Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella was a nobleman of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

who served as ''

praetor urbanus ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the Title#Titles for heads of state, 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 ''Roman magistr ...

'' in 81 BCE, when the cause of Publius Quintius was tried, the subject of

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

's speech '' Pro Quinctio'', in which he charges Dolabella with having acted unjustly. The year after that, Dolabella had

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

for his province, with C. Malleolus as his ''

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

'', and the notorious

Gaius Verres Gaius Verres ( 114 – 43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence advo ...

as his '' legatus''. Dolabella not only tolerated the extortions and robberies committed by these two, but shared in their plunder. He was especially indulgent towards Verres, and, after Malleolus was murdered, he made Verres his '' proquaestor''. After his return to Rome, Dolabella was accused by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus of extortion in his province, and on that occasion Verres not only deserted his accomplice, but furnished the accuser with all the necessary information, and even spoke himself publicly against Dolabella. Many of the crimes committed by Verres himself were thus attributed to Dolabella, who was therefore condemned, going into exile and leaving his wife and children behind him in great poverty.

Asconius Pedianus Quintus Asconius Pedianus (9 BC – AD 76) was a Roman rhetorician from Patavium. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but his familiarity with the politics and geography of contemporary Rome suggests that he may hav ...

, ''in Cornel.'' p. 110, ed. Orelli

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolabella, Gnaeus Cornelius 1st-century BC deaths 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman praetors Cornelii Dolabellae