Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/945

Rh MARCELLUS. ninnity. According to Livy's own ncconnt, he alienated the minds of the Sicilians by his cruel executions at Leontini; and he approved of, though he did not order, the barbarous massacre at F]nna. The feelings with which he inspired the whole of the Sicilian Greeks may be gathered from their expression reported by Livy, that it would be better for the island to be sunk in the sea, or overwhelmed by the flames of Aetna, than to be placed once more at the mercy of Marcellus. (Li v. xxvi. 2.9 ; comp. Appian, Sic. 4, 5.) It is admitted even by Plutarch (his most unqualified panegyrist) that he was illiterate and imperfectly educated ; and his character may be summed up as that of a rude, stern soldier, brave and daring to excess, but harsh and unyielding, and wanting alike the more graceful qualities which adorned the character of Scipio and the prudence necessary to constitute a truly great general. The head on the obverse of the annexed coin (struck by P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus) is unquestionably that of the conqueror of Syracuse : the reverse represents him carrying the spolia opima to the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. COIN OF MARCELLUS. 5. M. Claudius M. p. M. n. Marcellus, son of the preceding, was remarkable as a youth for his personal beauty, as well as for his modest and engaging demeanour. The insult offered him by ScaiUilius, and the punishment inflicted on the latter by the elder Marcellus, have been already ad- verted to (p. 297, b). In B. c. 208 he accompanied his father as military tribune, and was one of those present with him at the time of his death. He was himself badly wounded in the skirmish in which the elder Marcellus fell, notwithstanding which, we find him shortly after entrusted by the consul Crispinus with the charge of conducting the troops of his father's army into safe quarters at Venusia. (Liv. xxvii. 27, 29 ; Polyb. x. 32 ; Phit. Marc. 28 — 30.) On his return to Rome, he received from Hannibal the ashes of his father, over which he pronounced his funeral oration, a composition which Caelius Antipater already re- garded as unworthy of credit in an historical point of view (Liv. xxvii. 27), though it may well be suspected to be the source from whence have emanated many of the misrepresentations and ex- aggerations which have disfigured the history of the elder Marcellus. In B. c. 205 he dedicated the temple of Virtus, near the Porta Capena, which had been vowed by his father, but was still unfinished at the time of his death (Liv, xxix. 11) ; and the following year (204) he held the oflice of tribune of the people. 1 n this capacity he was one of those appointed to accompany the praetor, M. Pomponius Matho, to inquire into the charge of sacrilege brought by the Locrians against Scipio, as well as his lieutenant, Plerainius. (Liv. xxix. 20.) Four years later ( B. c. 200) he was curule aedile with Sex. Aelius MARCELLUS. 931 Paetus: they rendered their magistracy conspi- cuous by the quantity of corn that they imported at a cheap rate from Africa, as well as by the magnificence with which they celebrated the Ro- man games. (Liv. xxxi. 50.) In b. c. 198 he was elected one of the praetors, and obtained Sicily as his province, with a force of 4000 foot and 300 horse, but his services were confined to the send- ing supplies to the Roman armies in Greece. (Id. xxxii. 8, 27.) After the customary interval of two years he obtained the consulship, with L. Furius Purpureo, B.C. 196. (Id. xxxiii. 24 ; Fast. Capit.) His great object was to obtain the renewal or con- tinuation of the Macedonian war, to which an end had just been put by Flamininus ; but this was frustrated by the people, who ratified the peace which the latter had concluded with Philip ; and Marcellus was compelled to content himself with the conduct of the war in Cisalpine Gaul. Here he at first met with a defeat from the Boians, but this was soon compensated by a brilliant victory over the Insubrians, and the conquest of the im- portant town of Coraum. Besides this, in conjunc- tion with his colleague, Purpureo, he obtained some advantages over the Boians and Ligurians : and on his return to Rome was, by unanimous con- sent, honoured with a triumph. (Liv. xxxiii. 2.% 36, 37 ; Polyb. xviii. 25.) In the same year he was appointed pontifex, in the room of C. Sempro- nius Tuditanus. (Liv. xxxiii. 42.) In B. c. 193 he again served in Cisalpine Gaul as one of the lieutenants of the consul L. Cornelius Merula, and took part in the great victory he obtained over the Boians. (Id. xxxv. 5, 8.) In B.C. 189 he ob- tained the censorship in conjunction with T. Fla- mininus, an honour which was enhanced in this instance by the number of distinguished competitors over whom they obtained the preference. Their census was marked by the first admission of the people of Formiae, Fundi, and Arpinura, to the full rights of Roman citizens. (Liv. xxxvii. 58, xxxviii. 28, 36.) From this time we hear no more of him till his death, in b. c. 177. (Id. xli. 1 3.) 6. M. Claudius M. f. M. n. Marcellus, probably a brother of the preceding, though bearing the same praenomen, was consul in B. c. 183, with Q. Fabius Labeo. (Liv. xxxix. 44; Fast. Capit.) It seems probable that he is the same person who is mentioned (Liv. xxxix. 23) as one of the praetors two years before (b. c. 185), though his name is there written in many of the editions and MSS. of Livy Marcellinus. Liguria was assigned to both the consuls as their province ; but the arms of Mar- cellus were in fact directed against a body of Gauls who had lately crossed the Alps, and settled them- selves in the territory of Aquileia. They, however, submitted on the approach of the consul, were dis- armed, and compelled to return across the moun- tains. After this he carried his arms into 1 stria, but apparently effected little, and was soon obliged to return to Rome to hold the comitia. (Liv. xxxix. 45, 54 — 56.) He held the sacerdotal office of dccemmr sacrorum, and died in b. c. 169. (Liv. xliv. 18.) 7. M. Claudius Marcellus, praetor in b. c. 188, in which oflSce he ordered two Romans of noble birth, who had been guilty of an outrage towards the Carthaginian ambassadors, to be given up to that people. (Liv. xxxviii. 35, 42.) Some writers consider that it is this Marcellus, and not the praetor of 185, who became consul in 183. 3o 2