Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

METELLUS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 259 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

METELLUS , the name of a distinguished See also:

family of the Caecilian (plebeian) gens in See also:ancient See also:Rome. The following are the most important: I. See also:LUCIUS See also:CAECILIUS METELLUS, See also:general during the first Punic See also:War. See also:Consul in 251 B.c., he was sent to See also:Sicily, and gained a decisive victory over See also:Hasdrubal, who, trusting to his numerically See also:superior forces and the alarm inspired by his elephants, ventured to attack him. Metellus's victory was in See also:great measure due to a panic caused amongst the elephants by his See also:clever manoeuvring. A number of these animals were sent in specially constructed rafts to adorn his See also:triumph, and from this See also:time the See also:elephant frequently occurs as a See also:device on the coins of the Metelli. In 241, when the See also:temple of See also:Vesta was destroyed by See also:fire, Metellus succeeded in bringing out the See also:Palladium uninjured, but lost his eyesight. As a See also:reward, he was granted permission to ride to the See also:senate-See also:house in a See also:carriage, a See also:privilege hitherto unheard of. But the See also:story of his See also:blindness is doubtful, since it is hardly consistent with his See also:appointment as See also:dictator in 224 " for the purpose of holding the See also:comitia," nor is any mention made of it in the See also:extract [See also:Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 43 (45)1 from the funeral oration pronounced over him by his son. 2.

See also:

QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS, son of (I), became consul in 206 as a reward for his services at the Metaurus. In 205 he was dictator for holding the comitia; in 201 one of the commissioners for dividing the public See also:land in Samnium and See also:Apulia amongst the See also:Roman veterans; in 186 he conducted an See also:embassy to See also:Macedonia, afterwards proceeding to See also:Peloponnesus to investigate the See also:quarrel between See also:Sparta and the See also:Achaeans. He is the Metellus who caused the poet See also:Naevius (q.v.) to be imprisoned and exiled for having attacked him on the See also:stage. 3. LUCIUS CAECILIUS METELLUS, possibly son of (I), when the disastrous See also:news of the See also:battle of See also:Cannae (216) reached Rome, proposed to a number of See also:young nobles that they should leave See also:Italy and offer their services to some See also:foreign ruler, but they were prevented by the threats of the younger Scipio from carrying out their purpose. For this offence, when See also:quaestor two years later, he was degraded by the censors from his tribe to the class of See also:aerarii. Nevertheless, he was elected one of the tribunes for the following See also:year, but his See also:attempt to See also:call the censors to See also:account for their See also:action proved unsuccessful in the See also:face of the opposition of his colleague. 4. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS MACEDONICUS (d. 115 B.C.), See also:praetor 148 B.C., defeated the usurper See also:Andriscus (q.v.) in Macedonia and forced him to surrender. Under his superintendence the See also:country was made a Roman See also:province. In 146, he attacked the Achaeans to avenge an insult offered to a Roman embassy at See also:Corinth.

He gained decided successes over them at Scarpheia and See also:

Chaeroneia, but was superseded by L. See also:Mummius. On his return to Italy he received the See also:honour of a triumph and the See also:title of Macedonicus. Consul in 143, he reduced the Celtiberians in See also:northern See also:Spain to obedience. In 131, when See also:censor with Q. Pompeius (they were the first two plebeian censors), he proposed that all citizens should be compelled to marry. He expelled a number of senators, one of whom, the See also:tribune C. Atinius See also:Labeo, proposed that he should be hurled from the Tarpeian See also:rock; his See also:life was only saved through the intervention of another tribune. He was an opponent of the Gracchi, although not averse from moderate reform. He was a 'strict disciplinarian, a See also:good general, and a type of the ancient Roman both in public and private life. He erected a splendid See also:colonnade in. the Campus Martins, and two temples dedicated to See also:Jupiter Stator and See also:Juno. 5.

QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS NUMIDICUS, consul 109, and See also:

commander in the Jugurthine War. He defeated Jugurtha (q.v.) by the See also:river Muthul, and after a difficult See also:march through the See also:desert took his stronghold, Thala. See also:Marius, however, who had been intriguing for the command, accused Metellus of protracting the war, and received the consulship for 107 with the provinceof See also:Numidia. Metellus received a splendid triumph and the title of Numidicus. See also:Saturninus, whom, as a censor he tried to remove from the senate, passed in See also:loo n agrarian See also:law, inserting a See also:provision that all senators should swear to it within five days. All complied but Metellus, who retired to See also:Asia. After Saturninus was killed he returned, and died (probably in 91). He was a See also:man-of the highest integrity, a strict and efficient general, and one of the See also:chief leaders of the aristocratic party. He was a man of See also:education and learning, and See also:Cicero speaks highly of him as an orator. 6. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS See also:PIUS, SO called from his efforts to bring about the recall of his See also:father Numidicus from See also:exile. He was one of the commanders in the Social War, and defeated Q.

Pompaedius Silo, the Marsian See also:

leader (88). See also:Sulla, on his departure for Asia, gave him proconsular command over See also:south Italy. When Marius returned to Italy and joined See also:Cinna, the soldiers, who had no confidence in the consul Gnaeus Octavius, wished Metellus to take command, but he refused. The soldiers deserted in large See also:numbers, and considering it impossible to defend Rome, Metellus retired to See also:Africa and afterwards to See also:Liguria, resuming his former proconsular command on Sulla's return. In the war against Marius he gained several important successes, and after his victory over C. See also:Norbanus at Faventia (82) he subdued the whole of upper Italy. Consul in 8o with Sulla, he went to Spain next year against See also:Sertorius, who pressed him hard till the arrival of See also:Pompey in 76. Next year Metellus defeated Sertorius's See also:lieutenant Hirtuleius at Italica and See also:Segovia, and joining Pompey rescued him from the consequences of a check at Sucro. From this time Sertorius See also:grew weaker till his See also:murder in 72. In 71 Metellus returned to Rome and triumphed. He became See also:pontifex See also:maximus, and died probably at the end of 64. He was an upright man, of moderate ability.

7. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS CELER, See also:

legate of Pompey in Asia 65 B.C., praetor 63. He was despatched to cut off the See also:retreat of See also:Catiline to the See also:north by blocking the passes, and in 62 went into the province of Cisalpine See also:Gaul with the title of proconsul, although he did not become consul till 6o. A strong supporter of the optimates and an enemy of Pompey, he strenuously opposed the agrarian law brought forward by the tribune Lucius Flavius, to provide for Pompey's veterans, and stood See also:firm even though imprisoned; the law had to be given up. He also tried, though fruitlessly, to obstruct See also:Caesar's, agrarian law in 59. He died suddenly in the same year—it was usually supposed from See also:poison administered by his wife See also:Clodia. 8. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS See also:NEPOS, son of a Metellus of the same name, so called because he was the See also:grandson, of (4). He was legate to Pompey in the war against the Mediterranean pirates (67), and took See also:part in the Syrian See also:campaign. In 63 he returned to Rome, to assist Pompey in carrying out his plans. He violently attacked Cicero, and refused to allow him to deliver the customary speech on laying down See also:office as consul; he even threatened to impeach him for having executed Roman citizens (referring to the Catilinarian conspirators) without a trial. In 62 his proposal that Pompey should be summoned to Italy to restore See also:order was bitterly opposed by See also:Cato, and on the See also:day set down for the See also:bill a fight took See also:place in the See also:forum.

Metellus fled to Pompey, but soon returned with him to Rome. In 6o, when praetor, he proposed a law for the abolition of the vectigalia in Italy. In 57 he was consul, but offered no opposition to the return of Cicero from exile. In 56 he was See also:

governor of Hither Spain, where he was engaged in hostilities against the Vaccaei with indifferent success. He appears to have died in Rome iir the following year. He was a See also:mere creature of Pompey. 9. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS PIUS SCIPIO, son of P. Scipio Nasica, was adopted by (6). He was accused of See also:bribery in 6o B.c., and defended by Cicero, to whom he had rendered valuable assistance during the Catilinarian See also:conspiracy. In See also:August 52, he became consul through the See also:influence of Pompey, who had married his daughter See also:Cornelia. In 49 he proposed that Caesar should disband his See also:army within a definite time, under See also:pain of being declared an enemy of the See also:state.

After the outbreak of the See also:

civil war, the province of See also:Syria was assigned to him, and he was about to See also:plunder the temple of See also:Artemis at See also:Ephesus when he was recalled by Pompey. He commanded the centre at Pharsalus, and afterwards went to Africa, where by Cato's influence he received the command. In 46 he was defeated at See also:Thapsus; while endeavouring to See also:escape to Spain he See also:fell into the hands of P. Sittius, and put himself to See also:death. His connexion with two great families gave him importance, but he was selfish and licentious, wanting in See also:personal courage, and his violence drove many from his party. IO. QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS, surnamed Creticus, Roman general. Consul in 69 B.C., he was appointed to the command of the war against See also:Crete, the headquarters of the pirates of the Mediterranean. Its subjugation proceeded slowly but surely until 67, when Pompey claimed the See also:control of affairs in virtue of the See also:powers conferred upon him by the Gabinian law. Thereupon the Cretans, who had been treated with great harshness by Metellus, offered to surrender to Pompey, who enjoyed a reputation for leniency towards the conquered. Pompey accepted the offer and sent instructions to Metellus to suspend operations. Metellus refused and completed the See also:conquest of the See also:island, which was annexed to See also:Cyrene and became a Roman province.

On Metellus's return to Rome the partisans of Pompey succeeded in keeping him out of a triumph until after the Catilinarian conspiracy, when he made his entry into the See also:

city and received the name Creticus in honour of his achievements. Metellus naturally joined the senatorial party in their opposition to Pompey, and had the See also:satisfaction of preventing the ratification of what he had done in Asia. He was one of a See also:commission of three sent (6o) to investigate the state of affairs in Gaul, where disturbances were apprehended. He appears to have been alive in 54, but nothing further is known of him. On the family of the Metelli generally, see M. Wende, De Caeciliis Metellis, i. (See also:Bonn, 1875), for its See also:history up to the time of the Gracchi the new edition by P. Grobe of Drumann's Geschichte Roms, ii.; and the See also:article s.v. " Caecilius " by F. Miinzer in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, iii. pt. I (1897).

End of Article: METELLUS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
METCALFE,
[next]
METEMPSYCHOSIS (Gr. µF El.4/1Xco rts)