Cimber

the son of Lysidicus, had obtained the praetorship from Caesar, and was one of Antony's supporters in B. C. 43, on which account he is vehemently attacked by Cicero. He was charged with having killed his brother, whence Cicero calls him ironically Philadelphus, and perpetrates the pun Nisi forte jure Germanum Cimber occidtit, that is, " unless perchance he has a right to kill his own countryman," as Cimber is the name of a German people, and Germanus signifies in Latin both a German and a brother. (Cic. Phil. 13.12, 11.6; Quint. Inst. 8.3.27; comp. Cic. Att. 15.13; Suet. Aug. 86.) Cimber was an orator, a poet, and an historian, but his merits were of a low order, and he is ridiculed by Virgil in an epigram preserved by Quintilian (l.c.). (Huschke, De C. Annio Cimbro, Rostoch. 1824.)

one of the Catilinarian conspirators, B. C. 63. (Cic. in Cat. 3.3, 5, 6, 4.6.)

(not Tullius), one of the murderers of Caesar, B. C. 44. When Caesar first became supreme, Cimber was one of his warmest supporters (Cic. Philipp. 2.11; Senec. de Ira, 3.30); and we find Cicero making use of his influence with the Dictator in behalf of a friend (Ad Fam. 6.12). He was rewarded with the province of Bithynia. But for some reason (Seneca says from disappointed hopes) he joined the conspirators. On the fatal day, Cimber was foremost in the ranks, under pretence of pre-senting a petition to Caesar praying for his brother's recall from exile. Caesar motioned him away; and Cimber then, seizing the Dictator's gown with both hands drew it over his neck, so as to pull him forward. After the assassination, Cimber went to his province and raised a fleet, with which (if we may believe the author of the Pseudo-Brutus Epistles to Cicero, 1.6) he defeated Dolabella. When Cassius and Brutus marched into Macedonia, Cimber co-operated with the fleet, and appears to have done good service. (Appian, App. BC 4.102, 105.) He was a bold active man, but addicted to wine and riotous living, so that he asked jokingly, Ego quemquam feram, qui vinum ferre non possum? (Senec. Epist. 83. 11.) [H.G.L]

A friend of Caesar, receiving from him the province of Bithynia, but subsequently one of his murderers, B.C. 44.