Dolabella

Dŏlābella, ae, m.

• nom. pr., the name of a Roman family in the gens Cornelia, of which the best-known individual is P. Cornelius Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, Cic. Fam. 2, 16, 5 al.
• —Hence, Dŏlābel-lĭānus, a, um, adj.: pira, named after a Dolabella otherwise unknown, Col. 5, 10, 18; 12, 10, 4; Plin. 15, 15, 16, § 54.

2. Dolābella, ae, m., ein röm. Familienname in der gens Cornelia, unter dem am bekanntesten: P. Cornelius Dolabella, Schwiegersohn Ciceros, Cic. ep. 2, 16, 5 u. 7 (u. sonst oft in Cic. epp., s. Orelli Onomast. Tull. 1. p. 175 sq.). – Dav. Dolābelliānus, a, um, nach einem (unbekannten) Dolabella benannt, dolabellianisch, Col. u. Plin.

2 Dŏlābella, (9) æ, m. , nom dʼune branche des Cornelii, not^t P. Cornélius Dolabella [gendre de Cicéron] : Cic. Fam. 2, 16, 5 || -ĭānus, a, um, de Dolabella ; Dolabelliana pira Plin. 15, 54, sorte de poires [ainsi appelées dʼun Dolabella].

Dolabella

Δολαβέλλας, sometimes written Dolobella, the name of a family of the patrician Cornelia gens. (Ruhnken, ad Vell. Pat. 2.43.)

Dolabella

1. P. Cornelius Dolabella Maximus, was consul in B. C. 283 with Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and in that year conquered the Senones, who had defeated the praetor L. Caecilius, and murdered the Roman ambassadors. Owing to the loss of the consular Fasti for that time we do not hear of his triumph, though he undoubtedly celebrated his victory by a triumph. In B. C. 279 he, together with C. Fabricius and Q. Aemilius, went to Pyrrhus as ambassadors to effect an exchange of prisoners. (Eutrop. 2.6; Florus, 1.13; Appian, Samnit. 6, Gall. 11; Dionys. Excerpt, p. 2344, ed. Reiske, and p. 75, ed. Frankfurt.)

Dolabella

2. Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, was inaugurated in B. C. 208 as rex sacrorum in the place of M. Marcius, and he held this office until his death in B. C. 180. (Liv. 27.36, 40.42.)

Dolabella

3. L. Cornelius Dolabella, was duumvir navalis in B. C. 180. In that year his kinsman, Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, the rex sacrorum, died, and our Dolabella wanted to become his successor. But C. Servilius, the pontifex maximus, before inaugurating him, demanded of him to resign his office of duumvir navalis. When Dolabella refused to obey this command, the pontifex inflicted a fine upon him. Dolabella appealed against it to the people. Several tribes had already given their vote that Dolabella ought to obey, and that he should be released from the fine if he would resign the office of duumvir navalis, when some sign in the heavens broke up the assembly. This was a fresh reason for the pontiff's refusing to inaugurate Dolabella. As duumvir navalis he and his colleague, C. Furius, had to protect the eastern coast of Italy with a fleet of twenty sail against the Illyrians. (Liv. 40.42; 41.5.)

Dolabella

4. Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, was curule aedile in B. C. 165, in which year he and his colleague, Sex. Julius Caesar, had the Hecyra of Terence performed at the festival of the Megalesia. In B. C. 159 he was consul with M. Fulvius Nobilior. (Title of Terent. Hecyr.; Suet. Vit. Terent. 5.)

Dolabella

5. Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, a grandson of No. 4, and a son of the Cn. Cornelius Dolabella who was put to death in B. C. 100, together with the tribune Appuleius Saturninus. During the civil war between Marius and Sulla, Dolabella sided with the latter, and in B. C. 81, when Sulla was dictator, Dolabella was raised to the consulship, and afterwards received Macedonia for his province. He there carried on a successful war against the Thracians, for which he was rewarded on his return with a triumph. In B. C. 77, however, young Julius Caesar charged him with having been guilty of extortion in his province, but he was acquitted. (Oros. 5.17; Plut. Sull. 28, &c.; Appian, App. BC 1.100; Suet. Jul. 4, 49, 55; Vell. 2.43; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 78; V. Max. 8.9.3; Cic. in Pison. 19, Brut. 92, de Leg. Agr. 2.14; Tacit. de Orat. 34; Gellius, 15.28; Ascon. in Scaur. p. 29, in Cornel. p. 73, ed. Orelli.)

Dolabella

6. Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, was praetor urbanus, in B. C. 81, when the cause of P. Quintius was tried. Cicero charges him with having acted on that occasion unjustly and against all established usages. The year after he had Cilicia for his province, and C. Malleolus was his quaestor, and the notorious Verres his legate. Dolabella not only tolerated the extortions and robberies committed by them, but shared in their booty. He was especially indulgent towards Verres, and, after Malleolus was murdered, he made Verres his proquaestor. After his return to Rome, Dolabella was accused by M. Aemilius Scaurus of extortion in his province, and on that occasion Verres not only deserted his accomplice, but furnished the accuser with all the necessary information, and even spoke himself publicly against Dolabella. Many of the crimes committed by Verres himself were thus put to the account of Dolabella, who was therefore condemned. He went into exile, and left his wife and children behind him in great poverty. (Cic. pro Quint. 2, 8; in Verr. 1.4, 15, 17, 29; Ascon. in Cornel. p. 110, ed. Orelli, who however confounds him with No. 5.)

Dolabella

7. P. Cornelius Dolabella, was praetor urbanus in B. C. 67; if, as is usually supposed, this be the year in which Cicero spoke for Aulus Caecina. (Cic. pro Cace. 8.) He seems to be the same person as the Dolabella who is mentioned by Valerius Maximus, (8.1, Ambustae, § 2,) as governor of Asia, with the title of proconsul. (Comp. Gel. 12.7, where he bears the praenomen Cneius; Amm. Marc. 29.2.)

Dolabella

8. P. Cornelius Dolabella, perhaps a son of No. 7, was one of the most profligate men of his time. He was born about B. C. 70, and is said to have been guilty, even in early youth, of some capital offences, which might have cost him his life, had not Cicero defended and saved him with great exertions. In B. C. 51, he was appointed a member of the college of the quindecimviri, and the year following he accused Appius Claudius of having violated the sovereign rights of the people. While this trial was going on, Fabia, the wife of Dolabella, left her husband. She had been compelled to take this step by the conduct of her husband, who hoped by a marriage with Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, to prevent Cicero from assisting App. Claudius in his trial by favourable testimonies from Cilicia. Cicero himself, on the other hand, was anxious to oblige App. Claudius, and was therefore by no means inclined to give his own daughter in marriage to the accuser of Claudius; he had, besides, been contemplating to bring about a marriage between Tullia and Tib. Claudius Nero. But Cicero's wife was gained over by Dolabella, and, before Cicero could interfere, the engagement was made, and the marriage soon followed. Cicero seems to have been grieved by the affair, for he knew the vicious character of his son-in-law; but Cloelius endeavoured to console him by saying, that the vices of Dolabella were mere youthful ebullitions, the time of which was now gone by, and that if there remained any traces of them, they would soon be corrected by Cicero's influence, and the virtuous conduct of Tullia. App. Claudius was acquitted in the mean time, and as thus the great outward obstacle was removed, Cicero tried to make the best of what he had been unable to prevent. In his letters written about that time, and afterwards, Cicero speaks of Dolabella with admiration and affection, and he may have really hoped that his son-in-law would improve; but the consequences of his former recklessness and licentiousness, even if he had wished to mend, drove him to new acts of the same kind. The great amount of debts which he had contracted, and the urgent demands of his creditors, compelled him in B. C. 49 to seek refuge in the camp of Caesar. This was a severe blow to Cicero, who speaks of the step with great sorrow. When Caesar marched into Spain against Pompey's legates, Dolabella had the command of Caesar's fleet in the Adriatic, but was unable to effect anything of consequence. After the battle of Pharsalus, in which he had taken a part, Dolabella returned to Rome. He had hoped that Caesar would liberally reward his services, or that proscriptions, like those of Sulla, would afford him the means of obtaining money ; but in vain. His creditors were as loud and troublesome in their demands as before, and he at last had recourse to a new expedient. He caused himself to be adopted into the plebeian family of Cn. Lentulus--whence he is afterwards sometimes called Lentulus--in order to be able to obtain the tribuneship. He was accordingly made tribune in it. 100.48; and, in spite of the decree of the senate, that everything at Rome should remain unchanged till Caesar's return from Alexandria, Dolabella came forward with a rogation, that all debts should be cancelled, and with some other measures of a similar character. His colleagues, Asinius and L. Trebellius, opposed the scheme, and vehement and bloody struggles ensued between the two parties which were thus formed at Rome. Antony, who had been left behind by Caesar as his vicegerent, and bore no hostility towards Dolabella, did not take any strong measures against him till he was informed of an amour existing between his wife Antonia and Dolabella. The day on which Dolabella's rogations were to be put to the vote, a fresh tumult broke out in the city, in which the party of Dolabella was defeated; but peace was nevertheless not quite restored till the autumn, when Caesar returned to Rome. Caesar of course greatly disapproved of Dolabella's conduct, but he did not think it prudent to bring him to account, or to punish him for it. However, he got him away from Rome by taking him with him to Africa about the close of the year, and afterwards also in his Spanish campaign against the two sons of Pompey. In the course of the latter of these expeditions Dolabella was wounded. Caesar promised him the consulship for the year B. C. 44, although Dolabella was then only twenty-five years old, and had not yet held the praetorship; but Caesar afterwards altered his mind, and entered himself upon the consulship for that year; however, as he had resolved upon his campaign against the Parthians, he promised Dolabella the consulship, in his absence, on the 1st of January, B. C. 44. Antony, who was then augur, threatened to prevent such an appointment, and when the comitia were held, he carried his threat into effect. On the 15th of March the senate was to have decided upon the opposition of Antony; but the murder of Caesar on that day changed the aspect of everything. Dolabella immediately took possession of the consular fasces, and not only approved of the murder, but joined the assassins, and thus obtained the office of which he had already usurped the insignia. In order to make a still greater display of his hatred of Caesar, he caused the altar which had been erected to his honour and the column in the forum to be pulled down; and many persons who went thither with the intention of offering sacrifices to Caesar, and of paying him divine honours, were thrown from the Tarpeian rock, or nailed on the cross. These apparent republican sentiments and actions gave great delight to Cicero and the republican party; but no sooner did Antony open the treasury to Dolabella, and give him Syria for his province, with the command against the Parthians, than all his republican enthusiasm disappeared at once. As Cassius had likewise a claim to the province of Syria, Dolabella left Rome before the year of his consulship had come to its close. But he did not proceed straightway to Syria; for, being greatly in want of money, he marched through Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, and Asia Minor, collecting and extorting as much as he could on his way. C. Trebonius, one of Caesar's murderers, who had then arrived at Smyrna as proconsul of Asia, did not admit Dolabella into the city, but sent him provisions outside the place. Dolabella pretended to go to Ephesus, and Trebonius gave him an escort to conduct him thither; but when the escort returned to Smyrna, Dolabella too went back, and entered Smyrna by night. Trebonius was murdered in his bed, in February, B. C. 43; or, according to Cicero, he was tortured for two days before he was put to death. Dolabella now began extorting money and troops from the towns of Asia Minor with a recklessness which knew no scruples whatever in regard to the means for securing his end. When his proceedings became known at Rome, he was outlawed and declared a public enemy. Cassius, who had in the mean time arrived in Asia, made war upon him, and took Laodiceia, which Dolabella had occupied. The latter, in order not to fall into the hands of his enemies, ordered one of his soldiers to kill him, B. C. 43.

It is extraordinary to see the forbearance with which Cicero treated Dolabella, who, after his marriage with Tullia, B. C. 49, improved so littie in his conduct, that two years after, Tullia left him when she was expecting to become mother of a second child by him. Cicero, who certainly loved his daughter most tenderly, and was aware of the unworthy and contemptible conduct of Dolabella, yet kept up his connexion with him after the divorce, and repeatedly assures him of his great attachment. It is difficult to account for this mode of acting on the part of Cicero, unless we suppose that his desire to keep upon good terms with a man who possessed influence with Caesar outweighed all other considerations. Cicero's fondness for him continued for a short time after Caesar's murder, that is, so long as Dolabella played the part of a republican; but a change took place in Cicero's feelings as soon as Dolahella allied himself with Antony, and at the time when his crimes in Asia became known, Cicero spoke of him with the utmost bitterness and contempt. (See the numerous passages of Cicero relating to Dolabella in Orelli, Onom. ii. p. 175,&c.; comp. Fabric. Vit. Cic. p. 91, with Orelli's note; D. C. 41.40, 42.29, &c., 43.51, 44.22, 51, 45.15, 47.29 ; Suet. Jul. 36, 85; Appian, App. BC 2.41, 122, 129, 3.3, 7, &c., 24, 26; Liv. Epit. 113, 119; Vell. 2.58, 60, 69; Plut. Ant. 9, 10, 11; Caes. Bell. Alex. 65; Oros. 6.18.)

Dolabella

9. P. Cornelius Dolabella, a son of No. 8 by his first wife, Fabia. In B. C. 30 he was with Octavianus at Alexandria, and feeling himself attracted by the charms of Cleopatra, he betrayed to her that it was her conqueror's intention to carry her to Italy. In A. D. 10, he was consul with C. Junius Silanus. On coins he is designated as triumvir monetalis. (Plut. Ant. 84; Fast. Cap. ; Vaillant, Cornel. 65.)

Dolabella

10. P. Cornelius Dolabella, a son of No. 9, was proconsul of Africa in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 23 and 24. In the course of the administration of his province he gained a complete victory over the Numidian Tacfarinas; but although he had formerly been a very great flatterer of Tiberius, yet he did not obtain the ornaments of a triumph, in order that his predecessor in the province of Africa, Junius Blaesius, an uncle of Sejanus, might not be thrown into the shade. In A. D. 27 he joined Domitius Afer in the accusation against his own relative, Quintilius Varus. (Tac. Ann. 3.47, 68, 4.23, &c., 66.)

Dolabella

11. Cornelius Dolabella, was sent in A. D. 70 by the emperor Otho into the colony of Aquinum, to be kept there in a sort of libera custodia, for no other reason, but because he belonged to an ancient family, and was related to Galba. After the death of Otho he came back to Rome, but one of his most intimate friends, Plancius Vrarus, denounced him to the praefect of the city, who being a man of a mild but weak temperament, was inclined to pardon him, until Triaria, the wife of Vitellius, prevailed upon him not to sacrifice the safety of the princeps to his feeling of clemency. Vitellius, too, became alarmed through her, as Dolabella had married Petronia, a former wife of Vitellius. The emperor, therefore, enticed him to Interamnium, and there ordered him to be put to death. This was the first act of wanton cruelty in the reign of Vitellius. (Tac. Hist. 1.88, 2.63.) [L.S]

Dolabella

The name of a celebrated patrician family of the Cornelia gens. Those most deserving of notice are: (1) Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, consul B.C. 81, whom the young Iulius Caesar accused in the year 77 of extortion in his province.

(2) Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, praetor urbanus B.C. 81. With Verres as his legate he plundered his province in Cilicia, and upon his return was accused, betrayed by Verres, and condemned.

(3) P. Cornelius Dolabella, the son-in-law of Cicero, whose daughter Tullia he married in B.C. 51. He was one of the most profligate men of his age, and his conduct caused Cicero great uneasiness. On the breaking out of the Civil War he joined Caesar, and fought on his side at the battle of Pharsalia (B.C. 48), and was raised by him to the consulship in 44. He afterwards received from Antony the province of Syria. On his way to his province he plundered the cities of Greece and Asia Minor, in consequence of which the Senate sent against him Cassius, who took Caesarea, in which Dolabella had taken refuge. That he might not fall into the hands of his enemies he committed suicide, B.C. 43.