Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer ( – 59 BC) was a Roman politician who was consul in 60 BC and in the next year opposed
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. ...
,
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 a civil war. He ...
, and the so-called
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar. The republican constitution had many veto points. ...
's political programme. He was a member of the powerful and influential plebeian noble family, the
Caecilii Metelli. Prior to 62 BC, he was an ally of Pompey and had served as urban praetor in 63, augur by 63 BC, possibly aedile in 67 BC, and plebeian tribune in either 72 or 68 BC.
Life and career
During the
Third Mithridatic War
The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies, dragging the entire east of th ...
(73-63 BC) against
Mithridates VI of
Pontus and
Tigranes the Great
Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great (''Tigran Mets'' in Armenian language, Armenian; 140–55 BC), was a king of Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Armenia. A member of the Artaxiad dynasty, he ruled from 95 BC to 55 BC. Under hi ...
of
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
, Celer was a commander of some sort.
TRS Broughton in the ''Magistrates of the Roman Republic'' suggests he possibly was a legate,
military tribune
A military tribune () was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribunes as a stepping stone to the Senate. The should not be confused with the ...
, or
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 ...
. The nature of his command is unknown. He evidently returned to Rome by the early 60s, as he held the
plebeian tribunate in either 72 or 68 BC. He may have been
plebeian aedile in 67 BC but there is substantial doubt.
Following his urban magistracies, if they occurred, he served as a legate under
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. ...
in 66 BC. In the winter of 66 BC, Oroeses, king of the
Caucasian Albania
Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...
ns attacked Pompey's army during
Saturnalia
Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...
celebrations in Lesser Armenia. Pompey had split his army into three divisions. Celer was in charge of one of them and custodian of
Tigranes the Younger of Armenia. Celer vigorously repulsed Oroeses while Flaccus and Pompey, who were in charge of the other two divisions, defeated the other Albanians.
Praetorship and proconsulship
Celer became urban praetor in 63 BC. During the year,
Titus Labienus
Titus Labienus (17 March 45 BC) was a high-ranking military officer in the late Roman Republic. He served as tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC. Although mostly remembered as one of Julius Caesar's best lieutenants in Gaul and mentioned frequently ...
(then plebeian tribune) and
Gaius Julius Caesar, indicted an old and obscure senator,
Gaius Rabirius, for the killing of
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus (died late 100 BC) was a Roman populist and tribune. He is most notable for introducing a series of legislative reforms, alongside his associate Gaius Servilius Glaucia and with the consent of Gaius Marius, during t ...
thirty-seven years earlier. The precise events of Rabirius' trials is not entirely clear. Michael Alexander's ''Trials of the late Roman republic'' has two trials: the first was a farcically archaic before
Lucius Julius Caesar and
Gaius Julius Caesar as for the killing of Saturninius which was aborted after conviction by the defendant's appeal to the people; a second trial, before the , was on various other offences. At this trial, then-consul
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 ...
spoke in Rabirius' defence and the trial was regardless aborted: Celer interfered in the trial's operations by putting a red flag on the
Janiculum
The Janiculum (; ), occasionally known as the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the pro ...
which indicated a fictitious enemy raid and the adjournment of all civilian public business.
Later in the year, the
Catilinarian conspiracy was discovered.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus announced that he intended to prosecute
Lucius Sergius Catilina – not yet known to be responsible for the conspiracy – and Catiline attempted to place himself into the custody of the magistrates. Celer, Catiline's third choice, refused to take him; Paullus regardless never brought charges. As part of the response to the conspiracy's force mustering publicly in the Etruria, Celer was assigned to
Picenum
Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name was assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum became ''Regio V'' in the Augustan territorial organisation of Roman Italy. It is now in Marche ...
to raise forces along with three other magistrates deployed across Italy. He was at the same time likely
prorogued to the province of
Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul (, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited by Celts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy.
Afte ...
. After Catiline's involvement became clear and he fled Rome, Celer played an important role in the campaign suppressing the conspiracy. He blocked Catiline's army from escaping Italy across the
Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...
into Gaul, allowing the consul
Gaius Antonius Hybrida
Gaius Antonius Hybrida (flourished 1st century BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius (orator), Marcus Antonius and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus; his mother is unknown. He was also the uncle o ...
to bring Catiline to battle in early 62 BC. At the resulting
Battle of Pistoria, Antonius' forces decisively defeated Catiline. Some time in 63, Celer was noted as one of the
augur
An augur was a priest and official in the ancient Rome, classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the List of Roman deities, gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined s ...
s, indicating that he had been inducted by that point into that priestly college.
Celer continued in Cisalpine Gaul through the remainder of the year. While there, he supported his adoptive brother
Metellus Nepos against Cicero and the majority in the senate. Nepos as plebeian tribune had attempted to use force in the assemblies to transfer the anti-Catilinarian command from the consul Antonius to Pompey; this triggered a which saw Nepos flee the city for Pompey's camp.
Consulship and death
In ("his year"; ie the first year he was eligible), Celer was elected consul for 60 BC.
Lucius Afranius, a Pompeian ally, was his consular colleague. Prior to 62 BC, Celer and his brother Nepos had supported Pompey's political position at Rome while Pompey was on campaign. By 60 BC, the two had turned against Pompey in part because Pompey had divorced Celer's sister
Mucia Tertia. The divorce came shortly after Pompey's return to Italy in December 62 BC as part of Pompey's attempts to realign himself politically. However, the divorce – amid claims of infidelity – harmed the public reputation and of the Caecilii Metelli: the two brothers of Mucia, Celer and Nepos, took this slight very seriously. While Dio claims that Pompey supported Celer's consular campaign, this familial quarrel makes Dio's claim unlikely.
During Celer's consulship, Pompey sought senatorial ratification of his eastern settlements and land grants for his veterans.
Lucius Licinius Lucullus, whom Pompey had replaced in command pursuant to the of 66 BC, challenged his rival's actions: instead of approving Pompey's settlements as a whole, Lucullus stalled the entire process by having each element reviewed in committee before separate votes on each part. In this, Lucullus was supported by Celer,
Cato the Younger, and
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115–53 BC) was a ancient Rome, Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome".Wallechinsky, Da ...
. The combined political influence of the four allies was able to prevent Pompey from securing any of his main goals. Celer also opposed Crassus' attempts to reduce the taxes expected from the tax farmers in Asia.
For this strong opposition, the pro-Pompeian plebeian tribune Lucius Flavius had Celer thrown into jail and attempted to keep him there by sitting on a bench before the door. Celer, intending to stay the night, had his allies cut a hole in the wall so that senators could attend to him. Pompey, afraid of the political blowback of holding the consul like a political prisoner, had Flavius set Celer free. Celer also opposed the attempts of his brother-in-law,
Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher ( – 18 January 52 BC) was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cic ...
, in transferring himself from the patricians to the plebeians.
These victories for Celer, however, saw Pompey join a political alliance with the next year's consul, Gaius Julius Caesar, and Crassus. When Caesar's consulship began in 59 BC, Celer opposed the three allies. He died unexpectedly in April 59 BC prior to taking up a proconsulship Transalpine Gaul.
Family
Celer was the grandson of
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus; he was also the biological son of
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, the consul of 98 BC, and the adoptive son of the homonymous Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer who was plebeian tribune in 90 BC and aedile .
He married
Clodia – daughter of
Appius Claudius Pulcher and sister of
Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher ( – 18 January 52 BC) was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cic ...
– and was the cousin or brother of the
Mucia Tertia who was Pompey's third wife.
[; .] With Clodia, he had a daughter named
Caecilia Metella. Celer's reputation was dogged, however, by the scandals attached to Clodia. A
contemporary poem by Catullus "may refer to Celer's marital ineffectiveness and obtuseness".
References
Bibliography
Modern sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caecilius Metellus Celer, Quintus
100s BC births
59 BC deaths
1st-century BC Roman augurs
1st-century BC Roman consuls
1st-century BC Roman praetors
Celer, Quintus
Optimates
Year of birth uncertain