Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/394

Rh '6U2 PLANCINA. taxes In. Asia, «ind by the support which he gave in B. c. 59 to Julius Caesar, who granted the demands of tlie equites. The younger Plancius, the subject of this notice, first served in Africa under the propraetor A. Torquatus, subsequently in B.C. G8 under the proconsul Q. Metellus in Crete, and next in B. r. 62 as military tribune in the army of C. Antonius in Macedonia. In B. c. 58 he was quaestor in the last-mentioned province under the propraetor L. Appuleias, and here he showed great kindness and attention to Cicero, when the latter came to Macedonia during his banishment in the course of this year. Plancius was tribune of the plebs in B. c. 56. In B. c. 55, in the second consulship of Pompey and Crassus, he became a candidate for the curule aedileship with A. Piotius, Q. Pedius, and M. Juventius Late- rensis. Tlie elections were put off this year ; but in the following year, b.c. 54, Plancius and Piotius were elected, and had consequently to serve as aediles for the remainder of the year. But before they entered upon their office Juventius Laterensis, in conjunction with L. Cassius Longinus, accused Plancius of the crime of sodalitium, or the bribery of the tribes by means of illegal associations, in accordance with the Lex Licinia, which had been proposed by the consul Licinius Crassus in the preceding year. By this law the accuser had not onl}' the power of choosing the president {qjiaesitor) of the court that was to try the case, but also of selecting four tribes, from which the judices were to be taken, and one of which alone the accused had the privilege of rejecting. The praetor C. Alfius Flavus was the quaesitor selected by Laterensis. Cicero defended Plancius, and ob- tained his acquittal. He subsequently espoused the Pompeian party in the civil wars, and after Caesar had gained the supremacy lived in exile at Corcyra. While he was living there Cicero wrote to him two letters of condolence which have come down to us. (Cic. pro Plane, passim, ad Q.Fr. ii. 1. % 3, ad Ait. iii. 14, 22, ad Fam. xiv. 1, ad Q. Fr. iii. L § 4, ad Fam. iv. 14, 15, vi. 20, xvi. 9.) coin, must of course be different from the pre- ceding Cn. Plancius, since we have seen that he failed in obtaining the curule aedileship. The obverse represents a female head, probably that of Diana, with the legend cn. plancivs aed. cvr. s. c, and the reverse a she-goat, a bow and a quiver. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 275.) COIN OF CN. PLANCIUS. PLANCFADES, FULGE'NTIUS. [Ful- GKNTIUS.] PLANCIA'NUS, LAETO'RIUS. [Laeto- Rius, No. 4.] PLANCFNA, MUNA'TIA, the wife of Cn. Piso, who was appointed governor of Syria in A. D. 18 [Piso, No. 23], was probably the daughter of L. Munatius Plancus, consul b. c. 42. She pos- PLANCUS. sessed all the pride and haughtiness nf her hus- band, and while he used every effort to thwart Germanicus, she exerted herself equally to annoy and insult Agrippina. She was encouraged in this conduct by Li via, the mother of the emperol, who hated Agrippina most cordially. On the return of her husband to Rome in A. d. 20, after the death of Germanicus, whom it was believed that she and Piso had poisoned, she was involved in the same accusation as her husband, but was pardoned by the senate in consequence of the entreaties of the empress-mother. As long as the latter was alive, Plancina was safe, and she was suffered to remain unmolested for a few years even after the death of Livia, which took place in A. D. 29. But being accused in a. d. 33, she no longer possessed any hope of escape, and accord- ingly put an end to her own life. (Tac. Ann. ii. 43, ob, 75, iii. 9, 15, 17, vi. 26 ; Dion Cass. Ivii. 18, iviii. 22.) PLANCUS, the name of the most distin- guished family of the plebeian Munatia gens, is said to have signified a person having flat splay feet without any bend in them. (Plin. //. A', xi. 45. 8. 105 ; Festus, s. v. Plancae.) Instead of Plancus Ave frequently find Plancius both in manuscripts and editions of the ancient writers. For a detailed account of the persons mentioned below, see Drumann's Rom. vol. iv. p. 205, &c. 1. Cn. Munatius Plancus, was accused by M. Brutus, and defended by the orator L. Crassus, about B.C. 106 (Cic. de Or.W. BA^ pro Cluent. 51 ; Quintil. vi. 3. § 44.) 2. L. Munatius L. f. L. n. Plancus, was a friend of Julius Caesar, and served under him both in the Gallic and the civil wars. He is mentioned as one of Caesar's legati in Gaul in the winter of b. c. 54 and 53 ; and he was in conjunction with C.Fa- bius, the commander of Caesar's troops near Ilerda in Spain at the beginning of b. c. 49. He accom- panied Caesar in his African campaign in b. c. 46, and attempted, but without success, to induce C. Considius, the Pompeian commander, to sur- render to him the town of Adrumetum. At the end of this year he was appointed one of the praefects of the city, to whom the charge of Rome was entrusted during Caesar's absence in Spain. next year. , He received a still further proof of Caesar's confidence in being nominated to the government of Transalpine Gaul for b. c. 44, with the exception of the Narbonese and Belgic por- tions of the province, and also to the consulshi for B. c. 42, Avith D. Brutus as his colleague. Ottl the death of Caesar in B. c. 44 the political life of Plancus may be said to commence. After de-J daring himself in favour of an amnesty he has-j tened into Gaul to take possession of his provincdi as speedily as possible. While here he carried oi an active correspondence with Cicero, who pressed him with the greatest eagerness to join the sens torial party, and to cross the Alps to the relief oi D. Brutus, who was now besieged by Antony Mutina. After some hesitation and delay Plancua at length in the month of April B.C. 43, com menced his march southwards, but he had nof crossed the Alps when he received intelligence the defeat of Antony and the relief of Mutina bj Octavian and the consuls Hirtius andPansa. There upon he halted in the territory of the Allobroges and being joined by D. Brutus and his army, pre pared to carry on the war against Antony. Bu
 * 2. Mentioned as curule aedile on the following