Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/693

Rh CETHEGUS. used as a burial-place, stands near the Porta Osti- ensis, and part of it is within and part witliout tlie walls of Aurelian. From an inscription upon it we are told, that it was erected, in accordance with a testamentary provision, for C. Cestius, the son of Lucius, who hatl been Epulo, Praetor, Tri- bune of the plobs, and one of the seven Epulones ; and from another inscription on it, in which the names of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus and M. Agrippa occur, we learn, that it was built in the reign of Augustus. Whether this C. Cestius is to be identified with one of the persons of this name mentioned by Cicero [see above, No. 1], as some modem writers have supposed, cannot be deter- mined. The name of L. Cestius occurs on two coins, together with that of C. Norbanus ; but who these two persons were is quite uncertain, A specimen of one of these coins is given below : the obverse represents a female head covered with an elephant's skin, the reverse a sella curulis with a helmet on the top of it. (Eckhel, v. p. 169.) CETHEGUS. 676 L. CE'STIUS PIUS, a native of Smyrna, taught rhetoric at Rome a few years before the commence- ment of the Christian era. He was chiefly cele- brated on account of the declamations which he was wont to deliver in places of public resort in reply to the orations of Cicero ; but neither Seneca nor Quintilian speaks of him with any respect. No fragment of his works has been preserved. (Hiero- nyra. ap. Chron. Euseb. ad 01. cxci. ; Senec. Con- trov. ill praef., Suasor. vii. ; QuintiL x. 5. § 20 ; Meyer, Orator. Roman. Fragm.) [W. R.] CETHE'GUS, the name of a patrician family of the Cornelia gens. The family was of old date. They seem to have kept up an old fashion of wear- ing their arras bare, to which Horace alludes in the words cinctuti Cethegi {Ars Poiit. 50) ; and Lucan (ii. 543) describes the associate of Catiline [see No. 8] thus, ejcserliquc manus vesana CetJiegi. 1. M. Cornelius M. f. M. n. Cethegus, was curule aedile in b. c. 213, and pontifex maximus in the same year upon the death of L. Lentulus ; praetor in 21 1 when he had the charge of Apulia ; censor in 209 with P. Sempronius Tuditanus ; and consul with the same colleague in 204. In the next year he commanded as proconsul in Cisalpine Gaul, where with the praetor QuintUius Varus he defeated Mago, the brother of Hannibal, and com- pelled him to quit Italy. He died in b. c. 196 (Liv. XXV. 2, 41, xxvii. 11, xxix. 11, xxx. 18.) His eloquence was rated very high, so that Ennius gave him the name of Suadae medulla (ap. Cic. Cat. Maj. 14 ; corap. ^rw^ 15), and Horace twice refers to him as an ancient authority for the usage of Latin words, {Epist. ii. 2. 116, Ars Pott. 50, and Schol, ad loc.) 2. 0. Cornelius L, p. M. n. Cethegus, com- manded in Spain as proconsul in B, c. 200, before he had been aedile. Elected aedile in his absence he exhibited the games with great magnificence. (b. c. 199,) As consul (b. c. 197;, he defeated the Insiibrians and Cenomanians in Cisalpine Gaul, and triumphed. He was censor in 1 94 ; and to- wards the close of the next year, after holding the lustrum, he went as joint commissioner with Scipio Africanus and Minucius Rufus to mediate between Masinissa and Carthage. (Liv. xxxi. 49, 50, xxxii. 7, 27—30, xxxiii. 23, xxxiv. 44, 62.) 3. P. Cornelius L. f. P. n. Cethegus, curule aedile in B, c, 187, praetor in 185, and consul in 181. The grave of Numa was discovered in his consulship. He triumphed with his colleague Baebius Tamphilus over the Ligurians, though no battle had been fought, — an honour that had not been granted to any one before. In 173 he was one of the ten commissioners for dividing the Li- gurian and Gallic lands. (Liv. xxxix, 7, 23, xl. 18; Val. Max. i. 1. § 12 ; Plin. H. N. xiii. 13. s. 27 ; Plut, Num. 22 ; Liv. xl. 38, xlii, 4,) 4. P. Cornelius Cethegus, praetor in 184 B. c. (Liv. xxxix. 32, 38, 39.) 5. M. Cornelius C. f. C. n. Cethegus, was sent in B. c, 171 as one of a commission into Cis- alpine Gaul, to inquire why the consul C. Cassias Longinus had left his province. In 169 he was triumvir coloniae deducendae, in order to plant an additioi^al body of citizens at Aquileia. As consul in 160 he drained a part of the Pontine Marshes. (Liv. xliii. 1, 17, Epit. 46.) 6. L, Cornelius Cethegus, one of the chief supporters of a bill brought in (b. c. 149) by L. Scribonius Libo, tribune of tlie plebs, to impeach Serv. Sulpicius Galba for breach of his word, in putting some of the Lusitanians to death, and selling others as slaves, (Liv. Epit. 49 ; Cic. de Oral. i. 52, End. 23, ad Alt. xii. 5.) 7. P. Cornelius Cethegus, a friend of Marius, who being proscribed by Sulla (b. c. 88) fled with the younger Marius into Numidia, but returned next year to Rome with the heads of his party. In 83, however, he went over to Sulla, and was pardoned. (Appian, B. C. i. 60 62, 80.) Not- withstanding his notorious bad life, and utter want of faith, he retained great power and influence even after Sulla's death ; and it was he who joined the consiJ M. Cotta in procuring the unlimited command of the MediteiTanean for a man like himself, M. Antonius Creticus [Antonius, No. 9] ; nor did LucuUus disdain to sue Cethegus' concubine to use her interest in liis favour, when he was seeking to obtain the command against Mithridates. (Cic, Parad. v. 3 ; Plut. LucuU. 5, 6 ; comp. Cic. pro Cluent. 31.) 8. C. Cornelius Cethegus, one of Catiline's crew. His profligate character shewed itself in early youth (Cic. pro Suit. 25) ; the heavy debts he had contracted made him ready for any des- perate political attempt ; and before he was old enough to be aedile, he had leagued himself with Catiline, (b. c. 63.) When his chief left Rome, after Cicero's first speech, Cethegus staid behind under the orders of Lentulus. His charge was to murder the leading senators. But the tardiness of Lentulus prevented anything being done. Cethegus was ari'ested and condemned to death with the other conspirators, the evidence against him being the swords and daggers which he had collected in his house, and the letter under his hand and seal which he had given to the Allobrogian ambas- sadors, Cethegus was a bold, rash, enterprising man {manus vesana Cethegi^ Lucan, ii. 543 ; comp. Cic. in Cat. iv. 6) ; and if the chief part, after 2x2