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CATULUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 545 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CATULUS , the name of a distinguished See also:

family of See also:ancient See also:Rome of the gens Lutatia. The following are its most important I. GAITS LUTATIUS CATULUS, See also:Roman See also:commander during the First Punic See also:War, See also:consul 242' B.C. He was sent with a See also:fleet of 200 See also:ships to Sicilian See also:waters, and almost without opposition occupied the harbours of Lilybaeum and Drepanum. A hurriedly equipped fleet sent out from See also:Carthage under See also:Hanno was intercepted by the See also:praetor Publi us See also:Valerius Falto and totally defeated (See also:battle of the Aegates Islands, See also:March to, 241). Catulus, who had been wounded at Drepanum, took no See also:part in the operations, but on his return to Rome was accorded the See also:honour of a See also:triumph, which against his will he shared with Valerius. (See PUNIC See also:WARS: First, ad fin.). 2. See also:QUINTUS LUTATIUS CATULUS, Roman See also:general and consul with See also:Marius in 102 B.C. In the war against the See also:Cimbri and Teutones he was sent to defend the passage of the See also:Alps but found himself compelled to See also:retreat over the Po, his troops having been reduced to a See also:state of panic (see MARIUS, See also:GAIUs). In See also:lot the Cimbri were defeated on the Raudine See also:plain, near Vercellae, by the See also:united armies of Catulus and Marius. The See also:chief honour being ascribed to Marius, Catulus became his See also:bitter opponent.

He sided with See also:

Sulla in the See also:civil war, was included in the proscription See also:list of 87, and when Marius declined to See also:pardon him, committed See also:suicide. He was distinguished as an orator, poet and See also:prose writer, and was well versed in See also:Greek literature. He is said to have written the See also:history of his consul-See also:ship and the Cimbrian War after the manner of See also:Xenophon; two epigrams by him have been preserved, one on Roscius the celebrated actor (See also:Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, i. 28), the other of an erotic See also:character, imitated from See also:Callimachus (See also:Gellius xix. 9). He was a See also:man of See also:great See also:wealth, which he spent in beautifying Rome. Two buildings were known as " Monumenta Catuli ": the See also:temple of See also:Fortuna hujusce diei, to commemorate the See also:day of Vercellae, and the Porticus Catuli, built from the See also:sale of the Cimbrian spoils. See See also:Plutarch, Marius, Sulla; See also:Appian, B.C. i. 74; See also:Veil. Pat. ii. 21; See also:Florus iii.

21; Val. Max. vi. 3, ix. 13; Cicero, De Oratore, iii, 3. 8, See also:

Brutus, 35. 3. QUINTUS LUTATIUS CATULUS (C. I20—61 B.C.), sometimes called Capitolinus, son of the above, consul in 102. He inherited his See also:father's hatred of Marius, and was a consistent though moderate supporter of the See also:aristocracy. In 78 he was consul with See also:Marcus See also:Aemilius See also:Lepidus, who after the See also:death of Sulla proposed the overthrow of his constitution, the re-See also:establishment of the See also:distribution of See also:grain, the recall of the banished, and other democratic See also:measures. Catulus vigorously opposed this, and a temporary See also:compromise was effected. But Lepidus, having levied troops in his See also:province of Transalpine See also:Gaul, returned to Rome at the See also:head of an See also:army.

Catulus defeated him at the Mulvian See also:

bridge and near See also:Cosa in See also:Etruria, and Lepidus made his See also:escape to See also:Sardinia, where he died soon afterwards. In 67 and 66 Catulus unsuccessfully opposed, as prejudicial to constitutional freedom, the Gabinian 'and Manilian See also:laws, which conferred See also:special See also:powers upon See also:Pompey (q.v.). He consistently opposed See also:Caesar, whom he endeavoured to implicate in the Catilinarian See also:conspiracy. Caesar, in return, accused him of embezzling public See also:money during the reconstruction of the temple on the Capitol, and proposed to obliterate his name from the inscription and deprive him of the See also:office of See also:commissioner for its restoration. Catulus's supporters rallied See also:round him, and Caesar dropped the See also:charge. Catulus was the last princeps senatus of republican times; he held the office of See also:censor also, but soon resigned, being unable to agree with his colleague See also:Licinius See also:Crassus. Although not a man of great abilities, Catulus exercised considerable See also:influence through his See also:political consistency and his undoubted solicitude for the welfare of the state. See See also:Sallust, Catilina, 35. 49; Dio See also:Cassius See also:xxxvi. 13; Plutarch, Crassus; Suetonius, Caesar, 15.

End of Article: CATULUS

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