Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/949

MARCELLUS The obsequies of Marcellus were celebrated with the greatest magnificence by Augustus, who him- self pronounced the funeral oration over his re- mains, after which they were deposited in the mausoleum lately erected for the Julian family. At a subsequent period (b. c. 14) Augustus dedi- cated in his name the magnificent theatre near the Forum Olitorium, of which the remains are still visible. But the most durable monument to the memory of Marcellus is to be found in the well- known passage of Virgil, which must have been composed and recited to Augustus and Octavia before the end of the year 22. (Dion Cass. liii. 30--32, liv. 26; Veil. Pat. ii. 93; Plut. Marc. 30 ; Suet. Oct. 63; Tac. Ann. i. 3, ii. 41, Hid. i. 15; Propert. iii. 18; Virg. Aen. vi. 860—886; Serv. ad Virg. I. c. ; Donat. Vit. Virg.) 16. M. Claudius Marcellus, called by Cicero, for distinction's sake, the father of Aeseniinus. {Brut. 36.) We have no account of his connection with the main branch of the Marcelli, the family of the conqueror of Syracuse : the pedigree, as made out by Drumann, though not in itself im- probable, is wholly without authority. He is first mentioned as serving under Marius in Gaul in B.C. 102, when he bore an important part in the defeat of the Teutones near Aquae Sextiae. (Plut. Marc. 20, 21.) In B. c. 90 his name occurs as one of the lieutenants of L. Julius Caesar in the Marsic war: and it appears that after the de- feat of the consul by Vettius Cato, Marcellus threw himself, with a body of troops, into the strong fortress of Aesernia in Samnium, where he held out for a considerable time, but was at length compelled to surrender for want of provisions. (Appian, B. C. i. 40, 41 ; Liv. Epit. Ixxiii.) It is doubtless from some circumstance connected with this siege that his son derived the surname of Aeseniinus. There is little doubt that it is this M. Marcellus who appears as one of the judges in the trial of P. Quintius, B. c. 81 (Cic. pro Quint. 17), and to whom Cicero also alludes as having a deadly feud with the orator L. Crassus (pro Font. 7). He was himself a speaker of no ordinary merit. (Cic. Brut. 36.) 17. M. Claudius, M. f. Marcellus Aeser- NINUS, is mentioned by Cicero as a young man at the trial of Verres (b. c. 70), on which occasion he appeared as a witness. (Cic. Verr. iv. 42, where, however, several editions give his name as C. Mar- cellus.) 18. M. Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, quaestor in Spain in b. c. 48, under Q. Cassius Longinus. Drumann supposes him to be a son of the preceding, with whom Orelli, on the contrary, regards him as identical. {Onomast. Tullian.) Cassius sent him with a body of troops to hold possession of Corduba, on occasion of the mutiny and revolt excited in Spain by his own exactions. But Marcellus quickly joined the mutineers, though, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, is not certain ; and put himself at the head of all the troops assembled at Corduba, whom he retained in their fidelity to Caesar, at the same time that he prepared to resist Cassius by force of arms. But though the two leaders, with their armies, were for some time opposed to one another, Marcellus avoided coming to a general engagement ; and on the arrival soon after of the proconsul, M. Lepidus, he hastened to submit to his authority, and place the legions under his command at his disposal. By MARCELLUS. 935 the questionable part he had acted on this occasion Marcellus at first incurred the resentment of Caesar, but was afterwards restored to favour. (Hirt. B. Alex. 57—64 ; Dion Cass. xlii. 15, 16.) 19. M. Claudius, M. f. Marcellus Aeser- ninus, consul in B. c. 22. (Dion Cass. liv. 1, and Arg.) Perhaps the same with the preceding. He married Asinia, the daughter of C. Asinius PoUio, who was consul in B. c. 40. 20. M. Claudius, M. p. Marcellus Aeser- ninus, son of the preceding. When a boy he broke his leg while acting in the Trojan games before Augustus, a circumstance of which his grandfather, Asinius Pollio, complained so loudly that the custom was abolished. (Suet. Oct. 43.) He was trained with much care by his grand- father in all kinds of oratorical exercises, and gave much promise as an orator. (Senec. Epit. Controv. lib. iv. praef.) In A. D. 20 he was one of those whom Piso requested to undertake his de- fence on the charge of having poisoned Germanicus, but he declined the office. (Tac. Ann. iii. 1 1 .) It is probable that Asinius Marcellus who is mentioned by Tacitus {Ann. xiv. 40) as a great-grandson of Pollio, was a son of this Aeser- ninus. 21. P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, was a son of No. 16, and brother of No. 17 (Cic. Brut. 36), who must have been adopted by some one of the Cornelii Lentuli, though we know not by whom. (See Orell. Onom. Tull. p. 177.) He is mentioned by Cicero {I. c.) as an orator of con- siderable merit, and figures as one of the lieute- nants of Pompey in the war against the pirates, B. c. 67. (Appian, Mithr. 95.) It appears that he married a Cornelia, of the family of the Scipios. (Orell. I. c.) 22. Cn. Cornelius, P. f. Lentulus Mar- cellinus, son of the preceding. (Dion Cass. Arg. xxxix.) He is first mentioned as zealously sup- porting the cause of the Sicilians against Verres, while yet a young man, b. c. 70. {Ck. Div. in Caecil. 4, in Verr. ii. 42.) He next appears in B. c. 61, as supporting his kinsman, L. Lentulus Crus, in the accusation of Clodius, for violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. (Schol. Bob. ad Cic. in Clod. p. 336, ed. Orell.) In B. c 59 he held the office of praetor, and presided at the trial of C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero. (Cic. in Vatin. 11; Orell. Onom. Tull. p. 177.) The fol- lowing year he repaired to Syria, and administered that province for nearly two years, during which his time was principally taken up with repressing the predatory incursions of the neighbouring Arabs. (Appian, Syr. 51.) But he returned to Rome soon enough to sue for the consulship at the elec- tions of the year 57, and was chosen for the en- suing year, together with L. Marcius Philippus. Before the close of the same year also he took a prominent part in favour of Cicero, after the return of the latter from exile, and exerted himself zea- lously and successfully to procure the restoration of his house and property. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 2, 3, ad Q. Fr. ii. 1, de Har. resp. i. 7.) During the year of his consulship (b.c. 56), Marcellinus op- posed a vigorous resistance to the factious violence of Clodius and of the tribune C. Cato ; and by his conduct in this respect earned from Cicero the praise of being one of the best consuls he had ever seen. (Ad Q. Fr. ii. 6.) At the same time he endeavoured to check the ambition and restrain the 3 o4