'' of the Roman people at this time is Scipio" and ordered his men to execute the captive and send the letters on to Scipio unread. He undertook ineffective operations against Acylla, a town which had gone over to Caesar's side. Shortly after this he was in the town of Thysdra (modern

El Djem El Djem or El Jem (Tunisian Arabic:, ') is a town in Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia. Its population was 21,544 at the 2014 census. It is home to Roman remains, including the Amphitheatre of El Jem. History The Roman city of Thysdrus was built ...

) with soldiers and a retinue of gladiators and

Gaetulia Gaetuli was the Romanised name of an ancient Berber tribe inhabiting ''Getulia''. The latter district covered the large desert region south of the Atlas Mountains, bordering the Sahara. Other documents place Gaetulia in pre-Roman times along the M ...

ns. It was here that he learnt that Caesar had been victorious at the

Battle of Thapsus The Battle of Thapsus was a military engagement that took place on April 6, 46 BC near Thapsus (in modern Tunisia). The forces of the Optimates, led by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio, were defeated by the forces of Julius Caesar. It was fo ...

. He left the town secretly, attempting to escape to

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

, ruled by his ally,

Juba I Juba I of Numidia (, ; –46BC) was a king of Numidia (present-day Algeria) who reigned from 60 to 46 BC. He was the son and successor to Hiempsal II. Biography In 81 BC, Hiempsal had been driven from his throne; soon afterwards, Pompey wa ...

but underway, his Gaetulian retinue killed him for the money he was carrying and fled.

Family

The '' Bellum Africum'' mentions a son: Caesar captured him at Hadrumentum after the Battle of Thapsus and spared his life.

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...

accepted the view of

Bartolomeo Borghesi Bartolomeo (also Bartolommeo) Borghesi (11 July 178116 April 1860) was an Italian antiquarian who was a key figure in establishing the science of numismatics. He was born at Savignano, near Rimini, and studied at Bologna and Rome. Having weake ...

that C. Considius Paetus, a late republican moneyer, was the same person; but

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, comedian and singer. Crawford is best known for playing the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', Cornel ...

, in the most recent catalogue of republican coinage says only "the moneyer is a C. Considius Paetus, not otherwise known".

Literature

Primary sources

Our chief source is the anonymous '' Bellum Africum'' ("The African War"), also known as ''De Bello Africo'' ("On the African War"), an anonymous account of Julius Caesar's African campaign, which supplements Caesar's own account of the civil war and seems to have been written by a soldier who had served under Caesar on the campaign. It is usually included in a larger text along with other accounts of the last stages of the civil war, the ''Bellum Hispaniense'' (War in Spain) and ''Bellum Alexandrinum '' (War in Alexandria). For Considius' earlier career we have some information from Cicero's speech ''Pro Quinto Ligario'' ("On behalf of Quintus Ligarius") and the ancient commentary to this, first edited by

Jakob Gronovius Jacobus Gronovius a.k.a. Jacob Gronow (10 October 1645 – 21 October 1716) was a Dutch classical scholar. He was born in Deventer, the son of the German classical scholar Johann Friedrich Gronovius and Aleyda ten Nuyl, and father of the b ...

and so known as the ''Scholia Gronoviana'', but now generally cited from the edition of Thomas Stangl.T. Stangl (1912), ''Ciceronis Orationum Scholiastae'' (Vienna and Leipzig: F. Tempsky and G. Freytag).

Secondary literature

* Brennan, T. Corey (2000), ''The Praetorship of the Roman Republic'' (Oxford:OUP) vol. II * Münzer, F. (1901), "C. Considius C. f. Longus" (Considius 11), ''R.E.'' IV 913–4.

Footnotes