Cethegus

Cĕthĕgus, i, m., a Roman cognomen in the Cornelian gens.

• I M. Cornelius Cethegus, a distinguished orator, Cic. Sen. 14, 50; id. Brut. 15, 59 al.; to him Horace alludes in the passage: priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 117; cf. id. A. P. 50.—
• II C. Cornelius Cethegus, companion of Catiline, Cic. Cat. 3, 3, 6; Sall. C. 32, 2; 43, 2.—Prov.: Clodius accuset moechos, Catilina Cethegum, Juv. 2, 27; cf. id. 8, 231; 10, 287.

Cethēgus, ī, m., röm. Beiname in der gens Cornelia, unter dem bes. bekannt sind: M. Cornelius C., von Ennius als Redner ausgezeichnet, Cic. de sen. 50; Brut. 57 (dah., mit Anspielung auf ihn, quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis, Hor. ep. 2, 2, 117; vgl. de art. poët. 50). – u. C. Cornelius C., Mitverschworener des Katilina, dem die Ermordung der Senatoren u. bes. die Ciceros zugewiesen war, Cic. Cat. 3, 6 sq.; Sull. 53. Sall. Cat. 32, 2; 43, 2 sq. (dah. das sprichw. Clodius accuset moechos, Catilina Cethegum, Iuven. 2, 27; vgl. 8, 231; 10, 287).

Cĕthēgus, (10) ī, m. , surnom des Cornelii : Cic. Br. 57, CM 50 || complice de Catilina : Sall. C. 43, 2 ; 43, 3 || Cĕthēgī, ōrum, des Cethegus [des Romains de lʼancien temps] : Hor. P. 50.

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 wearing their arms bare, to which Horace alludes in the words cinctuti Cethegi (Ars Poet. 50); and Lucan (2.543) describes the associate of Catiline [see No. 8] thus, exsertique manus vesana Cethegi.

Cethe'gus

1. M. Cornelius Cethegus, M. F. M. N., was curule aedile in B. C. 213, and pontifex maximus in the same year upon the death of L. Lentulus; praetor in 211 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 Quintilius Varus he defeated Mago, the brother of Hannibal, and compelled him to quit Italy. He died in B. C. 196 (Liv. 25.2, 41, 27.11, 29.11, 30.18.) His eloquence was rated very high, so that Ennius gave him the name of Suadae medulla (ap. Cic. Cat. Maj. 14; comp. Brut. 15), and Horace twice refers to him as an ancient authority for the usage of Latin words. (Epist. 2.2. 116, Ars Poet. 50, and Schol. ad loc.)

Cethe'gus

2. C. Cornelius L. F. M. N. Cethegus, commanded 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 Insubrians and Cenomanians in Cisalpine Gaul, and triumphed. He was censor in 194; and towards 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. 31.49, 50, 32.7, 27-30, 33.23, 34.44, 62.)

Cethe'gus

3. P. Cornelius Cethegus, L. F. P. N., 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 Ligurian and Gallic lands. (Liv. 39.7, 23, 40.18; V. Max. 1.1.12; Plin. Nat. 13.13. s. 27 ; Plut. Num. 22; Liv. 40.38, 42.4.)

Cethe'gus

4. P. Cornelius Cethegus, praetor in 184 B. C. (Liv. 39.32, 38, 39.)

Cethe'gus

5. M. Cornelius Cethegus, C. F. C. N., was sent in B. C. 171 as one of a commission into Cisalpine Gaul, to inquire why the consul C. Cassius Longinus had left his province. In 169 he was triumvir coloniae deducendae, in order to plant an additional body of citizens at Aquileia. As consul in 160 he drained a part of the Pontine Marshes. (Liv. 43.1, 17, Epit. 46.)

Cethe'gus

6. L. Cornelius Cethegus, one of the chief supporters of a bill brought in (B. C. 149) by L. Scribonius Libo, tribune of the 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 Orat. 1.52, Brut. 23, ad Att. 12.5.)

Cethe'gus

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, App. BC 1.60.62,80.) Notwithstanding 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 consul M. Cotta in procuring the unlimited command of the Mediterranean for a man like himself, M. Antonius Creticus [Antonius, No. 9]; nor did Lucullus disdain to sue Cethegus' concubine to use her interest in his favour, when he was seeking to obtain the command against Mithridates. (Cic. Parad. 5.3; Plut. Luc. 5, 6; comp. Cic. Clu. 31.)

Cethe'gus

8. C. Cornelius Cethegus, one of Catiline's crew. His profligate character shewed itself in early youth (Cic. pro Sull. 25); the heavy debts he had contracted made him ready for any desperate 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 arrested 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 ambassadors. Cethegus was a bold, rash, enterprising man (manus vesana Cethegi, Lucan, 2.543; comp. Cic. in Cat. 4.6); and if the chief part, after Catiline's departure, had fallen to him instead of Lentulus, it is more than possible that Rome would have been fired and pillaged, and her best citizens murdered. (Sal. Cat. 17, 46_50, 55; Cic. in Cat. 3.3, 5-7, pro Sull. 6, 25, &c., post Red. in Sen. 4, pro Domo, 24; Appian, App. BC 2.2_5, &c., 15.) [H.G.L]

Cethēgus

(1) A Roman consul, in B.C. 332. He was obliged to lay down his office on account of some informality in his election.

(2) M. Cornelius, a distinguished Roman orator. Being sent as praetor to Sicily, he quelled a sedition of the soldiers in that island. He was called to the censorship before he had been consul, a thing not in accordance with Roman usage, and obtained this latter office six years subsequently, B.C. 204. He carried on the war against the Carthaginians in Etruria, and defeated Mago, who was coming with support for Hannibal. In allusion to his persuasive eloquence, Ennius twice calls him Suadae medulla. Horace (Epist. ii. 2. 116; A. P. 50) cites him as an authority on the use of words.

(3) C. Cornelius, proconsul in Spain in B.C. 200, defeated a numerous army of the Sedetani. Being elected consul B.C. 197, he gained a great victory over the Insubres, and on his return to Rome obtained the honours of a triumph. The people having afterwards chosen him censor, he assigned distinct places to the senators at the public games.

(4) C. Cornelius, a Roman rendered powerful by his influence with Marius. He himself was wholly governed by a woman named Praecia, who obtained for Lucullus the government of Cilicia.

(5) C. Cornelius, a Roman of the most corrupt and abandoned character, and one of the accomplices of Catiline. He was strangled in prison by order of the Senate. See Catilina.