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MARCELLUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 685 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARCELLUS , a See also:

Roman plebeian See also:family belonging to the Claudian gens. Its most distinguished members were the following: I. See also:MARCUS See also:CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS (C. 268—208 B.C.), one of the Roman generals during the Second Punic See also:War and conqueror of See also:Syracuse. He first served against Hamilcar in See also:Sicily. In his first consulship (222) he was engaged, with Cn. See also:Cornelius Scipio as colleague, in war against the Insubrian Gauls, and won the spolia opima for the third and last See also:time in Roman See also:history by slaying their See also:chief Viridomarus or Virdumarus (See also:Polybius ii. 34; See also:Propertius v. lo, 39). In 216, after the defeat at See also:Cannae, he took command of the remnant of the See also:army at See also:Canusium, and although he was unable to prevent See also:Capua going over to See also:Hannibal, he saved See also:Nola and See also:southern See also:Campania. In 214 he was in Sicily as See also:consul at the time of the revolt of Syracuse; he stormed See also:Leontini and besieged Syracuse, but the skill of See also:Archimedes repelled his attacks. After a two years' See also:siege he gradually forced his way into the See also:city and took it in the See also:face of strong Punic reinforcements. He spared the lives of the inhabitants, but carried off their See also:art treasures to See also:Rome, the first instance of a practice afterwards See also:common.

Consul again in 210, he took Salapia in See also:

Apulia, which had revolted to Hannibal, by help of the Roman party there, and put to See also:death the Numidian See also:garrison. Proconsul in 209, he attacked Hannibal near See also:Venusia, and after a desperate See also:battle retired to that. See also:town; he was accused of See also:bad generalship, and had to leave the army to defend himself in Rome. In his last consulship (208), he and his colleague, while reconnoitring near Venusia, were unexpectedly attacked, and Marcellus was killed. His successes have been exaggerated by See also:Livy, but the name often given to him, the " See also:sword of Rome," was well deserved. Livy See also:xxiii. 14—17, 41—46; See also:xxiv. 27–32, 35-39; See also:xxv. 5—7, 23—31; See also:xxvi. 26, 29-32; See also:xxvii. 1—5, 21—28; Polybius viii. 5—9, x. 32; See also:Appian, Hannib.

50; See also:

Florus ii. 6. 2. M. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS, an inveterate opponent of See also:Julius See also:Caesar. During his consulship (51 B.C.) he proposed to remove Caesar from his army in See also:March 49, but this decision was delayed by See also:Pompey's irresolution and the skilful opposition of the See also:tribune C. See also:Curio (see CAESAR, JULIUS). In See also:January 49 he tried to put off declaring war against Caesar till an army could be got ready, but his See also:advice was not taken. When Pompey See also:left See also:Italy, Marcus and his See also:brother See also:Gaius followed, while his See also:cousin withdrew to See also:Liternum. After Pharsalus M. Marcellus retired to Mytilene, where he practised See also:rhetoric and studied See also:philosophy. In 46 his cousin and the See also:senate successfully appealed to Caesar to See also:pardon him, and Marcellus reluctantly consented to return.

On this occasion See also:

Cicero's' speech See also:Pro See also:Marcello was delivered. Marcellus left for Italy, but was murdered in May by one of his own attendants, P. Magius Chilo, in the See also:Peiraeus. Marcellus was a thorough aristocrat. He was an eloquent See also:speaker (Cicero, See also:Brutus, 71), and a See also:man of See also:firm See also:character, although not See also:free from avarice. See Cicero, Ad fam. iv. 4, 7, Io, and Ad Att. v. 11 (ed. See also:Tyrrell and See also:Purser) ; Caesar, B. C. i. 2 ; Suetonius, Caesar, 29; G._Boissier, Cicero and his See also:Friends (Eng. trans., 1897). 3.

M. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS (C. 43—23 B.C.), son of C. Marcellus and See also:

Octavia, See also:sister of See also:Augustus. In 25 he was adopted by the See also:emperor and married to his daughter Julia. This seemed ed to See also:mark him out as the See also:heir to the See also:throne, but Augustus,- when attacked by a serious illness, gave his signet to M. Vipsanius See also:Agrippa. In 23 Marcellus, then See also:curule See also:aedile, died at Baiae. Livia was suspected of having poisoned him to get the See also:empire for her son Tiberius. See also:Great hopes had been built on the youth, and he was celebrated by many writers, especially by See also:Virgil in a famous passage (Aeneid, vi. 86o). He was buried in the Campus See also:Martius, and Augustus himself pronounced the funeral oration.

The Theatrum Marcelli (remains of which can still be seen) was afterwards dedicated in his See also:

honour. See also:Horace, Odes, i. 12; Propertius iii. 18; Dio See also:Cassius liii. 28, 30; See also:Tacitus, See also:Annals, ii. 41; Suetonius, Augustus, 63 ; Vell. Pat. ii. 93.

End of Article: MARCELLUS

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