Metellus

Mĕtellus, a [etym. dub.; metellus = μισθιος, hired, i. e. a hired servant, Gloss. Philox.: metelli dicuntur in re militari quasi mercenarii, Attius in Annalibus: calones famulique metellique caculaeque; a quo genere hominum Caeciliae familiae cognomen putatur ductum, Paul. ex Fest. p. 146 and 147 Müll.],

• the name of a Roman family in the gens Caecilia; its most famous members were:
• • • 1 Q. Metellus Macedonicus, who made Macedonia a Roman province, and was renowned for his good-fortune, Vell. 1, 11, 1; Cic. Tusc. 1, 35, 85; id. ib. 1, 36, 86, etc.—
    • 2 Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, who defeated Jugurtha in Numidia, Sall. J. 43 sqq.; Cic. Brut. 35, 135.—
    • 3 L. Caecilius Metellus, who saved the palladium from the burning temple of Vesta, B. C. 241, Liv. Epit. 19; Flor. 2, 2, 27; Cic. Rep. 1, 1, 1; Juv. 6, 265; cf. id. 3, 137 sq.—
    • 4 C. Caecilius Metellus Celer, Cicero's contemporary, and husband of Coelia, Cic. Att. 2, 1, 5, etc. —
    • 5 Qu. Caecilius Metellus Pius (Scipio), son of Scipio Nasica, and Pompey's father-in-law, Vell. 2, 15, 5.—
    • 6 Caecilia Metella, wife of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, divorced A. U. C. 709, Hor. S. 2, 3, 239; Cic. Att. 11, 23, 3; 13, 7, 1.—
    • 7 Caecilia Metella, wife of M. Aemilius Scaurus, Cic. Sest. 47, 101.

1. Metellus, a, um, Name einer röm. Familie des cäcilischen Geschlechts, aus der am bekanntesten Q. Metellus Macedonicus, der Mazedonien zur röm. Provinz machte, oft gerühmt wegen seines Glückes im Familien- u. Staatsleben, Vell. 1, 11. Cic. Tusc. 1, 85 u. 86 oft a. – Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, glücklicher Feldherr gegen Jugurtha in Numidien, s. Sall. Iug. 43 sqq.; oft b. Cic. – C. Caecilius Metellus Celer, Zeitgenosse Ciceros, Gemahl der Klodia, Cic. ad Att. 2, 1, 5 u.a. – Q. Caec. Metellus Pius (Scipio), Sohn des Scipio Nasika, Adoptivsohn des Q. Metellus Pius, Schwiegervater des Pompejus, oft b. Cic., Caes. u. Auct. b. Afr. (gew. bl. Scipio gen.). – Plur. = Männer wie Metellus, ein Metellus, Claud. Olyb. et Prob. 147. – Dav. Metellīnus, a, um, metellinisch, oratio, gegen Metellus Nepos, Bruder des Celer, Cic. ad Att. 1, 13, 5.

2 Mĕtellus, (8) ī, m. , nom dʼune branche de la gens Cæcilia : Cic. Tusc. 1, 85 ; Vell. 1, 11, 1 ; Liv. Per. 19 ; Juv. 6, 265 || -llīnus, a, um, de Métellus : Metellina oratio Cic. Att. 1, 13, 5, discours contre Métellus (Népos).

Metellus

the name of a noble family of the plebeian Caecilia gens. This family is first mentioned in the course of the first Punic war, when one of its members obtained the consulship; and if we are to believe the satirical verse of Naevius,-- Ftao Metelli Romae fiunt Consules,--it was indebted for its elevation to chance rather than its own merits. It subsequently became one of the most distinguished of the Roman families, and in the latter half of the second century before the Christian era it obtained an extraordinary number of the highest offices of the state. Q. Metellus, who was consul B. C. 143, had four sons, who were raised to the consulship in succession; and his brother L. Metellus, who was consul B. C. 142, had two sons, who were likewise elevated to the same dignity. The Metelli were distinguished as a family for their unwavering support of the party of the optimates. The etymology of the name is quite uncertain. Festus connects it (p. 146, ed. Muller), probably from mere similarity of sound, with mercenarii. It is very difficult to trace the genealogy of this family, and the following table is in many parts conjectural. The history of the Metelli is given at length by Drumann (Geschichte Roms, vol. ii. pp. 17-58.)

Metellus

1. L. Caecilius Metellus, L. F. C. N., consul B. C. 251, with C. Furius Pacilus, in the first Carthaginian war, was sent with his colleague into Sicily to oppose Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general. The Roman soldiers were so greatly alarmed at the elephants in the Carthaginian army, that their generals did not venture to attack the enemy, but lay inactive for a long time. At last, when Furius Pacilus returned to Italy with a part of the forces, Hasdrubal availed himself of the opportunity to attack Panormus, but was entirely defeated by Metellus, who slew a great number of his troops, and captured all his elephants, which he afterwards exhibited in his triumph at Rome. This victory established the Roman supremacy in Sicily, and may be said to have had a decisive influence on the fate of the war. (Plb. 1.39, 40; Flor. 2.2.27; Eutrop. 2.24; Oros. 4.9; Frontin. Strateg. 2.5.4; Cic. de Rep. 1.1; Liv. Epit. 19; Plin. Nat. 7.43. s. 45; Dionys. A. R. 2.66.)

In B. C. 249, Metellus was magister equitum to the dictator A. Atilius Calatinus, and in B. C. 247 consul a second time with N. Fabius Buteo, but nothing of importance took place during this year. Four years afterwards (B. C. 243) he was elected pontifex maximus, and held this dignity for twenty-two years. He must, therefore, have died shortly before the commencement of the second Punic war, B. C. 221. An act of Metellus during his highpriesthood is recorded by the historians. In B. C. 241 he rescued the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was on fire, but lost his sight in consequence: he was, therefore, rewarded by the people with a statue on the Capitol, and the permission, previously granted to no one, of riding to the senate-house in a carriage. In addition to his other honours he was appointed dictator in B. C. 224, for the purpose of holding the comitia. His merits and distinctions are recorded by Pliny in an extract which he has made from the funeral oration delivered by his son, Q. Metellus. (Plin. Liv. Dionys. ll. cc.; Cic. Cat. 9, pro Scaur. 2; V. Max. 1.4.4; Ov. Fast. 6.436.)

Metellus

2. Q. Caecilus Metellus, L. F. L. N., son of the preceding, is enumerated by Cicero in his list of Roman orators (Brut. 14, 19), and his oration at his father's funeral has been spoken of above. (Comp. Plin. Nat. 7.43. s. 45.) He was elected one of the pontifices in B. C. 216, plebeian aedile in B. C. 209, and curule aedile in B. C. 208 (Liv. 23.2], 27.21, 36). In B. C. 207 he served in the army of the consul Claudius Nero, and was one of the legates sent to Rome to convey the joyful news of the defeat and death of Hasdrubal; and it was mainly in consequence of his services in this war that he owed his elevation to the consulship in the following year. On his return to Rome he was appointed magister equitum to M. Livius Salinator, who was nominated dictator for the purpose of holding the comitia, and it was at these comitia (B. C. 206) that he was elected consul with L. Veturius Philo, who had served with him in the campaign against Hasdrubal (Liv. 27.51, 28.9, 10 ; Cic. Brut. 14). The consuls received Bruttii as their province, in order to prosecute the war against Hannibal; but their year of office passed over without anything of importance occurring, and Metellus remained in the same province as proconsul, during the following year. At the end of the year he was recalled to Rome, and nominated dictator for the purpose of holding the comitia (Liv. 28.10, 11, 45, 46, 29.10, 11). Q. Metellus had, like his other distinguished contemporaries, taken an active part in the Hannibalian war; but at the conclusion of this war in B. C. 201, he is reported to have said in the senate that he did not look upon its termination as a blessing to Rome, since he feared that the Roman people would now sink back again into its former slumbers, from which it had been roused by the presence of Hannibal. (V. Max. 7.2 § 3.)

Metellus survived the war many years, and was employed in several public commissions. In B. C. 201 he was appointed one of the decemviri for dividing the public land in Samnium and Apulia among the Roman soldiers, who had served in Airica against Hannibal (Liv. 31.4). In B. C. 185 he was one of the ambassadors sent to Philip of Macedonia and to the Achaeans. (Liv. 39.24, 33; Plb. 23.6, &c., vel Excerpt. Legat. 40, 41; Paus. 7.8.6, 7.9.1.) The name of Metellus also occurs in the debates in the senate in B. C. 193, and his address to the censors in B. C. 179 is given by Livy. (Liv. 35.8, 40.46.)

Metellus

3. L. Caecilius Metellus, brother of No. 2, had, after the battle of Cannae in B. C. 216, formed the project, with other noble youths, of abandoning Italy and trying their fortunes elsewhere; but P. Scipio compelled him and his associates to swear that they would abandon this design. In consequence of his conduct on this occasion the censors removed him from his tribe, and reduced him to the condition of an aerarian two years afterwards (B. C. 214), when he was quaestor. Notwithstanding this degradation he was elected tribune of the plebs for the following year, and immediately he had entered upon his office, he cited the censors before the court of the people, but was prevented by the other tribunes from proceeding in his accusation. (Liv. 22.53, 24.18, 43; V. Max. 2.9.8, 5.6.7.)

Metellus

4. M. Caecilius Metellus, brother of Nos. 2 and 3, was plebeian aedile in B. C. 208, the same year in which his brother Quintus was curule aedile, and praetor urbanus B. C. 206, during the consulship of Quintus. In the following year he was one of the ambassadors sent to king Attalus, and brought to Rome the sacred stone, which was regarded as the mother of the gods. (Liv. 27.36, xxviii, 10, 29.11.)

Metellus

5. Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, Q. F. L. N., son of No. 2, is first mentioned in B. C. 168, when he was serving in the army of Aemilius Paullus in Macedonia, and was sent to Rome with two others to announce the defeat of Perseus. In B. C. 148 he was praetor, and received Macedonia as his province, where Andriscus, who pretended to be a son of Perseus, and had assumed the name of Philip, had defeated the Roman praetor Juventius. He was, however, defeated and taken prisoner by Metellus. After Metellus had concluded this war he turned his arms against the Achaeans, who had insulted an embassy which he had sent to Corinth, and refused to listen to any overtures of peace. At the beginning of B. C. 146 he defeated Critoläus, the Achaean praetor, near Scarpheia in Locris, and subsequently an Arcadian army near Chaeroneia; but he was unable to bring the war to a conclusion before the arrival of the consul L. Mummius, for whom was reserved the glory of subduing Greece. On his return to Rome in B. C. 146, Metellus celebrated a triumph on account of his victory over Andriscus, and received in consequence the surname of Macedonicus.

Notwithstanding the glory which he had acquired in this war, Metellus was twice a candidate for the consulship without success; and he did not obtain this honour till B. C. 143 along with Ap. Claudius Pulcher. The province of Nearer Spain fell to the lot of Metellus, who carried on the war with success during this and the following year against the Celtiberi, and was succeeded by Q. Pompeius in B. C. 141. Many anecdotes are related of his conduct during this campaign; the severity with which he maintained discipline, the humanity which he displayed on one occasion towards the enemy (a rare virtue with Roman generals !), and the prudence and skill with which he prosecuted the war, are particularly celebrated by Valerius Maximus and Frontinus. But he sullied his reputation by the efforts which he used to render his army as inefficient as possible on his departure from the province, in order that his successor, Q. Pompeius, whom he envied and hated, might find it difficult to obscure his glory.

In B. C. 131 Metellus was censor with Q. Pompeius, the first time that both the censors were elected from the plebs. In his censorship Metellus proposed that every Roman should be compelled to marry, for the purpose of increasing the free population of the city: the oration which he delivered on the subject was extant in the time of Augustus, and was read by that emperor in the senate when he brought forward his law de Maritandis Ordinibus. (Suet. Aug. 89.) Some fragments of it are preserved by A. Gellius (1.6), who, however, attributes it erroneously to Metellus Numidicus. Metellus during his censorship narrowly escaped death at the hands of the tribune C. Atinius Labeo, whom he had expelled from the senate during the first year of his censorship, and who, in the following year, seized him in the forum and commanded him to be thrown down the Tarpeian rock: he was rescued from death by the intervention of another tribune, but Labeo revenged himself by dedicating the property of Metellus to the gods.

It is related of Metellus, that he was a political opponent of Scipio Africanus the younger, but that he conducted his opposition without any bitterness or malice, and was one of the first at his death to recognise and acknowledge his greatness. He united with the aristocracy in opposing the measures of the Gracchi; and the speech which he delivered against Tib. Gracchus is referred to by Cicero, who speaks highly of his eloquence, and alludes to several of his orations. (Cic. de Orat. 1.49, Brtt. 21.) Like the other Roman nobles of his time, he either had or pretended to have a love of art. He erected a splendid porticus, and two temples dedicated to Jupiter and Juno, which were the first at Rome built of marble; and in front of them was placed the celebrated group of horsemen who fell at the battle of the Granicus, which Lysippus executed at the command of Alexander the Great, and which Metellus carried to Rome, on the conquest of Andriscus in Macedonia.

Metellus died in B. C. 115, when his son Marcus was consul, full of years and honours. He is frequently quoted by the ancient writers as an extraordinary instance of human felicity. Not only was he distinguished by his noble birth, his military glory, and the high political offices he had held, but his was the rare lot of living to see four sons rise to the highest honours of the state, and of being carried to the funeral pile by these four children. Three of these sons had obtained the consulship in his lifetime, and the fourth was a candidate for the office at the time of his father's death. Metellus also left behind him two married daughters (not three, as some writers state), and numerous grandchildren. (Liv. Epit. 49, 50, 52, 53, 59; Vell. 1.11; Tac. Ann. 12.62; Flor 2.14, 17 Eutrop. 4.13, 16; Aurel. Vic. de Vn Ill. 61; Zonar. 9.28; Paus. 7.13, 15; App. Hisp. 76; V. Max. 2.7.10, 3.2.21, 5.1.5, 7.1.1, 7.5.4, 9.3.7; Frontin. Strat. 3.7, 4.1.23; the passages of Cicero in Orelli's Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 102; Meyer, Orator. Roman. Fragm. p. 159, 2d. ed.)

Metellus

6. L. Caecilius Metellus Calvus, Q. F. L. N., brother of No. 5, was consul B. C. 142 with Q. Fabius Maximus Servilianus. All that is recorded of this Metellus is that he bore testimony, along with his brother Macedonicus, against Q. Pompeius, the consul of B. C. 141, when he was accused of extortion. (Oros. 5.4; Obsequ. 81; Cic. Att. 12.5.3, pro Font. 7; V. Max. 8.5.1.)

Metellus

7. Q. Caecilius Metellus Balearicus, Q. F. Q. N., eldest son of No. 5, was consul B. C. 123 with T. Quinctius Flamininus, and during this year and the following carried on war against the inhabitants of the Balearic islands, who were accused of piracy. He entirely subdued them, and founded several cities in the islands; and in consequence of his victories he obtained a triumph in B. C. 121, and received the surname of Balearicus. He was censor in B. C. 120 with L. Calpurnius Piso. (Plut. de Fort. Rom. 4; Cic. Brut. 74, pro Dom. 53; Liv. Epit. 60; Eutrop. 4.21, who erroneously calls him Lucius; Oros. 5.13; Flor. 3.8; Strab. iii. p.167.)

Metellus

8. L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus, Q. F. Q. N., brother of the preceding and son of No. 5, has been frequently confounded with Metellus Dalmaticus, consul B. C. 119 [No. 13], who was a son of Metellus Calvus [No. 6]. Metellus Diadematus received the latter surname from his wearing for a long time a bandage round his forehead, in consequence of an ulcer. He was consul B. C. 117, with Q. Mucius Scaevola; and Eutropius (4.23) erroneously ascribes to him the triumph of Dalmaticus. Clinton (ad ann.) falls into the same mistake. He lived to see the return of his first-cousin Metellus Numidicus from exile, and exerted himself to obtain his recall. (Cic. post Red. in Sen. 15, post Red. ad Quir. 3.)

Metellus

9. M. Caecilius Metellus, Q. F. Q. N., brother of the two preceding and son of No. 5, was consul B. C. 115, with M. Aemilius Scaurus, the year in which his father died. In B. C. 114 he was sent to Sardinia as proconsul, to suppress an insurrection in the island, which he succeeded in doing, and obtained a triumph in consequence in B. C. 113, on the same day as his brother Caprarius. (Vell. 1.11, 2.8; Eutrop. 4.25.)

The annexed coin which bears the legend M. METELLUS Q. F. was struck by order of the preceding Metellus. The reverse represents the head of an elephant enclosed in Macedonian shields, and the whole surrounded by a laurel crown: the elephant has reference to the victory of his great-grandfather in Sicily over the Carthaginians [No. 1], and the Macedonian shields to the conquest of Andriscus in Macedonia by his father [No. 5]. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 151.)

Metellus

10. C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, Q. F. Q. N., younger brother of the three preceding, and son of No. 5. The origin of his surname is quite uncertain. He served under Scipio at the siege of Numantia, B. C. 133, and the abuse which he received from Scipio, according to the tale related by Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 2.66), may have been owing to the enmity between his father [see above, p. 1057b.] and Scipio, rather than to any demerits of his own. He was consul B. C. 113 with Cn. Papirius Carbo, and went to Macedonia to carry on war with the Thracians, whom he quickly subdued. He obtained a triumph in consequence in the same year and on the same day with his brother Marcus. He was censor in B. C. 102 with Metellus Numidicus ; and he exerted himself, along with his brother Lucius, to obtain the recall of Numidicus from banishment in B. C. 99. (Eutrop. 4.25; Tac. Germ. 37; Obsequ. 98; Vell. 2.8; Cic. post Red. in Sen. 15, post Red. ad Quir. 3.) The annexed coin was struck by order of this C. Metellus. The head of the obverse is that of Pallas, and the elephants drawing a triumphal car on the reverse, refer, like the reverse of the preceding coin, to the victory of the ancestor of L. Metellus over the Carthaginians. [No. 1.]

Metellus

11, 12. Caeciliae (Metellae), two sisters of the preceding four brothers. [Caecilia, Nos. 1, 2.]

Metellus

13. L. Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus, L. F. Q. N., son of No. 6, and frequently confounded, as has been already remarked, with Diadematus. [No. 8.] He is spoken of by Cicero as the maternal grandfather of Scaurus, whom Cicero defended, since his daughter Caecilia married the father of Scaurus. Metellus was consul in B. C. 119, with L. Aurelius Cotta, and through desire of a triumph declared war against the Dalmatians, who had been guilty of no offence against Rome. The Dalmatians offered no opposition to him, and after passing the winter quietly in their town of Salonae, he returned to Rome and obtained the undeserved honour of a triumph, and the surname Dalmaticus or Delmaticus. With the booty obtained in this war he repaired the temple of Castor and Pollux. In B. C. 115 he was censor with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, and, in conjunction with his colleagues, expelled thirty-two members from the senate, among whom was C. Licinius Geta, who was afterwards censor himself. Metellus was also pontifex maximus; and the decision which he came to in the case of the Vestals, who were brought before him for trial in B. C. 114, was generally condemned. [See above, p. 782a.] He was alive in B. C. 100, when he is mentioned as one of the senators of high rank, who took up arms against Saturninus. (Appian. Illyr. 11; Liv. Epit. 62; Cic. pro Scaur. 2; Plut. Pomp. 2; Cic. Ver. 1.55, 59, pro Cluent. 42; Ascon. in Cic Mil. p. 46, ed, Orelli; Cic. pro C. Rabir. 7.)

Metellus Numidicus

14. Q, Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, L. F. Q. N., younger brother of the preceding and son of No. 6, was one of the most distinguished members of his family. The character of Metellus stood very high among his contemporaries; in an age of growing corruption his personal integrity remained unsullied; and he was distinguished for his abilities in war and peace. He was one of the chief leaders of the aristocratical party at Rome, and displayed the usual arrogance and contempt for all those who did not belong to his order, which distinguished the Roman nobles of his time. The year of his praetorship is not stated; but it was probably after his return from his praetorian province that he was accused of extortion, on which occasion it is related that the judges had such confidence in his integrity that they refused to look at his accounts when they were produced in court. Some modern writers, however, suppose that this trial took place after his return from Numidia (Cic. pro Balb. 5, ad Att. 1, 16; V. Max. 2.10.1). Metellus obtained the consulship in B. C. 109, with M. Junius Silanus, and received Numidia as his province, with the conduct of the war against Jugurtha, who had in the year before inflicted great disgrace upon the Roman arms. Their honour, however, was fully retrieved by Metellus, who gained a great victory over Jugurtha near the river Muthul. It is unnecessary to enter here into the details of the war, as they are given in the life of Jugurtha. Metellus remained in Numidia during the following year as proconsul, but as he was chiefly occupied in the siege of towns, and was unable to bring the war to a conclusion, his legate C. Marius, whom he had grossly affronted [see above p. 954a.], industriously circulated reports in the camp and the city that Metellus designedly protracted the war, for the purpose of continuing in the command. These rumours had the desired effect. Marius was raised to the consulship, Numidia was assigned to him as his province, and Metellus saw the honour of finishing the war snatched from his grasp. The blow was all the heavier, since his successor had sprung from the lower classes, and had at the commencement of his political career been assisted by Metellus himself [see p. 952a.]. So bitter were his feelings that he could not brook the sight of Marius, and accordingly left the army in charge of his legate P. Rutilius, who was to hand it over to Marius. On his arrival at Rome, Metellus was, contrary to his expectation, received with the utmost respect and applause. The people probably felt that injustice had been done him: he celebrated a splendid triumph in B. C. 107, received the honorary surname of Numidicus, and retired into private life, full of glory and honour.

In B. C. 102 Metellus was censor with his cousin Metellus Caprarius. He attempted to expel from the senate L. Appuleius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia, two of the greatest enemies of the aristocracy, but was prevented by the interposition of his colleague from carrying his design into effect. He refused to allow the name of L. Equitius, who pretended to be a son of Gracchus, to stand upon the list of citizens, notwithstanding the popular tumult which this refusal occasioned. Saturninus and his party resolved in revenge to ruin Metellus, and were supported in their design by Marius, who hated Metellus both on personal and political grounds. By the murder of A. Nonius, who was likewise a candidate for the tribunate, Saturninus obtained this dignity in B. C. 100, the same year in which Glaucia was praetor and Marius consul for the sixth time. Saturninus forthwith proposed an agrarian law, to which he added the clause, that the senate should swear obedience to it within five days after its enactment, and that whosoever should refuse to do so should be expelled from the senate, and pay a fine of twenty talents. In order to entrap his enemy, Marius got up in the senate and asserted that he would never take the oath; and Metellus made the same declaration; but when the senators were summoned to the rostra to comply with the law, Marius was the first to swear obedience, and Metellus was the only one in the senate who refused to do so. He was therefore expelled from the senate; and, not contented with this, the tribune brought forward a bill to punish him with exile. The friends of Metellus were ready to take up arms, if necessary, to resist the law; but Metellus would not avail himself of their assistance, and, in order to avoid a civil commotion, he departed from the city, and retired to Rhodes, where he bore his loss with great calmness, without troubling himself about his return. In the course of the same year, however, the mad schemes of Saturninus occasioned his own ruin and that of his friends; and the popular party received such a severe blow in consequence of their death, that very little opposition was offered to the recall of Metellus, which was proposed in the following year (B. C. 99) by the tribune Q. Calidius. The son of Metellus exerted himself so strongly in support of the rogation of Calidius, that he obtained from his contemporaries the surname of Pius. According to a tale preserved by Cicero (de Nat. Deor. 3.33), Q. Varius, who was tribune of the plebs B. C. 91, and a violent enemy of the aristocracy, poisoned a Metellus, and as Cicero mentions him without any surname, he probably means the great Metellus Numidicus. The tale, however, may have been invented by the hatred of party.

The general character of Metellus has been already pourtrayed. He was certainly one of the best specimens of his class, and probably one of the most virtuous citizens of his time. He was not ignorant of literature and art, and was a generous patron of both. In his youth he had heard Carneades in Rome; he was a friend and patron of the poet Archias; and when he went into exile he took with him the rhetorician L. Aelius Praeconinus or Stilo, and occupied his time in reading the works and hearing the lectures of the philosophers. His powers of oratory are spoken of with praise by Cicero, and his orations continued to be read with admiration in the time of Fronto. (Sal. Jug. 43_88; Plut. Marius; Liv. Epit. 65, 69; Vell. 2.11; Aurel. Vie. de Vir. Ill. 62; Flor. 3.1; Eutrop. 4.27; Oros. 5.15; Appian, App. BC 1.28, 30_33; V. Max. 2.10.1, 9.7 § 2; Gel. 1.6, 17.2; Fronto, p. 15; the passages of Cicero in Orelli's Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 103, &c.; Meyer, Orator. Roman. Fragm. p. 272, &100.2nd ed.)

Metellus

15. Caecilia (Metella), sister of the two preceding, and daughter of No. 6, married Lucullus, the father of the conqueror of Mithridates. [Caecilia, No. 3.]

Metellus

16. Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, Q. F. Q. N., son of Balearicus [No. 7], and grandson of the celebrated Macedonicus [No. 5], appears to have received the surname of Nepos, because he was the eldest grandson of the latter; for the Metelli were so numerous that it became necessary, for the sake of distinction, that each member of the family should have some personal designation. This surname of Nepos was also borne by one of his children [No. 21]. Metellus Nepos exerted himself in obtaining the recall of his kinsman Metellus Numidicus from banishment in B. C. 99, and was consul the following year, B. C. 98, with T. Didius. In this year the two consuls carried the lex Caecilia Didia. (Cic. post Red. in Sen. 15, pro Dom. 20, ad Att. 2.9; Schol. Bob. pro Sext. p. 310, ed. Orelli; Obsequ. 107.)

Metellus

17. Caecilia (Metella), sister of the preceding, and daughter of Balearicus, married App. Claudius, consul in B. C. 79. [Caecilia, No. 4.]

Metellus

18. Caecilia (Metella), daughter of Dalmaticus [No. 13], married first Scaurus, consul in B. C. 115, and afterwards the dictator Sulla. [Caecilia, No. 5.]

Metellus Pius

19. Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, Q. F. L. N., son of Numidicus [No. 14], received the surname of Pius on account of the love which he displayed for his father when he besought the people to recall him from banishment, in B. C. 99. He was about twenty years of age when he accompanied his father to Numidia in B. C. 109. He obtained the praetorship in B. C. 89, and was one of the commanders in the Marsic or Social war, which had broken out in the preceding year. He defeated and slew in battle Q. Pompaedius, the leader of the Marsians in B. C. 88. He was still in arms in B. C. 87, prosecuting the war against the Samnites, when Marius landed in Italy and joined the consul Cinna. The senate, in alarm, summoned Metellus to Rome; and, as the soldiers placed more confidence in him than in the consul Octavius, they entreated him to take the supreme command shortly after his arrival in the city. As he refused to comply with their request, numbers deserted to the enemy; and finding it impossible to hold out against Marius and Cinna, he left the city and went to Africa. Here he collected a considerable force and was joined by Crassus, who had also fled thither from Spain, but they quarrelled and separated shortly afterwards. In B. C. 84 Metellus was defeated by C. Fabius, one of the Marian party. He therefore returned to Italy, and remained in Liguria; but hearing of the return of Sulla from Asia in the following year (B. C. 83), he hastened to meet him at Brundisium, and was one of the first of the nobles who joined him. In the war which followed against the Marian party, Metellus was one of the most successful of Sulla's generals. Early in B. C. 82, Metellas gained a victory over Carrinas, near the river Aesis in Umbria, defeated shortly afterwards another division of Carbo's army, and finally gained a decisive victory over Carbo and Norbanus, near Faventia, in Cisalpine Gaul.

In B. C. 80, Metellus was consul with Sulla himself. In this year he rewarded the services of Calidius, in obtaining the recall of his father from banishment, by using his influence to obtain for him the praetorship. In the following year (B. C. 79), Metellus went as proconsul into Spain, in order to prosecute the war against Sertorius, who adhered to the Marian party. Here he remained for the next eight years, and found it so difficult to obtain any advantages over Sertorius, that not only was he obliged to call to his aid the armies in Nearer Spain and in Gaul, but the Romans also sent to his assistance Pompey with proconsular power and another army. Sertorius, however, was a match for them both; and when Metellus, after frequent disasters, at length gained a victory over Sertorius, he was so elated with his success, that he allowed himself to be saluted imperator, and celebrated his conquest with the greatest splendour. But Sertorius soon recovered from this defeat, and would probably have continued to defy all the efforts of Metellus and Pompey, if be had not been murdered by Perperna and his friends in B. C. 72. [Sertorius.] Metellus returned to Rome in the following year, and triumphed on the 30th of December.

In B. C. 65, Metellus was one of those who supported the accusation against C. Cornelius. He was pontifex maximus, and, as he was succeeded in this dignity by C. Caesar in B. C. 63, he must have died either in this year or at the end of the preceding. Metellus Pius followed closely in the footsteps of his father. Like him, he was a steady and unwavering supporter of the aristocracy; like him, his military abilities were very considerable, but not those of a first-rate general, and he was unable to adapt himself or his troops to the guerillawarfare which had to be carried on in Spain; like his father, again, his personal character contrasted most favourably with the general dissoluteness of his contemporaries; and lastly, he imitated his father in the patronage which he bestowed upon Archias and other poets. His conduct at the time of his father's banishment, and the gratitude which he showed to Q. Calidius, are especially deserving of praise. He adopted the son of Scipio Nasion, who is called in consequence Metellus Pius Scipio [No. 22]. (Sal. Jug. 64; Appian, App. BC 1.33, 53, 68, 80_91, 97, 103, 108-115; Aurel. Vic. de Vir. Ill. 63; Oros. 5.18, 28; Plut. Mar. 42, Crass. 6, Sertor. 12-27; Liv. Epit. 84, 91, 92; Veil. Pat. 2.15, 28_30; D. C. 27.37; Plut. Caes. 7; Cic. pro Arch. 4, 5, 10, pro Planc. 29, pro Cluent. 8, pro Balb. 2, 22; Ascon. in Cic. Corn. p. 60, ed. Orelli.)

Metellus

20. Q. Caecilius Q. F. Q.N. Metellus Celer, consul B. C. 60, was son of Nepos, consul B. C. 98. [No. 16.] The latter was most probably his father, but his descent has given rise to much dispute. Cicero and Asconiuis both call Metellus Celer the frater of the younger Metellus Nepos [No. 21], and Asconius states that the latter was the son of the elder Nepos [No. 16], the grandson of Balearicus [No. 7], and the great-grandson of Macedonicus [No. 5]. (Cic. Fam. 5.1, 2; Ascon. in Cornel. p. 63.) From the way in which Celer speaks of Nepos, as well as from other circumstances, we are led to conclude that they were brothers and not first-cousins. The only difficulty in this supposition is, that they both bear the praenomen Quintus; but the ingenious hypothesis of Manutius (ad Cic. l. c ) removes this difficulty. He supposes that the elder Nepos [No. 16] may have had two sons, one called Quintus and the other perhaps Lucius: that the latter, the subject of this notice, was adopted by the Q. Metellus Celer, who is mentioned by Cicero as one of the orators in B. C. 90, and that he received in consequence the praenomen Quintus and the cognomen Celer. Manutius further supposes that after the death of the elder son Quintus, the wife of Nepos bore him a third son, to whom he again gave the names of Quintus and Nepos. This supposition accounts not only for the two brothers bearing the same praenomen, but also for the younger, and not the elder, having the cognomen of his father.

In B. C. 66, Metellus Celer served as legate in the army of Pompey in Asia, and distinguished himself by repulsing an attack which Oroeses, king of the Albanians, made upon his winter-quarters. He returned to Rome before Pompey, and was praetor in B. C. 63, the year in which Cicero was consul. Like the other members of his family he distinguished himself during his year of office by a warn support of the aristocratical party. He prevented the condemnation of C. Rabirius by removing the military flag from the Janiculum, as has been already narrated in the life of Caesar [Vol. I. p. 541]. He co-operated with Cicero in opposing the schemes of Catiline; and, when the latter left the city to make war upon the republic, Metellus had the charge of the Picentine and Senonian districts. By blocking up the passes he prevented Catiline from crossing the Apennines and penetrating into Gaul, and thus compelled him to turn round and face Antonius, who was marching against him from Etruria. In the following year, B. C. 62, Metellus went with the title of proconsul into the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which Cicero had relinquished because he was unwilling to leave the city. Although Metellus and Cicero had been thus closely connected, yet he was exceedingly angry when the orator attacked his brother Nepos, who had given him, however, abundant provocation. [See below, No. 21.] The letter which Celer wrote to Cicero on this occasion is still preserved, and is very characteristic of the haughty aristocratical spirit of the family. Cicero's reply is very clever. (Cic. Fam. 5.1, 2.)

In B. C. 61, Metellus was consul elect, and by his personal influence prevented the celebration of the Compitalia, which a tribune of the plebs was preparing to celebrate in opposition to a senatus-consultum. Towards the end of the year he took an active part in conjunction with M. Cato, and others of the aristocracy, in resisting the demands of the publicani, who petitioned the senate to allow them to pay a smaller sum for the farming of the taxes in Asia than they had agreed to give. Their request was accordingly refused, but was subsequently granted, in B. C. 59, by Caesar, who brought forward a bill in the comitia for the purpose. In B. C. 60, Metellus was consul with L. Afranius, who was a creature of Pompey, and had been raised to this dignity by Pompey's influence. Pompey was anxious to obtain the ratification of his acts in Asia, and an assignment of lands for his soldiers; but Afranius was not a man of sufficient ability and energy to be of much service to him, and Metellus thwarted all his plans, since Pompey, and not Caesar, was generally regarded at that time as the most formidable enemy of the aristocracy. It was this opposition which drove Pompey into the arms of Caesar, and thus prepared the downfall of the republic. So resolute was the opposition of Metellus to the agrarian law of the tribune L. Flavius, which he brought forward in order to provide for Pompey's veterans, that the tribune had him dragged to prison; but even this did not frighten Metellus, and the law was in consequence abandoned. He acted with such energy and decision in favour of the aristocracy that Cicero calls him " egregius consul"; and although he did not at first oppose the adoption of Clodius into a plebeian family, apparently not attaching much importance to the matter, yet as soon as lie perceived that Clodius was resolved to favour the views of the democratical party, Metellus opposed his plans to the utmost of his power. Clodius was the first-cousin of Metellus, being the son of his father's sister, and likewise the brother of his own wife; but he did not allow this family connection to produce any change in his political conduct. As a war threatened to break out in Gaul, the senate determined that the consuls should draw lots for the provinces of the Gauls; but Metellus did not leave Rome this year, nor apparently the next. In B. C. 59, the year of Caesar's consulship, he took a leading part in the opposition to the agrarian law of Caesar, but in vain. He died in the course of the same year, so unexpectedly, that it was suspected that he had been poisoned by his wile Clodia, with whom he lived on the most unhappy terms, and who was a woman of the utmost profligacy. The character of Metellus has been sufficiently indicated in the preceding sketch of his life: he was one of the great leaders of the aristocracy, but did not possess either sufficient influence or sufficient genius to cope with such men as Caesar and Pompey. His oratory is spoken of favourably by Cicero, and was more adapted to the popular assemblies than to the courts. (D. C. 36.37, and libb. xxxvii. xxxviii; Sal. Cat. 57; the passages of Cicero in Orelli's Onom. Tall. vol. ii. p. 107.)

Metellus

21. Q. Metellus Metellus Nepos, Q. F. Q. N., brother of the preceding, and son of the elder Nepos [No. 16]. In B. C. 67 he served as legate of Pompey in the war against the pirates, and was still with him in Asia in B. C. 64. In B. C. 63 he returned to Rome, in order to become a candidate for the tribunate, that he might thereby favour the views of Pompey. The aristocracy, who now dreaded Pompey more than any one else in the state, were in the utmost consternation. They brought forward M. Cato as a rival candidate, and succeeded in carrying his election, but were unable to prevent the election of Metellus likewise. Metellus entered upon his office on the 10th of December, B. C. 63, and commenced his official career by a violent attack upon Cicero, whom he looked upon as the main support of the existing order of things. He openly asserted that he who had condemned Roman citizens without a hearing ought not to be heard himself, and accordingly prevented Cicero from addressing the people on the last day of his consulship, when he had to lay down his office, and only allowed him to take the usual oath, whereupon Cicero swore that he had saved the state. On the 1st of January, B. C. 62, Cicero attacked Metellus with great bitterness in the senate, and two days afterwards Metellus replied to him with equal bitterness, upbraiding him with his low origin, denouncing him as a tyrant for condemning Roman citizens to death unheard, and threatening him with an impeachment. Stung to the quick. Cicero published an oration against him, entitled " Metellina," of the nature of which the second Philippic will probably give us the best idea. Supported by Caesar, who was anxious, above all things, to drive Pompey to an open rupture with the senate, Metellus brought forward a bill to summon Pompey, with his army, to Rome, in order to restore peace and protect the citizens from arbitrary punishment. Parties were in the state of the highest exasperation: on the day on which the bill was to be brought forward, Cato attempted to prevent its being read, but was driven out of the forum by force. He soon, however, returned, supported by a large body of the aristocracy; and this time the victory remained in their hands. Metellus was obliged to take to flight, and repaired to Pompey: the senate proposed to deprive him of his office, and according to some accounts actually did so.

Metellus returned to Rome with Pompey, and was raised to the praetorship in B. C. 60. In this year he brought forward a law for the abolition of the vectigalia in Italy; and the senate, out of hatred to Metellus, attempted to call the law by the name of some other person. In the following year he appears not to have gone to a province, but to have remained in Rome. In B. C. 57 he was consul with P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. Cicero, who had been banished in the preceding year, and whose friends were now exerting themselves to obtain his recall, was greatly alarmed at the election of Metellus, since he was one of his bitterest personal enemies. But since Clodius had offended both Pompey and Caesar, and the latter was anxious to mortify and weaken the power of the demagogue, Metellus, out of respect to them, suppressed his feelings towards Cicero, and announced in the senate on the 1st of January, that he should not oppose his recall from exile. Cicero wrote to him to express his gratitude (ad Fam. 5.4), and in subsequent speeches he frequently praises his moderation and magnanimity. At the same time the friends of Cicero at Rome seem to have had some suspicions of Metellus; but he was eventually induced, very much by the influence of his relative, P. Servilius, to give a hearty support to Cicero's friends, and in the month of September the orator was at Rome. But almost immediately afterwards we again find Metellus on the other side, and in the month of November using his efforts to obtain the aedileship for Clodius.

In B. C. 56 Metellus administered the province of Nearer Spain. Either before he left Rome or soon afterwards Metellus had quarrelled with Clodius, and this enmity naturally led to a reconciliation with Cicero, to whom he writes in apparently cordial terms (ad Fam. 5.3). In the month of April he repaired, with many other distinguished Roman nobles, to Caesar's winterquarters at Luca, doubtless with the view of obtaining the prolongation of his command. On his return to Spain he made a sudden and apparently unjustifiable attack upon the Vaccaei, whom he defeated; but in the following year (B. C. 55) they took the town of Clunia from him, and advanced with such considerable forces that Metellus dared not attack them. Metellus seems to have returned to Rome in the course of this year, and to have died in the same year, as his name does not occur again. In his testament he left Carrinas (probably the consul of B. C. 43) the heir of all his property, passing over all the Metelli and likewise the Clandii, with whom he was so nearly connected (V. Max. 7.8.3.) Metellus did not adhere strictly to the political principles of his family. He did not support the aristocracy, like his brother; nor, on the other hand, can he be said to have been a leader of the demnocracy. He was in fact little more than a servant of Pompey, and according to his bidding at one time opposed, and at another supported Cicero. Further Information

App. Mith. 95; Flor. 3.6; J. AJ 4.2.3, B. J. 1.6.2; Plut. Cat. Mi. 20; D. C. 37.38-51, 39.1-7, 54; Plut. Caes. 21; the passages of Cicero in Orelli's Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 107, &c.

Metellus Scipio

22. Q. Caeciiius Metellus Pius Scipio, Q. F., the adopted son of Metellus Pius [No. 19]. He was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, praetor B. C. 94, and Licinia, a daughter of the orator L. Crassus, and was a grandson of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, consul B. C. 111, and Caecilia, a daughter of Metellus Macedonicus. Through his grandmother he was therefore descended from the family of the Metelli, into which he was subsequently adopted. Before his adoption he bore the names of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, and hence his name is given in various forms. Sometimes he is called P. Scipio Nasica, sometimes Q. Metellus Scipio, and sometimes simply Scipio or Metellus. His full legal name, as it appears in a senatus consultum (Cic. Fam. 8.8), is the one given at the commencement of this notice. Appian erroneously gives him the praenomen Lucius. (B. C. 2.24.)

Metellus is first mentioned in B. C. 63, when he is said to have come to Cicero by night, along with M. Crassus and Marcellus, bringing with them letters relating to the conspiracy of Catiline. In B. C. 60 he was elected tribune of the plebs, but was accused of bribery by M. Favonius, who had failed in his election, and was defended by Cicero. He was tribune in B. C. 59, and was one of the college of pontiffs before whom Cicero spoke respecting his house in B. C. 57. In the latter year he exhibited gladiatorial games in honour of his deceased father, Metellus Pius. In B. C. 53 Scipio was a candidate for the consulship along with Plautius Hypsaeus and Milo, and was supported by the Clodian mob, since he was opposed to Milo. The candidates had recourse to the most unblushing bribery, and to open violence and force. The most frightful scenes were daily occurring in the streets of Rome; and these disturbances were secretly fomented by Pompey, who was anxious to be named dictator, for the purpose of restoring order to the city, and thereby possessing the power which might enable him to crush Caesar, of whom he had now become jealous. The comitia could not be held for the election of consuls; and when the murder of Clodius at the beginning of the following year, B. C. 52, threw the state almost into anarchy, the senate consented that Pompey should be elected sole consul. This took place at the end of February; and shortly afterwards he married Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio, to whom he showed particular favour. Hypsaeus and Scipio were both accused of bribery; but though both were equally guilty, the former only was condemned. On the 1st of August Pompey made Scipio his colleague in the consulship; and Scipio showed his gratitude by using every effort to destroy the power of Caesar and strengthen that of Pompey. He was all the more ready to exert himself in Pompey's favour, since the latter was now obliged to enter into a close connection with the aristocratical party, to which Scipio belonged, for the purpose of crushing his rival. One of the first acts of Metellus after his appointment to the consulship was to bring forward a law restoring to the censors the powers of which they had been deprived by Clodius, intending thereby to expel Caesar's friends from the senate; for that he was actuated by no desire to preserve the purity and morality of the body, the scandalous tale related by Valerius Maximus (9.1.8) is a sufficient proof. In the following year (B. C. 51) Scipio proposed in the senate on the 1st of September that the senate should take into consideration the Gallic provinces on the 1st of March in the following year; but as this proposition was considered rather too open a declaration of hostility against Caesar, it was decreed that the consular provinces in general should be brought before the senate on that day. When stronger measures were resolved upon by the aristocracy, Scipio again appeared foremost in urging their adoption. He warmly seconded the consul Lentulus when he proposed in the senate at the beginning of January, B. C. 49, that Caesar should dismiss his army by a certain day, or else be regarded as an enemy of the state; and when the tribunes, M. Antonius and Q. Cassius, placed their veto upon the decree, Scipio urged on matters to an open rupture, and refused to listen to any overtures of peace. The consequence was that the two tribunes fled from the city, and Caesar took up arms against the senate. In the division of the provinces, which was made a few days afterwards, Syria fell to the lot of Scipio, who hastened thither without delay. His conduct in the province is drawn by Caesar in the blackest colours (B. C. 3.31, 32). Although he suffered some loss in an engagement with the inhabitants of Mount Amanus, he assumed the title of imperator, and had it struck upon his coins. His exactions and extortions were almost unparalleled: new taxes of all kinds were imposed upon the inhabitants; Roman officers were sent into every part of the province to collect them; and there was scarcely a village which escaped their marauding visits: they plundered on their own account as well as on account of their general; and they had the fullest licence given them for every kind of oppression. After collecting large sums of money and a considerable body of troops, he took up his winter-quarters at Pergamum, leaving his province quite unprotected and exposed to a fresh attack of the Parthians. At the beginning of the following year, B. C. 48, he was preparing to plunder the temple of Diana in Ephesus, when he received a summons from Pompey to join him with his troops, as Caesar had already crossed over to Greece. Caesar sent Domitius Calvinus into Macedonia, and L. Cassius Longinus into Thessaly to oppose Scipio, but no battle took place between them, according to the statement of Caesar (Caes. Civ. 3.36_38), although a different account is given by other writers. (D. C. 41.51; Appian, App. BC 2.60.) At all events Scipio was unable to join Pompey till Caesar's repulse at Dyrrhachium obliged Calvinus to unite his forces with those of Caesar. Scipio thereupon took possession of Larissa, and shortly after joined Pompey, who divided the command of the army with him. Confident of success, the nobles in Pompey's camp began to quarrel with one another respecting the division of the spoil; and Scipio had a violent altercation, which descended to personal abuse, with Domitius Ahenobarbus and Lentulus Spinther, respecting the office of pontifex maximus, which Caesar then held. The battle of Pharsalia annihilated these prospects. In this battle Scipio commanded the centre of the Pompeian troops, and was opposed by his old adversary, Domitius Calvinus.

After the loss of the battle of Pharsalia, Metellus fled, first to Corcyra and then to Africa, where it was hoped that the army of Attius Varus and the assistance of Juba, king of Numidia, might restore the fallen fortunes of the Pompeian party. Through the influence of Cato, Scipio obtained the supreme command, as being of consular rank, much to the chagrin of Varus, who laid claim to it. As soon as Scipio had received the command, he attempted to destroy the important town of Utica, in order to gratify Juba, and it was with difficulty that Cato prevented him from doing it. His conduct in Africa seems to have been as oppressive as it had been in Syria; in every direction he plundered the inhabitants and laid waste the country. At length Caesar landed in Africa, at the end of December, B. C. 47, and in the month of April in the following year, B. C. 46, he defeated Scipio and Juba at the decisive battle of Thapsus. Scipio immediately fled to the sea, and with a small squadron of ships steered first for Utica; but, learning from Cato that there would be no security for him there, he put out to sea, intending to sail over to Spain. Contrary winds, however, obliged him to put back to Hippo Regius, where he fell in with the fleet of P. Sittius, who fought on Caesar's side. His small squadron was overpowered; and, as he saw that escape was impossible, he stabbed himself and leaped into the sea.

Scipio never exhibited any proofs of striking abilities either in war or in peace; and the prominent part which he played in these stormy times was chiefly owing to his high connections, being a Scipio by birth, a Metellus by adoption, and, by the marriage of his daughter, the father-in-law of Pompey. The love of country and the freedom of the republic (the watchwords with which he fought against Caesar) were a mere sham; he was only anxious to obtain for himself and his party the exclusive possession of the offices of the state and of the provinces, that they might realise fortunes to gratify their love of luxury and pomp. In public, Scipio showed himself cruel, vindictive, and oppressive; in private, he was mean, avaricious, and licentious, even beyond most of his contemporaries. A striking instance of his profligacy is given in the tale related by Valerius Maximus, which has already been referred to. (Plut. Cic. 15; D. C. 40.51, 43.9; Appian, App. BC 2.24,25, 60, 76, 87, 95-100; Caes. Civ. 1.1_4, 3.31_33, 36, 57, 82, 83, B. Afric. passim; Plut. Pomp. 55, Caes. 30, Cat. Min. 60; Liv. Epit. 113, 114; V. Max. 9.5.3; the passages of Cicero in Orelli's Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 105, &c.)

The two coins annexed were struck by Metellus Scipio. On the obverse of the former is the legend Q. METEL. PIVS, but the head is uncertain; on the reverse is SCIPIO IMP., with an elephant, which refers evidently to his command in Africa. The head on the obverse of the latter is also uncertain; beneath it is an eagle's head, and the legend is METEL. PIVS SCIP. IMP.: the reverse represents a pair of scales hanging from a cornucopia, with a sella curulis beneath, on one side of which is an ear of corn, and on the other side a hand grasping something. The legend CRASS. IVN. LEG. PRO(PR). refers to Crassus Junianus, one of Scipio's legates, who served with the title legatus propraetore. [Crassus, No. 29, p. 882a.]

Metellus

23. Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus. His descent and that of his two brothers is quite uncertain; for he evidently could not have been the son of Metellus Macedonicus, as Florus (3.8.1) states. (Drumann, vol. ii. p. 50.) Metellus was consul B. C. 69 with Q. Hortensius, and obtained the conduct of the war against Crete, which Hortensius had declined, when the lot had given this province to him. Metellus left Italy in B. C. 68 with three legions. He was engaged two whole years in the subjugation of the island, and did not return to Rome till the third. The difficulty of the conquest was much increased by the unwarrantable interference of Ponpey; for after Cydonia, Cnossus, and many other towns had fallen into the hands of Metellus, and the war seemed almost at an end, the Cretans sent to offer their submission to Pompey, from whom they hoped to obtain more favourable terms than from Metellus. By the Gabinian law, passed in B. C. 67, which gave to Pompey the conduct of the war against the pirates, the supreme command in the whole of the Mediterranean was also assigned to him; he therefore had a pretext for interfering in the affairs of Crete, but it was clearly never intended that he should supersede Metellus. His emissaries had probably persuaded the Cretans to make this offer ; but however this may be, he immediately complied with their request, and sent his legate L. Octavius to receive the surrender of their towns, and shortly afterwards another of his legates, Cornelius Sisenna, came to the island from Greece with the command of some troops. Metellus, however, refused to take any notice of their claims, and continued to attack and subdue the towns, although the inhabitants were encouraged in their resistance to him by the legates of Pompey. Eleuthera and Luppa fell into his hands; and in the capture of the latter town Octavius was made prisoner, but dismissed by Metellus with contempt. Cornelius Sisenna had meantime died, and hitherto Octavius had not ventured to use force against Metellus, but now he employed the troops of Sisenna to fight on the side of the Cretans. But as these troops shortly afterwards withdrew from the island, for some reason unknown to us, Octavius took refuge with Aristion in Hierapytna, from which, however, he fled at the approach of Metellus, leaving the Cretans to their fate. Thereupon Lasthenes and Panares, the chief leaders of the Cretans, made their submission to him, and the war was brought to a close.

In B. C. 66 Metellus returned to Rome, but he was prevented from obtaining a triumph by the partisans of Pompey. Metellus, however, could not relinquish his claim to a triumph, and accordingly resolved to wait in the neighbourhood of the city till more favourable circumstances. His patience was as great as his desire for the honour; for he was still waiting before the city in B. C. 63, when the conspiracy of Catiline broke out. He was sent into Apulia to prevent an apprehended rising of the slaves; and in the following year, B. C. 62, after the death of Catiline, he was at length permitted to make his triumphal entrance into Rome, and received the surname of Creticus. He was robbed, however, of the chief ornaments of his triumph, Lasthenes and Panares, whom a tribune of the plebs compelled him to surrender to Pompey.

Metellus, as was naturally to be expected, joined Lucullus and the other leaders of the aristocracy in their opposition to Pompey, and succeeded in preventing the latter from obtaining the ratification of his acts in Asia. In B. C. 60 Metellus was sent by the senate with two others to investigate the state of Gaul, where a rising of the people was apprehended. He is mentioned by Cicero, in B. C. 57, as one of the pontiffs before whom he spoke respecting his house, and he probably died soon afterwards. (Liv. Epit. 98_100; Flor. 3.7, 4.2; Eutrop. 6.11; Oros. 6.4; Vell. 2.34, 38; Just. 39.5; Appian, App. Sic. 6; Dio Cass. Frag. 178, 36.1, 2; Plut. Pomp. 29; Sal. Cat. 30; Cic. Verr. i. 9, pro Flacc. 3, 13, 40, in Pison. 24, ad Att. 1.19, de Har. Resp. 6.)

Metellus

24. L. Caecilius Metellus, brother of the preceding [No. 23], was praetor B. C. 71, and as propraetor succeeded Verres in the government of Sicily in B. C. 70. He defeated the pirates, who had conquered the Roman fleet and taken possession of the harbour of Syracuse, and compelled them to leave the island. His administration is praised by Cicero for restoring peace and security to the inhabitants, after the frightful scenes which had been enacted there by Verres; but he nevertheless attempted, in conjunction with his brothers, to shield Verres from injustice, and tried to prevent the Sicilians from bringing forward their testimony and complaints against him. He was consul B. C. 68 with Q. Marcius Rex, but died at the beginning of his year. (Liv. Epit. 98; Oros. 6.3; Cic. Verr. Act. 1.9, Accus. 2.4, 3.16, 2.28, 56, 67, 3.53, in Pis. 4; D. C. 35.4.)

Metellus

25. M. Caecilius Metellus, brother of the two preceding [Nos. 23, 24], was praetor B. C. 69, in the same year that his eldest brother was consul. The lot gave him the presidency in the court de pecuniis repetundis, and Verres was very anxious that his trial should come on before Metellus. (Cic. Verr. Act. 1.8, 9, 10.) Since he did not obtain the consulship, Drumann conjectures (vol. ii. p. 57) that the gladiators of M. Metellus, whom Cicero mentions in B. C. 60 (ad Att. 2.1.1) may have belonged to the son of the praetor, and were exhibited by him in honour of his father, who would therefore have died about this time.

Metellus

26. Q. Caeciiius Metellus Creticus, is conjectured by Drumann (vol. ii. p. 57) to have been the son of No. 23, and to have been the quaestor with C. Trebonius, who supported the adoption of Clodius into a plebeian family, when Trebonius opposed it. (Cic. Fam. 15.21.2.) This is, however, mere conjecture, for the name of the colleague of Trebonius is not even mentioned in the passage of Cicero referred to above. Cicero speaks (ad Att. 4.7.2), in B. C. 56, soon after his return from exile, of a Metellus who had lately died, and who had always acted badly towards him. As this Metellus cannot be any of the celebrated persons of that name, Drumann supposes him to have been the colleague of Trebonius.

Metellus

27. L. Caecilius Metellus Creticus, a son probably of No. 24 (comp. Cic. Ver. 3.68), was tribune of the plebs, B. C. 49, and, true to the hereditary principles of his family, distinguished himself by his warm support of the aristocracy. He did not fly from Rome on the approach of Caesar with Pompey and the rest of his party, but remained behind in the city. He also showed his courage in attempting to prevent Caesar from taking possession of the sacred treasury, and only gave way upon being threatened with death. (Plut. Caes. 35, Pomp. 62; D. C. 41.17; Appian, App. BC 2.41; Caes. Civ. 1.33; Lucan, 3.114, &c.; Cic. Att. 10.4, 8.) He soon afterwards left Rome, and was at Capua at the beginning of March, when Pompey was on the point of leaving Italy. Cicero mentions Clodia as his mother-in-law, who may perhaps have been the wife of Metellus, consul B. C. 60. [No. 20.] (Cic. Att. 9.6.3.)

There was a Metellus who fought on the side of Antony in the last civil war, was taken prisoner at the battle of Actium, and whose life was spared by Octavian at the intercession of his son, who had fought on the side of the latter. (Appian, App. BC 4.42.) The elder of these Metelli may have been the tribune of B. C. 49; but this is only conjecture.

Metellus

28. M. Caecilius Metellus, son probably of No. 25, is mentioned by Cicero in B. C. 60 (ad Att. 2.1.1). See No. 25.

Metellus

29. Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus, consul A. D. 7 with A. Licinius Nerva, was probably grandson of No. 23, and son of No. 26, if the latter ever existed. (D. C. 55.30; Fasti.)

Metellus

30. L. Caecilius Metellus, a triumvir of the mint, whose name is only known from coins, a specimen of which is annexed. The obverse has the head of Apollo, with (L.) METEL. A. ALB. S. F.: the reverse, a man sitting on shields, whom Victory is crowning from behind, with C. MAL., and beneath, Roma. It thus appears that the colleagues of this Metellus were A. Albinus and C. Malleolus. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 279.)

Metellus

A distinguished plebeian family of the Caecilia gens at Rome. (1) L. Caecilius Metellus, consul B.C. 251, carried on the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians. In the following year he gained a great victory at Panormus over Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general. The elephants which he took in this battle were exhibited in his triumph at Rome. Metellus was consul a second time in 249, and was elected pontifex maximus in 243, and held this dignity for twenty-two years. He must, therefore, have died shortly before the commencement of the Second Punic War. In 241 he rescued the Palladium when the Temple of Vesta was on fire, but lost his sight in consequence. He was dictator in 224 for the purpose of holding the comitia.

(2) Q. Caecilius Metellus, son of the preceding, was plebeian aedile B.C. 209; curule aedile 208; served in the army of the consul Claudius Nero 207, and was one of the legates sent to Rome to convey the joyful news of the defeat and death of Hasdrubal; and was consul with L. Veturius Philo, 206.In his consulship he and his colleague carried on the war against Hannibal in Bruttium, where he remained as proconsul during the following year. In 205 he was dictator for the purpose of holding the comitia. Metellus survived the Second Punic War many years, and was employed in several public commissions.

(3) Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonĭcus, son of the last, was praetor in B.C. 148, and carried on war in Macedonia against the usurper Andriscus, whom he defeated and took prisoner. He next turned his arms against the Achaeans, whom he defeated at the beginning of 146. On his return to Rome in 146, he triumphed, and received the surname of Macedonicus. Metellus was consul in 143, and received the province of Nearer Spain, where he carried on the war with success for two years against the Celtiberi. He was succeeded by Q. Pompeius in 141. Metellus was censor 131. He died 115, full of years and honours. He is frequently quoted by the ancient writers as an extraordinary instance of human felicity. He had filled all the highest offices of the State with reputation and glory, and was carried to the funeral pile by four sons, three of whom had obtained the consulship in his lifetime, while the fourth was a candidate for the office at the time of his death.

(4) L. Caecilius Metellus Calvus, brother of the last, consul B.C. 142.

(5) Q. Caecilius Metellus Balearĭcus, eldest son of No. 3 was consul B.C. 123, when he subdued the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, and received in consequence the surname of Balearicus. He was censor B.C. 120.

(6) L. Caecilius Metellus Diademātus, second son of No. 3, has been frequently confounded with Metellus Dalmaticus, consul B.C. 119. Metellus Diadematus received the latter name from his wearing for a long time a bandage round his forehead, in consequence of an ulcer. He was consul B.C. 117.

(7) M. Caecilius Metellus, third son of No. 3, was consul B.C. 115, the year in which his father died. In 114 he was sent into Sardinia as proconsul, and suppressed an insurrection in the island, in consequence of which he obtained a triumph in B.C. 113 on the same day as his brother Caprarius.

(8) C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, fourth son of No. 3. The origin of his surname is quite uncertain. He was consul B.C. 113, and carried on war in Macedonia against the Thracians, whom he subdued. He obtained a triumph in consequence in the same year and on the same day with his brother Marcus. He was censor B.C. 102 with his cousin Metellus Numidicus.

(9) L. Caecilius Metellus Dalmatĭcus, elder son of No. 4, and frequently confounded, as has been already remarked, with Diadematus, was consul B.C. 119, when he subdued the Dalmatians, and obtained in consequence the surname Dalmaticus. He was censor with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus in 115; and he was also pontifex maximus. He was alive in 100, when he is mentioned as one of the senators of high rank who took up arms against Saturninus.

(10) Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidĭcus, younger son of No. 4, was one of the most distinguished members of his family. The character of Metellus stood very high among his contemporaries; in an age of growing corruption, his personal integrity remained unsullied; and he was distinguished for his abilities in war and peace. He was one of the chief leaders of the aristocratic party at Rome. He was consul B.C. 109, and carried on the war against Iugurtha in Numidia with great success. (See Iugurtha.) He remained in Numidia during the following year as proconsul; but as he was unable to bring the war to a conclusion, his legate C. Marius industriously circulated reports in the camp and the city that Metellus designedly protracted the war for the purpose of continuing in the command. These rumours had the desired effect. Marius was raised to the consulship, Numidia was assigned to him as his province, and Metellus saw the credit of finishing the war snatched from his grasp. (See Marius.) On his return to Rome in 107 he was received with the greatest honour. He celebrated a splendid triumph, and received the surname of Numidicus. In 102 he was censor with his cousin Metellus Caprarius. In 100 the tribune Saturninus and Marius resolved to ruin Metellus. Saturninus proposed an agrarian law, to which he added the clause that the Senate should swear obedience to it within five days after its enactment, and that whosoever should refuse to do so should be expelled from the Senate and pay a heavy fine. Metellus refused to take the oath, and was therefore expelled from the Senate; but Saturninus, not content with this, brought forward a bill to punish him with exile. The friends of Metellus were ready to take up arms in his defence; but Metellus quitted the city and retired to Rhodes, where he bore his misfortune with great calmness. He was, however, recalled to Rome in the following year (99) on the proposition of the tribune Q. Calidius. The orations of Metellus are spoken of with praise by Cicero, and they continued to be read with admiration in the time of Fronto.

(11) Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, son of Balearicus and grandson of Macedonicus, appears to have received the surname of Nepos because he was the eldest grandson of the latter. Metellus Nepos exerted himself in obtaining the recall of his kinsman Metellus Numidicus from banishment in B.C. 99, and was consul in 98 with T. Didius. In this year the two consuls carried the lex Caecilia Didia.

(12) Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, son of Numidicus, received the surname of Pius on account of the love which he displayed for his father when he besought the people to recall him from banishment in B.C. 99. He was praetor B.C. 89, and was one of the commanders in the Marsic or Social War. He was still in arms in 87, prosecuting the war against the Samnites, when Marius landed in Italy and joined the consul Cinna. The Senate, in alarm, summoned Metellus to Rome; but as he was unable to defend the city against Marius and Cinna , he crossed over to Africa. After remaining in Africa three years, he returned to Italy and joined Sulla , who also returned to Italy in 83. In the war which followed against the Marian party, Metellus was one of the most successful of Sulla 's generals, and gained several important victories both in Umbria and in Cisalpine Gaul. In 80 Metellus was consul with Sulla himself; and in the following year (79) he went as proconsul into Spain, in order to prosecute the war against Sertorius, who adhered to the Marian party. Here he remained for the next eight years, and found it so difficult to obtain any advantages over Sertorius that the Senate sent Pompey to his assistance with proconsular power and another army. Sertorius, however, was a match for them both, and would probably have continued to defy all the efforts of Metellus and Pompey if he had not been murdered by Perperna and his friends in 72. (See Sertorius.) Metellus was pontifex maximus, and, as he was succeeded in this dignity by Iulius Caesar in 63, he must have died either in this year or at the end of the preceding.

(13) Q Caecilius Metellus Celer, elder son of Nepos. In B.C. 66 he served as legate in the army of Pompey in Asia; and was praetor in 63, the year in which Cicero was consul. During his year of office he afforded warm and efficient support to the aristocratic party. He prevented the condemnation of C. Rabirius by removing the military flag from the Ianiculum. He coöperated with Cicero in opposing the schemes of Catiline; and, when the latter left the city to make war upon the Republic, Metellus had the charge of the Picentine and Senonian districts. By blocking up the passes he prevented Catiline from crossing the Apennines and penetrating into Gaul, and thus compelled him to turn round and face Antoninus, who was marching against him from Etruria. In the following year, 62, Metellus went with the title of proconsul into the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which Cicero had relinquished because he was unwilling to leave the city. In 60 Metellus was consul with L. Afranius, and opposed all the efforts of his colleague to obtain the ratification of Pompey's acts in Asia and an assignment of lands for his soldiers. He died in 59, and it was suspected that he had been poisoned by his wife Clodia, with whom he lived on the most unhappy terms, and who was a woman of the utmost profligacy.

(14) Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, younger son of the elder Nepos (No. 11). He served as legate of Pompey in the war against the pirates and in Asia from B.C. 67 to 64. He returned to Rome in 63 in order to become a candidate for the tribunate, that he might thereby favour the views of Pompey. His election was opposed by the aristocracy, but without success. His year of office was a stormy one. One of his first acts in entering upon his office on the 10th of December, 63, was a violent attack upon Cicero. He maintained that the man who had condemned Roman citizens without a hearing ought not to be heard himself, and accordingly prevented Cicero from addressing the people on the last day of his consulship, and only allowed him to take the usual oath, whereupon Cicero swore that he had saved the State. In the following year (62) Metellus brought forward a bill to summon Pompey, with his army, to Rome, in order to restore peace; but on the day on which the bill was to be read, the two parties came to open blows; and Metellus was obliged to take to flight. He repaired to Pompey, with whom he returned to Rome in 61. He was praetor in 60, and consul in 57 with P. Lentulus Spinther. Notwithstanding his previous enmity with Cicero, he did not oppose his recall from exile. In 56 Metellus administered the province of Nearer Spain, where he carried on war against the Vaccaei. He died in 55. Metellus did not adhere strictly to the political principles of his family. He did not support the aristocracy, like his brother; nor, on the other hand, can he be said to have been the leader of the democracy. He was rather the faithful henchman of Pompey, opposing or supporting Cicero as his master required.

(15) L. Caecilius Metellus Cretĭcus, tribune of the people in B.C. 49 and a supporter of the aristocracy. At the outbreak of the Civil War he did not leave the city when Pompey fled, but remained and opposed Caesar, who demanded possession of the sacred treasury. Metellus yielded only on compulsion ( Caes., Pomp.; B. C. i. 33).

Metellus Metellus, Romanambassador to Greece

• Paus. 7.8.6
• denounces Achaeans: Paus. 7.9.1

Metellus(2), Roman general

• puts down revolt in Macedonia: Paus. 7.13.1
• treats with Achaeans: Paus. 7.13.2, 5
• fines Thebans: Paus. 7.14.7
• defeats Achaeans and their allies: Paus. 7.15.1-6