Lucceius

• a Roman name. So esp.,
• • • 1 Q. Lucceius, of Rhegium, a witness against Verres, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 64, § 165.—
    • 2 L. Lucceius, son of Marcus, a friend and correspondent of Cicero, and a supporter of the aristocracy, Cic. Att. 5, 21, 13; 5, 20, 8; 6, 1, 23.—
    • 3 L. Lucceius, son of Quintus, an historical writer, Cic. Att. 1, 3, 3; 1, 5, 5; 1, 17, 11 saep.—
    • 4 P. Lucceius, a friend of Cicero, recommended by him to Cornificius, Cic. Fam. 12, 25, 6; 12, 30, 5.

1. A Roman general, who, in conjunction with the praetor C. Cosconius, defeated the Samnites in the Social war, B. C. 89. (Liv. Epit. 75.) [Cosconius, No. 2.]

2. Q. Lucceius, of Rhegium, a witness against Verres. (Cic. Ver. 5.64.)

3. Lucceius, M. F, a correspondent of Cicero, B. C. 50, and a zealous supporter of the aristocracy (ad Att. 5.21.13), must be distinguished from L. Lucceius, Q. f., the historian [No. 4]. The following passages of Cicero, in which the name of Lucceius occurs without any praenomen, are referred by Orelli ( Onom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 361) to the former of the two (ad Att. 5.20.8, 6.1.23, 7.3.6).

4. L. Lucceius, Q. F. the historian, was an old friend and neighbour of Cicero. His name frequently occurs at the commencement of Cicero's correspondence with Atticus, with whom Lucceius had quarrelled for some reason or another. Cicero attempted to reunite his two friends, but Lucceius was so angry with Atticus that he would not listen to any overtures. It appears that M. Sallustius was in some way or other involved in the quarrel. (Cic. ad Aft. 1.3.3, 5.5, 10.2, 11.1, 14.7)

In B. C. 63 Lucceius accused Catiline, after the latter had failed in his application for the consulship. The speeches which he delivered against Catiline, were extant in the time of Asconius, who characterises Lucceius as an orator, paractus eruditusque (Ascon. in Tog. Cand. pp. 92, 93, ed. Orelli). In B. C. 60 he became a candidate for the consulship, along with Julius Caesar, who agreed to support him in his canvass, on the understanding that Lucceius, who was very wealthy, should promise money to the electors in their mutual names; but he lost his election in consequence of the aristocracy using every effort to bring in Bibulus, as a counterpoise to Caesar's influence (Suet. Jul. 19; Cic. Att. 1.17.11, 2.1.9). Lucceius seems now to have withdra wn from public life and to have devoted himself to literature. He was chiefly engaged in the composition of a contemporaneous history of Rome, commencing with the Social or Marsic war. In B. C. 55 he hold nearly finished the history of the Social and of the first Civil war, when Cicero, whose impatience to have his own deeds celebrated would not allow him to wait till Lucceius arrived at the history of his consulship, wrote a most urgent and elaborate letter to his friend, pressing him to suspend the thread of his history, and to devote a separate work to the period from Catiline's conspiracy to Cicero's recall from banishment. In this letter (ad Fam. 5.12), which Cicero himself calls valde bella (ad Att. 4.6.4), and which is one of the most extraordinary in the whole of his correspondence, he does not hesitate to ask Lucceius, on account of his friendship and love for him, to say more in his favour than truth would warrant (plusculum etiam, quam conceded veritas, larfiare), and to speak in higher terms of the events than he might perhaps think they deserved (ut ornes vehementius etiam quam fortasse sentis); and he concludes by remarking that if Lucceius refuses him his request, he shall be obliged to write the history himself. Lucceius promised compliance with his request, and the book which Cicero sent to Lucceius by means of Atticus, shortly afterwards, probably contained materials for the work (Cic. Att. 4.11.2). It was about this time that Cicero, anxious to conciliate Lucceius in every possible way, spoke of him in public in his oration for Caelius as sanctissimus homo atque integerrinmus, as ille vir, illa humanitate praeditus, illis studiies, illis artibus atque doctrina (cc. 21, 22); but it would seem that Lucceius never produced the much-wished-for work.

In B. C. 55 Lucceius went to Sardinia (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. 2.6.2); and on the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49, he espoused the side of Pompey, with whom he had long lived on terms of intimacy: Pompey was in the habit of consulting him during the course of the war on all important matters (Caes. Civ. 3.18; Cic. Att. 9.1.3, 11.3). Lucceius was subsequently pardoned by Caesar and returned to Rome, where he continued to live on friendly terms with Cicero; and when the latter lost his beloved daughter Tullia in B. C. 45, Lucceius sent him a letter of condolence (Cic. Fam. 5.13). He probably died soon afterwards, as his name does not appear again in Cicero's correspondence.

5. C. Lucceius Hirrus, C. F., of the Pupinian tribe (Cic. Fam. 8.8.5), tribune of the plebs, B. C. 53, proposed that Pompey should be created dictator, and was in consequence very nearly deprived of his office (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. 3.8.4, 9.3; Plut. Pomp. 54, where he is errneously called Lucilius). In B. C. . 52 he was a candidate with Cicero for the augurship, and in the following year a candidate with M. Caelius for the aedileship, but he failed in both; and as he was thus opposed both to Cicero and his friend, he is called in their correspondence, Hillus, " the stammerer." When Cicero wished to obtain a triumph on account of the successes he had gained in Cilicia, he endeavoured to become reconciled to Lucceius, and his name frequently occurs in Cicero's correspondence at that period. (Cic. Fam. 2.10.1, 8.2.2, 3.1, 9.1, 11.2, ad Att. 7.1. §§ 7, 8.)

On the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49, Hirrus joined Pompey, and was stationed with a military force in northern Italy, but, like the other Pompeian commanders, was deserted by his own troops (Caes. Civ. 1.15, where Lucceium is the true reading instead of Ulcillem ; comp. Cic. Att. 8.11. A.). He was subsequently sent by Pompey as ambassador to Orodes, king of Parthia, to endeavour to gain his assistance for the aristocracy, but he was thrown into prison by the Parthian king; and when Pompey's officers, before the battle of Pharsalia, confident of victory, were assigning the various offices of the state, there was a vehement dispute whether Hirrus should be allowed to stand for the praetorship in his absence (Caes. Civ. 3.82; D. C. 42.2). He was pardoned by Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia, and returned to Rome. The C. Hirrius mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 9.55. s. 81) and Varro (R. R. 3.17), as the first person who had sea-water stock-ponds for lampreys, and who sent some thousands of them to Caesar for his triumphal banquets, is most probably the same person as the preceding, though he is spoken of as a separate person under Hirrius. It would likewise appear that the Hirtius, whom Appian says (B. C. 4.43, 84) was proscribed by the triumvirs in B. C. 43, and who fled to Sex. Pompey in Sicily, is a false reading for Hirrus.

6. Cn. Lucceius, a friend of D. Brutus, B. C. 44. (Cic. Att. 16.5.3.)

7. P. Lucceius, a friend of Cicero, and recommended by him to Q. Cornificius, B. C. 43. (Cic. Fam. 12.25. A. § 6, 30.5.)

(1) Lucius. An old friend and neighbour of Cicero, was an unsuccessful candidate for the consulship with Iulius Caesar, in B.C. 60. He wrote a contemporaneous history of Rome, commencing with the Social or Marsic War.

(2) Hirrus. A tribune who in B.C. 53 proposed that Pompey be made dictator. He afterwards fought in the Civil War on the side of Pompey ( B. C. i. 15; iii. 82).