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BALBUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 242 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BALBUS , literally " stammerer," the name of several See also:

Roman families. Of the Acilii See also:Balbi, one Manius Acilius Balbus was See also:consul in 150 B.C., another in 114. To another See also:family belonged T. Ampius Balbus, a supporter of See also:Pompey, but afterwards pardoned by See also:Julius See also:Caesar (cf. Cie. ad Pam. vi. 12 and xiii. 70). We know also of Q. See also:Antonius Balbus, See also:praetor in See also:Sicily in 82 B.C., and See also:Marcus Atius Balbus, who married Julia, a See also:sister of Caesar, and had a daughter Atia, See also:mother of See also:Augustus. The most important of the name were the two Cornelii Balbi, natives of Gades (See also:Cadiz). 1. See also:LUCIUS See also:CORNELIUS BALBUS (called See also:Major to distinguish him from his See also:nephew) was See also:born See also:early in the last See also:century B.C.

He is generally considered to have been of Phoenician origin. For his services against See also:

Sertorius in See also:Spain, the Roman citizenship was conferred upon him and his family by Pompey. Becoming friendly with all parties, he had much to do with the formation of the First Triumvirate, and was one of the See also:chief financiers in See also:Rome. He was careful to ingratiate himself with Caesar, whom he accompanied when propraetor to Spain (61), and to See also:Gaul (58) as chief engineer (praefectus fabrum). His position as a naturalized foreigner, his See also:influence and his See also:wealth naturally made Balbus many enemies, who in 56 put up a native of Gades to prosecute him for illegally assuming the rights of a Roman See also:citizen, a See also:charge directed against the triumvirs equally with himself. See also:Cicero, Pompey and See also:Crassus all spoke on his behalf, and he was acquitted. During the See also:civil See also:war he endeavoured to get Cicero to mediate between Caesar and Pompey, with the See also:object of preventing him from definitely siding with the latter; and Cicero admits that he was dissuaded from doing so, against his better See also:judgment. Subsequently, Balbus became Caesar's private secretary, and Cicero was obliged to ask for his See also:good offices with Caesar. After Caesar's See also:murder, Balbus seems to have attached himself to Octavian; in 43 or 42 he was praetor, and in 40 consul—an See also:honour then for the first See also:time conferred on an See also:alien. The See also:year of his See also:death is not known. Balbus kept a See also:diary of the chief events in his own and Caesar's See also:life (Suetonius, Caesar, 81). The 8th See also:book of the See also:Bell.

See also:

Gall., which was probably written by his friend See also:Hirtius at his instigation, was dedicated to him. Cicero, Letters (ed. See also:Tyrrell and See also:Purser, iv. introd. p. 62) and See also:Pro See also:Balbo; see also E. See also:Jullien, De L. See also:Cornelia Balbo Maiore (1886). 2. Lucius CORNELIUS BALBUS (called See also:Minor), nephew of the above, received the Roman citizenship at the same time as his See also:uncle. During the civil war, he served under Caesar, by whom he was entrusted with several important See also:missions. He also took See also:part in the Alexandrian and See also:Spanish See also:wars. He was rewarded for his services by being admitted into the See also:college of pontiffs. In 43 he was See also:quaestor in Further Spain, where he amassed a large See also:fortune by plundering the inhabitants.

In the same year he crossed over to Bogud, See also:

king of See also:Mauretania, and is not heard of again until 21, when he appears as proconsul of See also:Africa. See also:Mommsen thinks that he had incurred the displeasure of Augustus by his conduct as praetor, and that his See also:African See also:appointment after so many years was due to his exceptional fitness for the See also:post. In 19 Balbus defeated the Garamantes, and on the 27th of See also:March in that year received the honour of a See also:triumph, which was then for the first time granted to one who was not a Roman citizen by See also:birth, and for the last time to a private individual. He built a See also:theatre in the See also:capital, which was dedicated on the return of Augustus from Gaul in 13 (Dio See also:Cassius liv. 25; See also:Pliny, Nat. Hist. See also:xxxvi. 12. 6o). Balbus appears to have given some See also:attention to literature. He wrote a See also:play of which the subject was his visit to See also:Lentulus in the See also:camp of Pompey at Dyrrhachium, and, according to See also:Macrobius (Saturnalia, iii. 6), was the author of a See also:work called 'Et- yrlrLKa, dealing with the gods and their See also:worship. See Velleius Paterculus ii.

51; Cicero, ad Att. viii. 9 ; and on both the above the exhaustive articles in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie, iv. pt. i. (1900).

End of Article: BALBUS

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