Lentulus

Lentŭlus, i, m.,

• a surname of a distinguished family in the gens Cornelia.
• • A Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, consul 682 A. U. C., Cic. Balb. 8, 19; 14, 33; id. Verr. 2, 2, 39, § 95.—
  • B Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, consul 698 A. U. C., Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 1, 2; 2, 6, 5; id. Brut. 70, 247.—
  • C L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul 705 A. U. C., Cic. Phil. 2, 21, 51; Hirt. B. G. 8, 50.—
  • D P. Cornelius Lentulus Sura, one of Catiline's fellow-conspirators, Cic. Cat. 3, 3 sq.; Sall. C. 46.—
  • E P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, the elder, a friend of Cicero, Cic. Fam. 13, 48; id. Brut. 77, 268; Juv. 7, 95.—
• F P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, son of the preceding, Cic. Fam. 1, 7, 11; 7, 26, 2; id. Att. 14, 11, 2.—Hence,
• II Len-tŭlĭtas, ātis, f., the name or nobility of a Lentulus, qs. Lentulity (a comically formed word of Cicero): Appietas (the nobility of an Appius) aut Lentulitas, Cic. Fam. 3, 7, 5.

2. Lentulus, ī, m., ein Familienname der kornelischen gens, unter dem am bekanntesten P. Cornel. Lentulus Spinther, der als Konsul Ciceros Zurückberufung aus dem Exil beförderte, Cic. epist. 1, 1 sqq. (Briefe Ciceros an Lentulus u. umgekehrt). Sall. Cat. 47, 4. – P. Lentulus Sura, ein Mitverschworener Katilinas, Sall. Cat. 17, 3. Cic. Cat. 3, 6. Vell. 2, 34, 3 sq. – Dav.: a) Lentulitās, ātis, f., der alte Adel der lentulischen Familie, gleichs. die Lentulität, scherzh. gebildet von Cic. ep. 3, 7, 5. – b) lentulizo, āre, den Lentulus spielen, Consent. art. 376, 33 K.

2 Lentŭlus, (8) ī, m. , nom dʼune branche de la gens Cornelia ; not^t P. Cornélius Lentulus Sura, complice de Catilina ; Lentulus Spinther, consul qui contribua au rappel de Cicéron : Sall. C. 17, 3 ; Cic. Att. 10, 11, 2.

Lentulus

Λέντλος, the name of one of the haughtiest patrician families of the Cornelian Gens [Cornelia Gens]; so that Cicero coins the words Appietas and Lentulitas to express the qualities of the high patrician party (ad Fam. 3.7.5). When we find plebeians bearing the name (as a tribune of the plebs, Cic. pro Lege Manil. 19), they were no doubt descendants of freedmen. The name was evidently derived from lens, like Cicero from cicer, &c. (Cic. Att. 1.19.2; Plin. Nat. 18.3.)

For the Lentuli Marcellini, see Marcellus.

Lentulus

1. L. Cornelius Lentulus, was the only senator who voted against buying off Brennus and his Gauls, B. C. 387. (Liv. 9.4.)

Lentulus

2. L. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F., son of the last (Liv. l.c.), consul in B. C. 327. He commanded an army of observation against the Samnites just before the second Samnite war, B. C. 324. (Liv. 8.22, 23.) He was legate in the Caudine campaign, five years after, and advised the consuls to accept the terms offered by the enemy. (Liv. 9.4.) Next year he was dictator, and he probably was the officer who avenged the disgrace of the Furculae Caudinae. This was indeed disputed (Liv. 9.15); but his descendants at least claimed the honour for him, by assuming the agnomen of Caudinus. [See No. 6.]

Lentulus

3. Serv. Cornelius Cn. F. CN. N. Lentulus, consul in B. C. 303. (Liv. 10.1; Fasti Cap.)

Lentulus

4. Tib. CorneliuS SERV. F. CN. N. Lentulus, son of the last. [See the next.]

Lentulus

5. L. Cornelius TIB. F. SERV. N. Lentulus, son of the last, consul B. C. 275. (Fasti Cap.)

Lentulus

6. L. Cornelius TIB. N. Lentulus Caudinus, L. F., son of the last. (Fasti Cap. A. U. 516.) He is the first who is expressly recorded with the agnomen Caudinus: but as the Fasti are mutilated, it may have been assumed by his father. He was curule aedile (Vaillant, Cornelii No. 18, Papirii No. 1); Pontifex Maximus (Liv. 22.10); and as consul in B. C. 237, he triumphed over the Ligurians. (Fasti Cap. ; Eutrop. 3.2.) He died B. C. 213. (Liv. 25.2.)

Lentulus

7. P. Cornelius TIB. N. Lentulus Caudinus, L. F., brother of the last, consul in B. C. 236. (Fasti, A. U. 517; Vaill. Cornelii, No. 19; Spanh. Num. vol. ii. p. 220.)

Lentulus

8. L. Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus, L. F. L. N., son of No. 6, curule aedile in B. C. 209. (Liv. 27.21.)

Lentulus

9. P. Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus, L. F. L. N., brother' of the last; with P. Scipio in Spain, B. C. 210 (Liv. 26.48); praetor B. C. 204 (Id. 29.38); one of the ten ambassadors sent to Philip of Macedon in B. C. 196. (Id. 33.35, 39).

Lentulus

10. P. Cornelius Lentulus, P. F. L. N., son of No. 7, praetor in Sicily B. C. 214, and continued in his province for the two following years. (Liv. 24.9, 10, 44, 25.3, 26.1.) In B. C. 189 he was one of ten ambassadors sent into Asia after the submission of Antiochus. (Id. 37.55.)

Lentulus

11. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F. L. N. (Fasti Cap. A. U. 552); perhaps son of No. 8, since we find him designated as L. f. L. n.; though, on the other hand, his praenomen Cneius, and the absence of the agnomen Caudinus, are opposed to this connection. He was quaestor in B. C. 212; curule aedile with his brother (No. 12) in 204; consul in 201 (Liv. 25.17, 29.11, 30.40, 44). He wished for the province of Africa, that he might conclude the war with Carthage; but this wellearned glory was reserved for Scipio by the senate. Lentulus had the command of the fleet on the coast of Sicily, with orders to pass over to Africa if necessary. Scipio used to say, that but for Lentulus's greediness he should have destroyed Carthage. (Liv. 30.40-44.) Cn. Lentulus was proconsul in Hither Spain in B. C. 199, and had an ovation for his services. (Id. 31.50, 33.27.)

Lentulus

12. L. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F. L. N., brother of the last (Vaill. Cornelii, No. 28), praetor in Sardinia B. C. 211 (Liv. 25.41, 26.1), succeeded Scipio as proconsul in Spain, where he remained for eleven years, and on his return was not allowed more than an ovation, because he only held proconsular rank. (Liv. 28.38, 29.2, 11, 13, 30.41, 31.20, 30.) During his absence in Spain he was carule aedile with his brother Cneius [No. 11], though he had been already praetor. (Liv. 29.11.) This might be to further his designs upon the consulship, which he obtained the year after his return, B. C. 199; and the year after that he was proconsul in Gaul. (Liv. 31.49, 32.1, 2, 8, 9.) He is perhaps the Lentulus that was decemvir sacrorum in B. C. 213, and died in 173. (Id. 25.2, 42.10.)

Lentulus

13. L. Cornelius Cn. F. L. N. Lentulus Lupus, son of No. 11, nephew to the last (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 302); curule aedile in B. C. 163; consul in 156; censor in 147. (Titul. Terentii Heaut.; Fasti, A. U. 597, 606; Cic. Brut. 20; V. Max. 6.9.10.)

Lentulus

14. Cornelius Lentulus was praetor in Sicily, and was defeated in the Servile war about B. C. 134. (Florus, 3.19, 7.)

Lentulus

15. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, consul in B. C. 97. (Fasti; Plin. Nat. 10.2, 30.3 (1); Cassiod.) He was probably father by adoption of No. 24.

Lentulus

16. P. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F. L. N., probably son of No. 12. He was curule aedile with Scipio Nasica in B. C. 169: in their Circensian games they exhibited elephants and bears. (Liv. 44.18.) Next year he went with two others to negotiate with Perseus of Macedon, but without effect. (Liv. 45.4.) He was consul suffectus, with C. Domitius, in B. C. 162, the election of the former consuls being declared informal. (Fasti, A. U. 591; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 2.4, de Divin. 2.35; V. Max. 1.1.3.) He became princeps senatus (Cic. Brut. 28, Divin. in Caecil. 21, de Orat. 1.48); and must have lived to a good old age, since he was wounded in the contest with C. Gracchus in B. C. 121. (Cic. in Cat. 4.6, Philipp. 8.4.)

Lentulus

17. P. Cornelius Lentulus, only known from Fasti, son of No. 16, and father of No. 18.

Lentulus or Lentulus Sura

18. P. Cornelius Lentulus, P. F. P. N., surnamed Sura, son of the last, the man of chief note in Catiline's crew. (Cic. in Cat. 3.5, 4.6; Ascon. ad Divin. 21.) He was quaestor to Sulla in B. C. 81 (Plut. Cic. 17): before him and L. Triarius, Verres had to give an account of the monies he had received as quaestor in Cisalpine Gaul. (Cic. in Verr. 1.14.) He was soon after himself called to account for the same matter, but was acquitted. It is said that he got his cognomen of Sura from his conduct on this occasion; for when Sulla called him to account, he answered by scornfully putting out his leg, "like boys," says Plutarch, "when they make a blunder in playing at ball." (Cic. 17.) Other persons, however, had borne the name before, one perhaps of the Lentulus family. (Liv. 22.31; comp. Suet. Domit. 13; D. C. 68.9, 15.) In B. C. 75 he was praetor; and Hortensius, pleading before such a judge, had no difficulty in procuring the acquittal of Terentius Varro, when accused of extortion. (Ascon. ad Divin. 7 ; Plut. Cic. 17; Acron. ad Horat. Serm. 2.1. 49.) In B. C. 71 he was consul. (Fasti, A. U. 682; Consularis in Vell. 2.34; D. C. 37.30.) But in the next year he was ejected from the senate, with sixty-three others, for infamous life and manners. (Gel. 5.6; Plut. l.c. ; Dio Cass., &c.; see No. 25.) It was this, probably, that led him to join Catiline and his crew. From his distinguished birth and high rank, he calculated on becoming chief of the conspiracy: and a prophecy of the Sibylline books was applied by flattering haruspices to him. Three Cornelii were to rule Rome, and he was the third after Sulla and Cinna; the twentieth year after the burning of the capitol, &c., was to be fatal to the city. (Cic. in Cat. 3.4, 4.1, 6; Sal. Cat. 47.) * That many fictitious oracles were current after the burning of the capitol is clear from Tac. Ann. 6.12; comp. Suet. Oct. 31. To gain power, and recover his place in the senate, he became praetor again in B. C. 63. (Sall. B. C. 17, 46, &c.) When Catiline left the city for Etruria, Lentulus remained as chief of the home-conspirators, and his irresolution probably saved the city from being fired. (Sal. Cat. 32, 43 ; Cic. in Cat. 3.4, 7, 4.6, Brut. 66, &c.; comp. Cethegus, 8.) For it was by his over-caution that the negotiation with the ambassadors of the Allobroges was entered into; and these unstable allies revealed the secret to the consul Cicero, who directed them to feign compliance with the conspirators' wishes, and thus to obtain written documents which might be brought in evidence against them. The well-known sequel will be found under the life of Catiline [p. 632]. Lentulus was deposed from the praetorship; given to be kept in libera custodia by the aedile P. Lentulus Spinther (No. 20; comp. Cic. in Cat. 3.6, 4.3, p. Red. ad Quir. 6; Sal. Cat. 50, &c.); and was strangled in the Capitoline prison on the 5th of December. (Cic. pro Flacc. 40, &c., Philipp. 2.7 (8); Sal. Cat. 55, &c.) His step-son Antony pretended that Cicero refused to deliver up his corpse for burial. (Cic. Philipp. l.c. ; Plut. Ant. 2.) Lentulus was slow in thought and speech, but this was disguised by the dignity of his person, the expressiveness and grace of his action, the sweetness and power of his voice. (Cic. Brut. 64.) His impudence was excessive, his morals infamous, so that there was nothing so bad but he dared say or do it; but when danger showed itself he was slow and irresolute. The former qualities made him join the gang of Catiline; the latter were in great part the ruin of their cause. (Comp. Senec. de Ira, 3.38; Cic. pro Sull. 25.)

Lentulus

19. P. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F., father of the next.

Lentulus or Lentulus Spinther

20. P. Cornelius Lentulus, P. F. L. N., surnamed Spinther. (Fast. A. U. 696; comp. Goltz. A. U. 698; Eckhel, vol. v. p. 182.) He received this nickname from his resemblance to the actor Spinther, and it was remarked as curious, that his colleague in the consulship, Metellus Nepos, was like Pamphilus, another actor. (Plin. Nat. 7.10; V. Max. 9.14.4.) Caesar commonly calls him by this name (B. C. 1.15, &c.): not so Cicero; but there could be no harm in it, for he used it on his coins when pro-praetor in Spain, simply to distinguish himself from the many of the same family (Eckhel, l.c.); and his son bore it after him. He was curule aedile in B. C. 63, the year of Cicero's consulship, and was entrusted with the care of the apprehended conspirator, P. Lent. Sura (No. 18). His games were long remembered for their splendour; but his toga, edged with Tyrian purple, gave offence. (Sal. Cat. 47; Cic. de Off. 2.16; Plin. Nat. 9.63, 36.12, (7).) He was praetor in B. C. 60: at the Apollinarian games he, for the first time, drew an awning over the theatre (carbasina vela, Plin. Nat. 19.6), and ornamented the scenes with silver. (V. Max. 2.4.6.) By Caesar's interest he obtained Hither Spain for his next year's province, where he remained into part of 58. (Caes. B. C. i 22; Cic. Fam. 1.9.4, &c.)

He returned to become candidate for the consulship, when he was elected again, by Caesar's support. (Caes. l.c.) But on the very day of his entering office, 1 Jan. B. C. 57, he moved for the immediate recall of Cicero (Cic. in Pis. 15); brought over his colleague Metellus Nepos to the same views; and his services were gratefully acknowledged by Cicero. (Pro Sext. 40, 69, Brut. 77, ad Att. 3.22. &c.; and comp. the letters to Lentulus himself, ad Fam. 1.1-9.) Now, therefore, notwithstanding his obligations to Caesar, he had openly taken part with the aristocracy. Yet he opposed them in promoting Pompey's appointment to the supreme superintendence of the corn market. His secret motive was to occupy Pompey at home, and thus prevent him from being charged with the office of restoring Ptolemy Auletes, the exiled king of Egypt; for then he hoped that this would fall to his share, as proconsul of Cilicia. (Cic. Att. 4.1, ad Fam. 1.1.7; Plut. Pomp. 49. For the life and fortunes of this king, see PTOLEMAEUS AULETES). Lentulus obtained a decree in his favour; and intended to depart at the close of his consulship. But in December, a statue of Jupiter on the Alban hill was struck by lightning: the Sibylline books were consulted, and an oracle found which forbade the restoration of a king of Egypt by armed force. Cato, who had just become tribune, was an enemy of Lentulus: he availed himself of this oracle (which had probably been forged to use against Pompey), and ordered the quindecemviri to read it publicly. (Fenestella, apud Non. Marcell. p. 385, ed. Lips. 826.) The matter was then brought before the senate, and gave rise to long and intricate debates. The pretensions of Pompey were supported by several tribunes: Lentulus was backed by Hortensius and Lucullus. The high aristocratic party, led by Bibulus, leaned to a middle course, to send three ambassadors to Egypt. Cicero was bound by gratitude to Lentulus; by fear of another exile to Pompey; and seems to have taken little active part in the matter. The proposition of Bibulus being rejected, the new consul, Marcellinus, exerted himself to procure the adjournment of the question sine die, and it rested till the year 55 B. C., when Gabinius got a law passed, without the authority of the senate, entrusting the coveted office to Pompey. (See Cic. to Lentulus, ad Fam. i., ad Q. Fr. 2.2 and 6; Plut. Pomp. 49; D. C. 39.15, 16). Lentulus remained as proconsul in Cilicia from B. C. 56 till July, 53, though Cato proposed to recall him. We hear little of his doings. He was saluted Imperator for a campaign in the Amanus, and Cicero warmly supported his claims to a triumph, which, however, he did not obtain till B. C. 51, when Cicero was himself in Cilicia. The orator praises his justice, but recommends him to make friends of the equites (publicani). (Cic. Fam. 1.5, &c., 3.7, 3, pro Sext. 69; comp. Eckhel, vol. iv. p. 360, vol. v. p. 184.) That Cicero's praise was deserved appears from the fact that Lentulus was obliged to sell his villa at Tusculum soon after. (Ad Att. 6.1. 20.)

In B. C. 49, when the civil wars began, Lentulus took part against Caesar, and had the command of 10 cohorts in Picenum. At the approach of the enemy, he fled and joined Domitius Ahenobarbus at Corfinium. When Caesar invested the place, and Pompey refused to come to their relief, Lentulus was allowed by the garrison to open negotiations with Caesar. The general received him favourably, dismissed him with his friends, and took the troops into his own service. (Caes. Civ. 1.15-23.) Lentulus retired to Puteoli and probably joined Pompey in Greece not long after. (Cic. Att. 9.11, 13, 15.) He shared in the presumption of his party, for we find him disputing with Metellus, Scipio, and Domitius, who had the best right to succeed Caesar as pontifex maximus. (Caes. Civ. 3.83.) After Pharsalia, he followed Pompey to Egypt, and got safe to Rhodes. (Ad Fam. 12.14; comp. Caes. Civ. 3.102.) Of his subsequent fate we are not informed.

Lentulus Spinther owes his importance chiefly to his high birth and his connection with Cicero. He was a common-place sort of man, of tolerable honesty. As an orator, he made up, by pains and industry, for the gifts that had been denied him by nature. (Cic. Brut. 77.)

Lentulus

21. P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, P. F. P. N., son of the last. (Cic. Fam. 1.7, 12.15, ad Q. Fr. 2.3, &c.) He assumed the toga virilis in B. C. 57, and therefore was born in 74. In the same year he was elected in the college of augurs, having been first received (by a sham adoption) into the Manlian gens; because two of the same gens could not at once be in the college, and Faustus Sulla of the Cornelian was already a member. (Cic. pro Sext. 69; D. C. 39.17; comp. Vaill. Cornel. No. 48-51, Eckhel, vol. v. p. 184, &c.) In 56, when Cato endeavoured to recal his father from Cilicia, he appeared publicly in mourning. (Cic. ad Q. Fr. 2.3, init.) He followed Pompey's fortunes with his father, and was supposed to have gone to Alexandria after the murder of their chief-perhaps to intercede with Caesar. (Ad Att. 11.13.) The dictator pardoned him, and he returned to Italy. In B. C. 45 he was divorced from his abandoned wife, Metella. (Horat. Serm. 2.3. 339; Cic. Att. 11.15, 23, 12.52, 13.7.) Soon after we find him visiting Cicero, and in close connection with M. Brutus. After the murder of the dictator, he openly joined the conspirators. (Ad Alt. 13.10, ad Fam. 12.14, 4; Plut. Caes. 67, &c.) The senate sent him as proquaestor to C. Trebonius, who held Asia as proconsul for the conspirators. When the latter was slain by Dolabella, Lentulus assumed the title of propraetor, and sent home a despatch containing an exaggerated account of his own services; and he certainly was of use in supplying Cassius with money, and harassing Dolabella. (Cic. Fam. 12.14, 15.) When Brutus and Cassius took the field, he joined them, and coined money in their name, with the figure and title of Libertas. (See the annexed, coin.) He served with Cassius against Rhodes; with Brutus in Lycia. (App. BC 4.72, 82.) After Philippi, he escaped death, for his name appears with the augurs' insignia on denaries of Augustus, which proves that he was alive in B. C. 27, when Octavius assumed this name.

Lentulus

22. C. Cornelius Lentulus, in B. C. 199, one of the triumviri colon. deduc. (Liv. 32.2.)

Lentulus

23. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, consul with Mummius in B. C. 146. (Cic. Att. 13.33.3; Vell. 1.12.5, compared with the Fasti, A. U. 607.)

Lentulus

24. CN. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus (Cic. Att. 1.19.2; Gel. 18.4), a Claudius adopted into the Lentulus family -- perhaps by No. 15. He was consul in B. C. 72, with L. Gellius. They brought forward several important laws; one, that all who had been presented with the freedom of the city by Pompey (after the Sertorian war) should be Roman citizens (Cic. pro Balb. 8, 14; see Vol. I. p. 456); another, that persons absent in the provinces should not be indictable for capital offences. This was intended to protect Sthenius of Thermae in Sicily against the machinations of Verres; and by the influence of this person it was frustrated. (Cic. in Verr. 2.34, 39, &c.) Lentulus also passed a law to exact payment from those who had received grants of public land from Sulla. (Sall. apud Gell. 18.4.) In the war with Spartacus both he and his colleague were defeated-but after their consulship. (Liv. Epit. 96; Plut. Crass. 9, &c.) With the same colleague he held the censorship in B. C. 70, and ejected 64 members from the senate for infamous life, among whom were Lentulus Sura [See No. 18] and C. Antonius, afterwards Cicero's colleague in the consulship. Yet the majority of those expelled were acquitted by the courts, and restored (Cic. pro Cluent. 42, in Verr. 5.7, pro Flacc. 19; Gel. 5.6; V. Max. 5.9.1.) They held a lustrum, in which the number of citizens was returned at 450,000 (Liv. Epit. 98; Ascon. ad Verr. Act. 1.18; comp. Plut. Pomp. 22.) The same officers served as Pompey's legates against the pirates in B. C. 67, 66; and Lentulus supported the Manilian law, appointing Pompey to the command against Mithridates. (Appian, App. Mith. 95; Cic. pro Leg. Manil. 23.) As an orator, he concealed his want of talent by great skill and art, and by a good voice. (Cic. Brut. 66.)

Lentulus

25. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, son of the last. In B. C. 60, he was sent with Metellus Creticus and L. Flaccus, to check the apprehended inroad of the Swiss into the province of Gaul; but their services were not required. (Cic. Att. 1.19, 20.)

Lentulus

26. L. Cornelius Lentuius Crus. (Cic. Fam. 8.4, init.) Who he was, and whence he derived his agnomen of Crus, is unknown.

In B. C. 61, he appeared as the chief accuser of P. Clodius, for violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea (Argum. ad Cic. in Clod., de Harusp. Resp. 17). In 58 he was praetor, and Cicero calculated on his aid against Clodius (ad Q. Fr. 1.2, fin.); and he did attempt to rouse Pompey to protect the orator, but in vain (in Pison. 31). He was not raised to the consular dignity till B. C. 50, when he obtained this post, with C. Marcellus M. f., as being a known enemy to Caesar (Caes. Gal. 8, 50); though in the year before, P. Dolabella had beaten him in the contest for a place among the xv. viri (Cic. Fam. 8.4). In the year of his consulship, B. C. 49, the storm burst. Lentulus did all he could to excite his wavering party to take arms and meet Caesar: he called Cicero cowardly ; blamed him for seeking a triumph at such a time (ad Fam. 6.21, 16.11); urged war at any price, in the hope, says Caesar (Caes. Civ. 1.4), of retrieving his ruined fortunes, and becoming another Sulla; and Cicero seems to justify this accusation (ad Fam. 6.6, ad Att. 11.6). It was mainly at Lentulus' instigation that the violent measures passed the senate early in the year, which gave the tribunes a pretence for flying to Caesar at Ravenna (Caes. Civ. 1.5; Plut. Caes. 33). He himself fled from the city at the approach of Caesar; and Cicero saw him at Formiae in January 23rd, quite dispirited (ad Att. 7.12). On the 27th, at Capua, Lentulus with others agreed to accept Caesar's offers (Ib. 15). He was summoned by Cassius the tribune to return to Rome, to bring the money from the sacred treasury, but did not go (Ib. 21, comp. 8.11). Pompey had meantime collected forces in Apulia, and ordered the consuls to join him there, leaving a garrison in Capua (ad Att. 8.12 a--d.). While Pompey was retiring on Brundisium, Balbus the younger was sent by Caesar to persuade Lentulus to return to Rome, with offers of a province. The consul, instead, went with his colleague and some troops over to Illyria, though Cicero tried to detain him in Italy (ad Att. 8.9, 15, 9.6); and, soon after, we hear of his raising two legions for Pompey in Asia (Caes. Civ. 3.4). When both armies were encamped at Dyrrhachium, Balbus again attempted to seduce the consul, boldly entering Pompey's camp; but Lentulus asked too high a price (Vell. 2.51; comp. Cic. Fam. 10.32); and probably, like others of his party, thought Caesar's cause desperate (Caes. Civ. 3.82). After Pharsalia, he fled with Pompey; but was refused admittance at Rhodes (Caes. Civ. 3.102; Veil. Pat. 2.53.) With some others, he determined to make for Egypt, and arrived there the day after Pompey's murder. He saw the funeral pyre on Mt. Casius, but landed, was apprehended by young Ptolemy's ministers, and put to death in prison. (Caes. Civ. 3.104; V. Max. 1.8.9; Oros. 6.15; Plut. Pomp. 80.) Notwithstanding his prodigality and selfishness, Cicero always regarded him with some favour, in memory of the part he had taken against Clodius (Brut. 77, de Harusp. Resp. 17).

Lentulus

27. Serv. Cornelius Lentulus, curule aedile in B. C. 207; military tribune in Spain, two years after (Liv. 28.10, 29.2).

Lentulus

28. Serv. Cornelius Serv. F. Lentulus, son of the last. In B. C. 171, he went with his brother Publius and three others on an embassy to Greece (Liv. 42.37, 47, 49, 56). In 169, he was praetor in Sicily (Id. 43.15).

Lentulus

29. P. Cornelius Serv. F. Lentulus. [See the last.]

Lentulus

30. L. Cornelius Serv. F. SERV. N. Lentulus, son of No. 28, praetor in B. C. 140 (Frontin. de Aquaed. 7).

Lentulus

31. L. Lentulus, in B. C. 168 was one of three who carried home the despatches of the consul Aemilius Paullus, after the defeat of Perseus (Liv. 45.1).

Lentulus

32. Cn. Lentulus Vatia, mentioned by Cicero, B. C. 56 (ad Q. Fr. 2.3.5).

Lentulus

33. L. Cornelius Lentulus Niger, flamen of Mars (Cic. Att. 12.7, in Vatin. 10; comp. Ascon. ad Cic. Scaur. sub fin.). At his dedication by the augur L. Caesar, he gave a sumptuous dinner (Macr. 2.9). In B. C. 58, he stood for the consulship, though Caesar tried to put him down by implicating him in an attempt on Pompey's life (Cic. in Vatin. 10; comp. ad Att. 2.24). In 57, he was one of the priests to whom was referred the question whether the site of Cicero's house was consecrated ground (De Harusp. Resp. 6, comp. pro Dom. 49, 52). He is also mentioned as one of the judges in the case of P. Sextius, B. C. 56 (in Vatin. l.c., ad Q. Fr. 2.3, 5). He died in the same year, much praised by Cicero (Cic. Att. 4.6).

Lentulus

34. L. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F., son of the last, and also flamen of Mars (ad Att. 4.16, 9, 12.7, ad Q. Fr. 3.1, 15). He defended M. Scaurus, in B. C. 54, when accused of extortion (Ascon. ad Cic. Scaur. 100.1): he accused Gabinius of high treason, about the same time, but was suspected of collusion (ad Q. Fr. l.c., ad Att. 4.16, 9). In the Philippics he is mentioned as a friend of Antony's; and he was appointed by the latter to a province, but made no use of the appointment, in B. C. 44 (Philipp. 3.10). He struck coins as priest of Mars (Ultor), B. C. 20, to commemorate the recovery of the standards from the Parthians, by Augustus (D. C. 54.8; Vaill. Cornel. No. 38).

Lentulus

35. Lentulus Cruscellio, of unknown origin, was proscribed by the triumvirs in B. C. 43; he escaped, and joined Sext. Pompeius in Sicily, where his wife Sulpicia joined him, against the will of her mother Julia. (V. Max. 6.7.3; Appian, App. BC 4.39.) [H.G.L]

Lentulus

36. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F., consul B. C. 18, with P. Lentulus Marcellinus. (D. C. 54.12.)

Lentulus

37. CN. Cornelius CN. F. Lentulus Augur, consul B. C. 14, with M. Licinius Crassus. He was a man of immense weath, but of a mean and pusillanimous spirit. His wealth excited the avarice of Tiberius, who caused him so much fear that at length he put an end to his life, leaving his fortune to the emperor (D. C. 54.12; Senec. de Benef. 2.27; Suet. Tib. 49). This Cn. Lentulus, who is always spoken of as Augur, must not be confounded with Cn. Lentulus Gaetulicus [No. 39]. (See Lipsius, ad Tac. Ann. 4.44.) The Augur Lentulus spoken of by Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 3.59) in A. D. 22, must, therefore, be the same as the preceding.

Lentulus

38. L. Cornelius Lentulus, L. F., consul B. C. 3, with M. Valerius Messallinus. (Index, ad Dion Cass. lv.; Suet. Galb. 4.) By some authorities he is called Cneius, but Lucius seems to be the correct praenomen (see Pighius, ad Ann.). He would seem to have been a brother of No. 36, and may possibly have been the same as No. 34, the son of L. Lentulus Niger [No. 33.].

Lentulus

39. Cossus Cornelius CN. F. Lentulus Gaetulicus, son probably of No. 37, is sometimes called Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Cossus. The former, however, is more usual; but as we find on coins both COSSVS CN. F. LENTVLVS, and CN. LENTVLVS COSSVS, it would seem that he might be called indifferently either Cneius or Cossus (Pighius, vol. iii. p. 531). Cossus was originally a family name in the Cornelia gens, and was first assumed as a praenomen by this Lentulus. [Cossus.]

Lentulus was consul B. C. 1, with L. Calpurnius Piso, and in A. D. 6 was sent into Africa, where he defeated the Gaetuli, who had invaded the kingdom of Juba. In consequence of this success he received the surname of Gaetulicus and the ornamenta triumphalia. (D. C. 55.28; Veil. Pat. 2.116; Flor. 4.12.40; Oros. 6.21; Tac. Ann. 4.44.) On the accession of Tiberius in A. D. 14, he accompanied Drusus, who was sent to quell the mutiny of the legions in Pannonia. The mutineers were especially incensed against Lentulus, because they thought that from his age and military glory he would judge their offences most severely; and on one occasion he narrowly escaped death at their hands. Cn. Lentulus is again mentioned in A. D. 16, in the debate in the senate respecting Libo, also in A. D. 22 in the debate respecting Silanus, and again in A. D. 24, when he was falsely accused of majestas, but Tiberius would not allow the charge to be prosecuted. He died A. D. 25, at a very great age, leaving behind him an honourable reputation. He had endured poverty, says Tacitus, with patience, acquired a great fortune by honest means, and enjoyed it with moderation. (Tac. Ann. 1.27, 2.32, 3.68, 4.29,44; D. C. 57.24.)

Lentulus

40. Cossus Cornelius Cossi F. CN. N. Lentulus, was consul A. D. 25, with M. Asinius Agrippa. According to the Fasti, he would appear to be a son of the preceding. (Tac. Ann. 4.34; Fasti Cons.)

Lentulus

41. CN. Cornelius COSSI F. CN. N. Lentulus Gaetulicus. a son of No. 39, was consul A. D. 26, with C. Calvisius Sabinus. He afterwards had the command of the legions of Upper Germany for ten years, and was very popular among the troops, by the mildness of his punishments and his merciful rule. He was also a favourite with the army in Lower Germany, which was commanded by L. Apronius, his father-in-law. His influence with the soldiers is said to have saved him on the fall of Sejanus, to whose son he had promised his daughter. He was the only one of the relations and connections of Sejanus whom Tiberius did not put to death; and Tacitus is disposed to believe the report, that Lentulus sent to the emperor to assure him of his allegiance, as long as he was allowed to retain the command of the army, but intimating that he would raise the standard of revolt, if he were deprived of his province. Tiberius thought it more prudent to leave him alone; but Caligula, thinking his influence with the soldiers too dangerous, put hint to death in A. D. 39, apparently without exciting any commotion. Lentulus was succeeded in the command of the army in Upper Germany by Galba, who was subsequently emperor. (Vell. 2.116; Tac. Ann. 4.42, 46, 6.30 ; D. C. 59.22; Suet. Galb. 6, Claud. 9)

Lentulus Gaetulicus was an historian and a poet. Of his historical writings, which are quoted by Suetonius (Calig. 8), no fragments even are extant; and of his poems we have only three lines, which appear to have belonged to an astronomical poem, and which are preserved by Probus in his scholia on Virgil's Georgics (1.227): they are given by Meyer in the Anthologia Latina (Ep. 113). The poems of Lentulus seem to have been for the most part epigrams, and to have been distinguished by theirlascivious character (Mart. Praef. i.; Plin. Ep. 5.3.5; Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 2.10, p. 148, Carm. ix. p. 256). There are nine epigrams in the Greek Anthology, inscribed with the name of Gaetulicus, who is supposed by many modern writers to have been the same as the Lentulus Gaetulicus mentioned above; but on this point see Gaetulicus.

Lentulus

42. Cossus (COSSI F.) Cornelius Lentulus, probably son of No. 40, was consul A. D. 60, with the emperor Nero. (Tac. Ann. 14.20; Frontin. Aquaed. 102.)

Lentulus

43. Lentulus, an actor in mimes, and also a writer of mimes, which must have been of considerable celebrity, as they are referred to several times by subsequent writers. He is said to have been a man of high rank; but his age is quite uncertain, except that he must have lived before the end of the first century of the Christian aera. (Schol. ad Juv. Sat. 8.187; Tertull. Apolog. 15, de Pallio, 4; Bothe, Poet. Lat. Scenic. Fragm. vol. ii. pp. 269, 270.)

Lentŭlus

A haughty patrician family of the Cornelia gens ( Ad Fam. iii. 7), of which the most important persons were: (1) P. Cornelius Lentulus Sura, the person of chief note among Catiline's conspirators. He was quaestor to B.C. 81; praetor in 75; consul in 71. In the next year he was ejected from the Senate, with sixtythree others, for infamous life and manners. It was this, probably, that led him to join Catiline and his band. From his distinguished birth and high rank, he calculated on becoming chief of the conspiracy; and a prophecy of the Sibylline Books was applied by flattering haruspices to him. Three Cornelii were to rule Rome, and he was the third after Sulla and Cinna ; the twentieth year after the burning of the Capitol, etc., was to be fatal to the city. To gain power and recover his place in the Senate, he became praetor again in 63. When Catiline quitted the city for Etruria, Lentulus was left as chief of the home conspirators, and his irresolution probably saved the city from being fired; for it was by his over-caution that the negotiation with the ambassadors of the Allobroges was entered into, and these unstable allies revealed the secret to the consul Cicero. The sequel will be found in the article Catilina. Lentulus was deposed from the praetorship, and was strangled in the Capitoline prison on the 5th of December.

(2) P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, curule aedile in B.C. 63, praetor in 60, and consul in 57. In his consulship he moved for the immediate recall of Cicero, and afterwards received Cilicia as his province. On the breaking out of the Civil War in 49 he joined the Pompeian party.

(3) L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, praetor in 58, and consul in 49, when he took a very active part against Caesar. After the battle of Pharsalia, he fled to Egypt, and was put to death by the young Ptolemy's ministers.

(4) Gnaeus, called Gaetulĭcus, consul in A.D. 26, commanded the imperial legions in Upper Germany. His great popularity with the soldiers excited the jealousy of the emperor Caligula, who had him put to death in A.D. 39. He was a writer of both verse and prose, and to him have been ascribed nine epigrams in the Greek anthology, inscribed with the name Gaetulicus.