Lucius Julius Caesar (consul 64 BC)

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Lucius Julius Caesar (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician and senator who was consul in 64 BC. A supporter of his cousin, the Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, Lucius was a key member of the senatorial coalition which strove to avoid civil war between the Senate and his nephew Mark Antony in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination in 44 BC.

Early career[edit]

A member of the patrician gens Julia, Lucius Julius Caesar was the son of the homonymous consul of 90 BC and Fulvia.[1] He began his political career serving as quaestor in Asia in 77 BC, probably under Terentius Varro.[2] By 69 BC, Lucius had been elected augur,[3] and by the end of 67 BC, he had served in the office of praetor.[4]

Lucius Caesar was then elected consul for 64 BC, serving alongside Gaius Marcius Figulus. During his consulship, senatorial decrees were passed which limited the number of attendants who could accompany candidates during election campaigns.[5] Action was also taken that year against certain guilds and societies deemed subversive and prohibited celebration of the ludi Compitalicii.[6] During the following year (63 BC), he, together with his cousin Gaius Julius Caesar, was appointed duumviri perduellionis for the purpose of bringing the senator Gaius Rabirius to trial for perduellio committed during Saturninus' riot in 100 BC.[7][8]

Later that same year, during the Catilinarian Conspiracy, the senate met after discovery of a plot within the city and apprehension of conspirators. Among them was Lucius' brother-in-law Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura, whom Lucius denounced.[9] At a later meeting on the urban conspirators' fate, Lucius was among the former consuls who voted for the death penalty. Following this, in 61 BC, Lucius was elected censor, probably serving with Gaius Scribonius Curio Burbulieus.[10][11]

Caesar's civil war[edit]

In 52 BC, Lucius was serving as a legate under his cousin, Gaius Julius Caesar in Gaul. As befitting his status as a former consul, Lucius was placed in charge of Gallia Narbonensis;[12] commanding 10,000 men, he was responsible for ensuring that the rebellion of Vercingetorix did not spread into Narbonese Gaul.[13] After the suppression of the rebellion, he remained a legate through until 49 BC. Lucius Caesar was then caught up in the events of the civil war, as the Senate, under the influence of Marcus Porcius Cato, demanded that his cousin Gaius give up his armies and his imperium when his proconsular command came to an end. Gaius refused and, taking his cousin Lucius with him, crossed the Rubicon. In the civil war which followed, the two Caesars were allied. After the majority of the Senate fled Rome, Lucius remained in the capital while his cousin Gaius fought against the armies led by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

During the next two years he remained in Rome, shoring up political support for Gaius, while he campaigned in Spain, and Greece. After the Battle of Pharsalus, Gaius was appointed dictator, and he proceeded to transfer some of his veteran legions to Italy. However, the legions became mutinous, forcing Mark Antony, the Master of the Horse, to leave Rome to deal with them in 47 BC. In an unprecedented procedure, Antonius appointed Lucius as praefectus urbi,[14] with orders to keep Rome secure while Antonius was absent. Lucius proved unable to prevent Rome from falling into turmoil.[15]

Mutina campaign and efforts for peace[edit]

Gaius Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC created an unstable atmosphere throughout the Roman Republic. Desperate to remain neutral as the disputes between the Caesarean faction and the liberatores worsened, Lucius Julius Caesar retired to Neapolis. This retirement was brief, as Lucius returned to Rome before the end of the year.

He openly joined Cicero's senatorial faction, leading the Senate in repealing Antony's agrarian law. However, he did not utterly abandon his nephew, as he refused to allow for a state of civil war to be declared against Antony.[16] More than anything else, he sought to avoid another civil war, and worked toward reconciling the various factions. Some time in the year, he was appointed princeps senatus after the title was revived.[17] In early March of 43 BC, he was one of five ex-consuls appointed by the Senate to form a second delegation to Antony, seeking to arrange a truce between Mark Antony and Decimus Brutus Albinus. However, when two of the ex-consuls decided to withdraw from the delegation (Cicero and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus), the embassy was disbanded.[18]

Later, after Antony had suffered a number of military setbacks, Lucius Caesar was one of the first to state that his nephew should be declared an enemy of the state. He was however to regret this when the Second Triumvirate was formed: as a consequence of his actions, Antony had him proscribed. Fleeing to his sister's (Antony's mother's) house, Lucius remained there until she obtained a pardon for him from her son. Lucius Caesar was still alive in 40 BC, when he was recorded as still being active as an augur.[19]

Family[edit]

Lucius was the son of his homonymous father who was consul in 90 and censor in 89 BC. Lucius had a sister named Julia who was the wife of Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura. Lucius had three known sons, Gnaeus, Lucius, and Sextus.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Zmeskal 2009, p. 140.
  2. ^ Broughton 1952, pp. 88–90.
  3. ^ Broughton 1952, pp. 135, 255.
  4. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 143.
  5. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 161.
  6. ^ Tatum, W Jeffrey (1999). The patrician tribune. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 117–18. ISBN 978-0-8078-7206-2. LCCN 98-37096. Tatum also notes that "it is not longer reasonable to conclude that all but a few collegia were made illegal".
  7. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 171.
  8. ^ Alexander, Michael Charles (1990). Trials in the late Roman Republic, 149 BC to 50 BC. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Trial 220. ISBN 0-8020-5787-X. OCLC 41156621.
  9. ^ Berry, D H (2020). Cicero's Catilinarians. Oxford University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-19-751081-0. LCCN 2019048911. OCLC 1126348418.
  10. ^ Broughton 1986, pp. 2, 110.
  11. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 179 notes that Dio 37.46.4 describes elections of censors and revision of the senate rolls along with Ciceronean correspondence and circumstantial evidence that a census occurred in 61 BC.
  12. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 238.
  13. ^ Holmes 1923, p. 207.
  14. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 292.
  15. ^ Holmes 1923, p. 228.
  16. ^ Syme (1939). The Roman Revolution. p. 170.
  17. ^ Ferriès, Marie-Claire (2020). "Senatorum... incondita turba: was the senate compsoed so as to ensure its compliance?". In Pina Polo, Francisco (ed.). The triumviral period: civil war, political crisis and socioeconomic transformations. Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. p. 92. ISBN 9788413400969.
  18. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 351.
  19. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 365.
  20. ^ Zmeskal 2009, pp. 140–41. Zmeskal records no known wife.

Sources[edit]

  • Broughton, T. Robert S. (1952). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. II.
  • Broughton, T. Robert S. (1986). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. III.
  • Holmes, Rice T. (1923). The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire. Vol. III.
  • Smith, William. "11. L. julius L. f. L. n. caesar". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 538. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05 – via The Ancient Library.
  • Zmeskal, Klaus (2009). Adfinitas (in German). Vol. 1. Passau: Verlag Karl Stutz. ISBN 978-3-88849-304-1.

External links[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by Roman consul
64 BC
With: Gaius Marcius Figulus 		Succeeded by
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