Marcellus

Marcellus, i, m. [dim. of Marcus],

• a Roman family name in the plebeian gens Claudia: inter Marcellos et Claudios patricios, Cic. de Or. 1, 39, 176: generosior Marcellis, Juv. 2, 145.—
• • B Esp., M. Claudius Marcellus, the taker of Syracuse, Liv. 25, 23 fin.; Cic. Off. 1, 18, 61; id. Rep. 1, 1, 1; 1, 14, 21; Verg. A. 6, 855; Hor. C. 1, 12, 46.— Another M. Claudius Marcellus, the nephew of Octavian and adopted by him, Vell. 2, 93; Tac. A. 1, 3; Prop. 3, 18 (cf. Verg. A. 6, 861 sq.); Hor. C. 1, 12, 46; Sen. ad Marc. 2, 3. —
• II Derivv.
• • A Marcellīa (ēa), ōrum, n., a festival in honor of the Marcelli in Syracuse, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 21, § 51; 2, 2, 63, § 154.—
  • B Marcellĭānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a Marcellus, Marcellian: theatrum, named after M. Claudius Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus, Suet. Vesp. 19; id. Aug. 29.

Mārcellus, ī, m., Beiname der berühmten Familie der plebejischen Klaudier (s. Cic. de or. 1, 176), unter denen bes. bekannt M. Claudius Marcellus, Sieger über Hannibal bei Nola, Eroberer von Syrakus (Liv. 25, 23 sq.), Überwinder des Insubrerkönigs Viridomarus, Verg. Aen. 6, 855 sqq. Cic. de off. 1, 61. – M. Claudius Marcellus, der, Cäsars Feind, als Konsul das SC. de revocando Caesare beantragte, später von Cäsar begnadigt (dah. die Dankrede Ciceros an Cäsar pro M. Marcello). – M. Claudius Marcellus, der Schwestersohn des Augustus, ein gebildeter u. talentvoller junger Mann, von dem das röm. Volk die größten Erwartungen hegte, dessen Tod (zu Bajä i. J. 23 v. Chr.) aber die Livia, wie man glaubte, beschleunigte, Vell. 2, 93. Hor. carm. 1, 12, 45 sqq. (u. dazu Orelli). Sen. ad Marc. 2, 3. – Plur. Marcelli, Männer wie M., Cic. Pis. 58. – Dav.: a) Mārcellīa, ōrum, n. (Μαρκελλεια), das Marcellusfest, ein Ehrenfest der marcellischen Familie in Sizilien, Cic. Verr. 2, 51 u. 154. – b) Mārcelliānus, a, um, marcellianisch, theatrum, Suet. Vesp. 19, 1, von Augustus erbaut u. nach seinem Schwestersohne Marcellus benannt, s. Suet. Aug. 29, 4.

2 Mārcellus, (8) ī, m. , nom dʼune branche de la gens Claudia || not^t ¶ 1 M. Claudius Marcellus qui prit Syracuse : Cic. de Or. 1, 176 ; Liv. 25, 23 ¶ 2 le jeune Marcellus, neveu dʼAuguste : Virg. En. 6, 861 ; Vell. 2, 93 ; Tac. Ann. 1, 13.

Marcellus Clau'dius

Marcellus was the name of the most illustrious plebeian family of the Claudia gens. Plutarch states (Marc. 1) that the conqueror of Syracuse was the first person who bore this cognomen, but this is certainly a mistake. At what time it was first introduced we know not, but the first person of the name who appears in history is the consul of B. C. 331. [No. 1.]

Marcellus Clau'dius

1. M. Claudius Marcellus was consul in B. C. 331, the year that was distinguished for the execution of above seventy Roman matrons on the charge of poisoning. In 327 he was named dictator, for the purpose of holding the comitia, but his nomination was set aside by the augurs, on pretence of some informality, a proceeding vehemently arraigned by the tribunes of the people, who justly attributed the conduct of the augurs to their unwillingness to see a plebeian dictator. (Liv. 8.18, 23.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

2. M. Claudius Marcellus, probably a son of the preceding, was consul in B. C. 287 with C. Nautius Rutilus. (Fast. Sic.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

3. M. Claudius Marcellus, father of No. 4, is wholly unknown to us, except that he bore the same name as his illustrious son. (Fast. Capi.; Plut. Marc. 1.) Drumann conjectures that the M. Claudius who was delivered up by the Romans to the Corsicaus for having concluded an ignominious treaty is the one in question, and not, as usually supposed, M. Claudius Glicia. [Glicia.]

Marcellus Clau'dius

4. M. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., the most illustrious of all those who bore this name, celebrated as five times consul, and the conqueror of Syracuse. We know very little of his early life, and he is a remarkable instance of a man who, though his character was chiefly marked by the daring courage and impetuosity of youth, did not attain to any great distinction until a comparatively late period of life. The year of his birth is uncertain, but it may be placed before B. C. 268, as we are told that he was above sixty years old when he obtained his fifth consulship. (Plut. Marc. 28; Liv. 27.27.) Plutarch tells us that he was trained up in military service from his earliest youth, so as to have received rather an imperfect education in other respects. In war, on the contrary, he early distinguished himself, especially by his personal achievements, ever seeking single combats with the most daring warriors among the enemy, and uniformly coming off victorious. On one occasion during the first Punic war, he had the opportunity of saving his brother's life by his personal exertions. (Plut. Marc. 50.2.) But whatever reputation he may have thus earned as a soldier, it does not appear to have opened to him the path to public honours until a much later period. The first office that we hear of his filling is that of curule aedile, apparently about B. C. 226. It was while holding this magistracy that he was compelled to bring a charge against C. Scantilius Capitolinus, his colleague in the aedileship, for having offered an insult of the grossest kind to his son Marcus. [No. 5.] Capitolinus was convicted, and condemned to pay a heavy fine, the produce of which was applied by Marcellus to the purchase of sacred vessels for the temples. (Plut. Mare. 2; Val. Max. vi. 50.7.) About the same time also according to Plutarch, he obtained the office of augur, a distinction he probably owed to the decided attachment which he manifested through life to the aristocratic party in the state.

It was not till the year 222 that Marcellus obtained his first consulship. The war with the Gauls, which a few years before had excited so much alarm at Rome, was then drawing to a close: the Boians had already submitted, and the Insubrians, terrified at the repeated defeats they had sustained from the consuls of the preceding year, P. Furius and C. Flaminius, now sent to sue for peace. Their overtures were, however, rejected, mainly at the instigation of Marcellus and his clleague Cn. Cornelius Scipio, both of whom were eager to carry on the war. (Plb. 2.36; Plut. Marc. 6.) The Gauls hereupon summoned to their assistance 30,000 of their brethren, the Gaesatae, from beyond the Alps; but notwithstanding this reinforcement, they did not prevent the two consuls from invading the plain of the Po, and laying siege to Acerrae. In order to create a diversion, one division of the Gaulish army, consisting of 10,000 men, crossed the Po, and laid siege in their turn to the town of Clastidium. Hereupon Marcellus, with a large body of cavalry and a small force of infantry, hastened to oppose them, and a battle ensued, which ended in the total defeat and destruction of the Gaulish detachment. The action was commenced by a combat of cavalry, in which Marcellus slew with his own hand Britomartus or Viridomarus, the king, or at least the leader, of the enemy. After this brilliant exploit he rejoined his colleague before Acerrae, which soon after fell into their hands, and was followed by the conquest of Mediolanum, the most important city of Cisalpine Gaul. The Insubrians now submitted at discretion, and the two consuls had the glory of having put a termination to the Gallic war. Great part of the credit of the campaign, according to Polybius, would seem to have belonged to Scipio, but Marcellus alone was honoured with a triumph, which was rendered conspicuous by the spoils of Viridomarus, carried as a trophy by the victor, and afterwards dedicated by him as spolia opimar in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. This was the third and last instance in Roman history in which such an offering was made. (Plb. 2.34, 35; Plut. Marc. 6_8; Zonar. 8.20, p. 404; V. Max. 3.2.5 Eutrop. 3.6; Flor. 2.3; Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 45; Oros. 4.13; Fast. Capit. ap. Gruter, p. 297.)

From this time we hear no more of Marcellus until the alarming progress of Hannibal in Italy, and especially his victory at the lake of Thrasymene, compelled the Romans to look out for tried and able soldiers, to whom they could confide the conduct of the war, and Marcellus was appointed one of the praetors for the year 216. He was at first destined to take the command in Sicily, but while he was still occupied at Ostia with the preparation of a fleet for this purpose, he was suddenly recalled to Rome, in consequence of the disastrous defeat of the two consuls at Cannae. By the orders of the senate he threw a body of 1500 men, which he had raised for the expedition to Sicily, into Rome itself, while he hastened with one legion to Canusium, and after collecting there the shattered remains of the consular army, drew them off into Campania, where he encamped near Suessula. Meanwhile, the important city of Capua had opened its gates to Hannibal, and Nola would have followed its example, had not Marcellus received timely notice of the danger from the aristocratic party in that city, who were favourably disposed towards Rome. He accordingly hastened thither with the forces under his command, threw himself into the town, and on the approach of Hannibal made a sudden sally, by which he repulsed the Carthaginians with some loss. The success thus obtained (though evidently greatly magnified by the Roman annalists), was important from its moral effect, as the first check, however slight, that Hannibal had yet received. Marcellus now secured Nola to the Roman interest, by the execution of seventy of the leading men of the opposite party, and again withdrew to the hills above Suessula. But neither he nor Gracchus were able to avert the fate of Casilinum, which fell into the hands of Hannibal before the close of the winter. (Liv. 22.35, 57, 23.14-17, 19; Piut. Marc. 9-11; Appian, Annib. 27; Cic. Brut. 3.)

Marcellus was soon after summoned to Rome, to consult with the dictator L. Junius Pera and his master of the horse, Tib. Gracchus, concerning the future conduct of the war: he was then invested with the rank of proconsul, and returned to take the command of the army in Campania. Meanwhile, news arrived at Rome that Postumius, who had been chosen one of the consuls for the year 215, had been killed in Cisalpine Gaul; and the people unanimously elected Marcellus to supply his place. But the senate, who were unwilling to admit of two plebeian consuls at the same time, declared that the omens were unfavourable, and Marcellus, in obedience to the augurs, resigned the consulship, and repaired once more to the army in Campania as proconsul. (Liv. 23.24, 25, 30-32; Plut. Marc. 12.) His principal exploit that we find recorded during this year was the relief of Nola, which he a second time successfully defended against Hannibal; and though the Carthaginian general had been lately joined by Hanno with a powerful reinforcement, Marcellus not only repulsed him from the walls, but (if we may believe the accounts transmitted to us) defeated him with considerable slaughter; and this success was immediately followed by the desertion to the Romans of a large body of Numidian and Spanish horse. (Liv. 23.39, 41_46; Plut. Marc. 12.)

At the election of the consuls for the ensuing year (214) Marcellus was appointed for the third time, with Fabius Maximus for his colleague. Such a pair of consuls (says Livy) had not been seen for many years. Yet their operations during the ensuing campaign were not marked by any decisive results: Marcellus returned to his old camp near Nola, and a third time repulsed an attempt of Hannibal upon that city; whereupon the Carthaginian general marched away to Tarentum, and the two consuls took advantage of his absence to lay siege to the small but important town of Casilinum. The Campanian garrison of this fortress, after an obstinate defence, were admitted to a capitulation by Fabius, but Marcellus broke in upon them as they were quitting the city, and put them all to the sword, except about fifty, who escaped under the protection of Fabius. (Liv. 24.9, 13, 19.) After this Marcellus returned to Nola, from whence he was ordered by the senate to proceed to Sicily, apparently before the close of the summer of B. C. 214. (Ib. 20, 21.) On his arrival in that island he found affairs in a very unsettled state. The death of Hieronymus, which had at first appeared favourable to the Roman cause, had eventually led to a contrary result; and Hippocrates and Epicydes, two Carthaginians by birth, had obtained the chief direction of affairs at Syracuse. [Epicydes.] Marcellus, however, at first determined to try the effect of negotiation: his ambassadors obtained a favourable hearing, and even induced the Syracusans to pass sentence of banishment against Hippocrates and Epicydes. These two leaders were at the time at Leontini, at the head of a considerable force, but they were unable to defend the town against Marcellus, who took it by storm, and though he spared the inhabitants, executed in cold blood 2000 Roman deserters whom he found among the troops that had formed the garrison. This sanguinary act at once alienated the minds of the Sicilians, and alarmed the mercenary troops in the service of Syracuse. The latter immediately joined Hippocrates and Epicydes, who had made their escape to Herbessus; the gates of Syracuse were opened to them by their partisans within the walls, and the party hostile to Rome thus established in the undisputed command of that city. (Liv. 24.27-32 ; Plut. Marc. 13, 14; Appian, App. Sic. 3.)

Marcellus, whose severities had given rise to this revolution, now appeared before Syracuse at the head of his army, and after a fruitless summons to the inhabitants, proceeded to lay siege to the city both by sea and land. His attacks were vigorous and unremitting, and were directed especially against the quarter of Achradina from the side of the sea; but though he brought many powerful military engines against the walls, these were rendered wholly unavailing by the superior skill and science of Archimedes, who directed those of the besieged. All the efforts of the assailants were baffled, and the Roman soldiers inspired with so great a dread of Archimedes and his engines, that Marcellus was compelled to give up all hopes of carrying the city by open force, and to turn the siege into a blockade. (Liv. 24.33, 34; Plut. Marc. 14-17; Plb. 8.3, 5_9; Zonar. 9.4; Tzetz. Chil. 2.35.) During the continuance of this, he himself with a part of his army carried on operations in the other parts of the island, leaving App. Claudius to keep watch before Syracuse. In this manner he took Helorus and Herbessus, and utterly destroyed Megara; and though he failed in preventing the Carthaginian general Himilco from making himself master of Agrigentum, he defeated Hippocrates near Acrae. The advance of Himilco compelled Marcellus to retreat to his camp before Syracuse; but here the Carthaginian general was unable to molest him, and the war was again reduced to a series of desultory and irregular operations in different parts of the island. These were by no means all favourable to the Romans: Murgantia, an important town, where they had established large magazines, surrendered to the Carthaginians, and the strong fortress of Enna was only prevented from following its example by the barbarous massacre of its inhabitants by order of the Roman governor, L. Pinarius [Pinarius], an act of cruelty which had the effect of alienating the minds of all the other Sicilians. (Liv. 24.35-39; Plut. Marc. 18.) Meanwhile, the blockade of Syracuse had been prolonged far on into the summer of 212, nor did there appear any prospect of its termination, as the communications of the besieged by sea were almost entirely open. In this state of things Marcellus fortunately discovered a part of the walls more accessible than the rest, and having prepared scaling ladders, effected an entrance at this point during the night which followed a great festival, and thus made himself master of the Epipolae. The two quarters called Tyche and Neapolis were now at his mercy, and were given up to plunder; but Epicydes still held the island citadel, and the important quarter of Achradina, which formed two separate and strong fortresses. Marcellus, however, made himself master of the fort of Euryalus, and now closely beset Achradina, when the Carthaginian army under Himilco and Hippocrates advanced to the relief of the city. Their efforts were, however, in vain: all their attacks on the camp of Marcellus were repulsed, and they were unable to effect a junction with Epicydes and the Syracusan garrison. The unhealthiness of the country soon gave rise to a pestilence, which committed frightful ravages in both armies, but especially in that of the Carthaginians, where it carried off both their generals, and led to the entire break-up of the army. Thus freed from all apprehensions from without, Marcellus renewed his attacks upon those quarters of the city which still held out; but though the officers on whom the command devolved after the departure of Epicydes made several attempts at negotiation, nothing was effected. At length the treachery of Mericus, a leader of Spanish mercenaries in the Syracusan service, opened to Marcellus the gates of Achradina, and in the general attack that ensued he made himself master of the island of Ortygia also. The city was given up to plunder, and though the lives of the free inhabitants were spared, they were reduced to such distress, that many of them were compelled to sell themselves as slaves, in order to obtain the means of existence. (Diod. Exc. Vat. p. 60.) Yet the clemency and liberality of Marcellus have been extolled by almost all the writers of antiquity. The booty found in the captured city was immense: besides the money in the royal treasury, which was set apart for the coffers of the state, Marcellus carried off many of the wcrks of art with which the city had been adorned, to grace his own triumph and the temples at Rome. This was the first instance of a practice which afterwards became so general; and it gave great offence not only to the Greeks of Sicily, but to a large party at Rome itself, who drew unfavourable comparisons between the conduct of Marcellus in this instance and that of Fabius at Tarentum. (Liv. 25.23-31, 40; Plut. Marc. 18, 19, 21; Plb. 8.37, 9.10; Zonar. 9.5.)

But though Syracuse had fallen, the war in Sicily was not yet at an end. A considerable Carthaginian force still occupied Agrigentum under Epicydes and Hanno; and Mutines, with a body of Numidian cavalry, carried his incursions far into the interior. Marcellus now turned his arms against these remaining enemies, attacked Epicydes and Hanno in the absence of Mutines, and totally defeated them, after which he returned to Syracuse. (Liv. 25.40, 41.) The early part of the following year (211) seems to have been devoted to the settlement of affairs in Sicily; but it is strange that Marcellus does not seem to have made any efforts to put an end altogether to the war in that island before he returned to Rome, and when towards the close of the summer he resigned the command of the province to the praetor M. Cornelius, Mutines was still in arms, and Agrigentum still in the possession of the Carthaginians. On this account the senate refused him the honours of a triumph, notwithstanding his great successes, and he was obliged to content himself with the inferior distinction of an ovation. Previous to this, however, he celebrated with great magnificence a triumphal procession to the temple of Jupiter on the Alban Mount, and even his ovation was rendered more conspicuous than most triumphs by the number and magnificence of the spoils brought from Syracuse. (Liv. 26.1; Plut. Marc. 20, 22.)

Shortly after his triumph he was elected for the fourth time consul, together with M. Valerius Laevinus. But scarcely had he entered on his office (B. C. 210) when he had to encounter a storm of indignation, raised against him by his proceedings in Sicily. Notwithstanding the praises bestowed by the Roman writers, and still more by Plutarch (Plut. Marc. 20; and see Cic. in Verr. 2.2, 4.52, 54), upon his moderation and clemency, it is evident that his conduct was considered by many, even of his own countrymen, as having been unnecessarily harsh. Deputies from the Sicilian cities now appeared at Rome, to lay their complaints before the senate, where they met with powerful support; and though the governing body was unwilling to cast a slur upon Marcellus, and determined to ratify his past acts, yet the entreaties of the Sicilians so far prevailed, that the two consuls exchanged provinces, and it was arranged that Marcellus, to whose lot Sicily had previously fallen, should take the command in Italy against Hannibal. (Liv. 26.22, 26, 29_32; Plut. Marc. 23; Zouar. 9.6.) From this time the Sicilians appear to have changed their policy, and being feed from all immediate apprehensions from Marcellus, they endeavoured to conciliate his favour by every kind of honour and flattery: the Syracusans placed their city under the patronage of himself and his descendants, erected statues to him, and instituted an annual festival, called the Marcellea, which continued to be celebrated down to the time of Verres. (Liv. 26.32; Plut. Marc. 23; Cic. in Verr. 2.21, 63.)

Marcellus now joined the army in Apulia, where he was soon after enabled to strike an important blow, by the conquest of Salapia, which was betrayed into his hands by Blasius, one of the principal citizens of the place [Blasius], and this success was followed by the capture of two cities in Samnium, which had been occupied by Carthaginian garrisons. Meanwhile, Hannilbal had surprised and destroyed the army of Cn. Fulvius at Herdonea; whereupon Marcellus hastened to oppose him, and check his victorious career. The two armies met near Numistro in Lucania, and a battle ensued, apparently without auy decisive result, though the Romans claimed a victory; and the remainder of the campaign was occupied with unimportant movements, Marcellus continuing to follow the steps of his wary antagonist, but carefully avoiding an engagement. So important, however, did he deem it not to lose sight for a moment of the Carthaginian general, that he declined to repair to Rome even in order to hold the comitia, and in consequence, by direction of the senate, named Q. Fulvius dictator for that purpose. (Liv. 26.38, 27.1-5; Plut. Marc. 24, 25; Appian, Annib. 45-47; Zonar. 9.7; Val. Max. iii 8. ext. § 1.)

During the following year (209) he retained the command of his army with the rank of proconsul, in order that he might co-operate with the two consuls of the year, Fabius Maximus and Fulvius Flaccus, against Hannibal. At the opening of the campaign he was the first to oppose the Carthaginian general, whom he found near Canusium; and in the neighbourhood of that city, according to the Roman historians. there ensued three successive actions between the two armies. Of these the first was a drawn battle, in the second the Romans were defeated with heavy loss, and in the third they are said to have gained a complete victory; notwithstanding which, Hannibal drew off his army unmolested towards Bruttium, while Marcellus was unable to follow him, on account of the number of his wounded. So severe indeed had been his losses, that he shut himself up within the walls of Venusia, and remained there in perfect inactivity during the remainder of the season, while Hannibal moved up and down throughout the south of Italy without opposition. Such conduct could not fail to give much dissatisfaction at Rome; and it was even proposed by one of the tribunes that Marcellus should be deprived of his command. But on hearing of this motion he immediately hastened to Rome, and defended himself so successfully, that he was not only absolved from all blame, but elected consul for the ensuing year, together with T. Quintius Crispinus. (Liv. 27.7, 12_14, 20, 21; Plut. Marc. 25-27.)

Before he entered on this, his fifth consulship, he was sent into Etruria to appease a threatened revolt of the Arretians, and succeeded in quieting tleir discontent for a time. After he returned to Rome, and was preparing to resume operations in the field (B. C. 208), he was detained for some time by unfavourable omens and the religious ceremonies deemed necessary, in order to avert the evils thus threatened. At length he once more took the command of the army at Venusia, and being joined by his colleague Crispinus from Bruttium, they encamped with their combined forces between Venusia and Bantia. Hannibal's camp was at a short distance from them; between the two armies lay a wooded hill, which the two consuls imprudently proceeded to reconnoitre, escorted only by a small body of horse, and in so doing fell into an ambuscade of Numidians. A sharp skirmish ensued, but the Romans being far inferior in number, were quickly dispersed or put to the sword: Marcellus himself was run through the body with a spear, and killed on the spot: his colleague was with difficulty carried off the field severely wounded. Hannilbal displayed a generous sympathy for the fate of his fallen foe, and caused all due honours to be paid to his lifeless remains. (Liv. 27.21_23, 25-28; Plut. Marc. 28-30; Plb. 10.32 ; Appian, Annib. 50; Zonar. 9.9; V. Max. 1.6.9.)

There are few characters in Roman history of which the picture transmitted to us has been more disfigured by partiality than that of Marcellus. Almost the whole account of his military operations against Hannibal has been so perverted, that it is difficult now to arrive at the truth; but it is startling to find, after reading in Livv or Plutarch the details of his numerons victories over the Carthaginian general, that Polybius expressly denied he had ever defeated Hannibal at all. (Plut. Cmp. Pelop. c. Marc. 1; and see Plb. 15.11.) The ambiguous character of many of his alleged victories has been indeed already adverted to, and is sufficiently apparent even from the accounts of the Romans themselves. It seems probable that many of these exaggerations have found their way into history from the funeral oration of Marcellus by his son, which we know to have been used as an authority by some of the earlier annalists. (Liv. 27.27.) Still more unfounded is the reputation lie seems to have obtained for clemency and humanity. According to Livy's own account, 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 Enna. 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. (Liv. 26.29; comp. Appian, App. 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.

Marcellus Clau'dius

5. M. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., 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 Scantilius, and the punishment inflicted on the latter by the elder Marcellus, have been already adverted to (p. 297b). 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. 27.27, 29; Plb. 10.32; Plut. 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 regarded as unworthy of credit in an historical point of view (Liv. 27.27), though it may well be suspected to be the source from whence have emanated many of the misrepresentations and exaggerations 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. 29.11); and the following year (204) he held the office of tribune of the people. In 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, Pleminius. (Liv. 29.20.) Four years later (B. C. 200) he was curule aedile with Sex. Aelius Paetus: they rendered their magistracy conspicuous 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 Roman games. (Liv. 31.50.) 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 sending supplies to the Roman armies in Greece. (Id. 32.8, 27.) After the customary interval of two years he obtained the consulship, with L. Furius Purpureo, B. C. 196. (Id. 33.24; Fast. Capit.) His great object was to obtain the renewal or continuation 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 important town of Comum. Besides this, in conjunction with his colleague, Purpureo, he obtained some advantages over the Boians and Ligurians: and on his return to Rome was, by unanimous consent, honoured with a triumph. (Liv. 33.25, 36, 37; Plb. 18.25.) In the same year he was appointed pontifex, in the room of C. Sempronius Tuditanus. (Liv. 33.42.) 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. 35.5, 8.) In B. C. 189 he obtained the censorship in conjunction with T. Flamininus, 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 Arpinum, to the full rights of Roman citizens. (Liv. 37.58, 38.28, 36.) From this time we hear no more of him till his death, in B. C. 177. (Id. 41.13.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

6. M. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., probably a brother of the preceding, though bearing the same praenomen, was consul in B. C. 183, with Q. Fabius Labeo. (Liv. 39.44; Fast. Capit.) It seems probable that he is the same person who is mentioned (Liv. 39.23) 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 Marcellus were in fact directed against a body of Gauls who had lately crossed the Alps, and settled themselves in the territory of Aquileia. They, however, submitted on the approach of the consul, were disarmed, and compelled to return across the mountains. After this he carried his arms into lstria, but apparently effected little, and was soon obliged to return to Rome to hold the comitia. (Liv. 10.29.45, 54-56.) He held the sacerdotal office of decenmvir sacrorum, and died in B. C. 169. (Liv. 44.18.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

7. M. Claudius Marcellus, praetor in B. C. 188, in which office 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. 38.35, 42.) Some writers consider that it is this Marcellus, and not the praetor of 135, who became consul in 183.

Marcellus Clau'dius

8. M. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., son of No. 5, conspicuous for his three consulships. He succeeded his father as pontifex in B. C. 177, though he had not then held any of the higher offices of the state. (Liv. 41.13 ) In 169 he was appointed praetor, and Spain assigned him for his province. (Id. 43.11, 15.) Three years later he obtained his first consulship, B. . 166, which was marked by a victory over the Alpine tribes of the Gauls, for which he was honoured with a triumph. (Liv. 45.44, Epi.t. xlvi.; Fast. Capit.) His second consulship, in B. C. 155, was, in like manner, distinguished by a triumph over the Ligurians (Fast. Capit.); but we know nothing farther of his exploits on either of these occasions. In B. C. 152 he was a third time raised to the consulship, together with L. Valerius Flaccus, and appointed to conduct the war in Spain. Here he obtained some successes over the Celtiberians; and having added to the impression thus produced by the clemency with which lie treated the vanquished, he induced all the tribes at that time in arms to give hostages, and send ambassadors to Rome to sue for peace; but his conduct was attributed to indolence or timidity: the senate refused to ratify the proposed terms, and appointed L. Lucullus, one of the new consuls, to succeed Marcellus, and continue the war. Meanwhile, Marcellus, after an expedition against the Lusitanians, in which he had reduced the strong town of Nergobriga, had returned to winter at Corduba; but on learning the resolution of the senate, he suddenly broke up his winter-quarters, and marched into the country of the Celtiberians; whereupon all those tribes who had been previously in arms hastened to submit at discretion; a result previously concerted, as it was suspected, with the consul himself, who admitted then to favourable terms, while he had the satisfaction of handing over the province to his successor in a state of perfect tranquillity. (Appian, App. Hisp. 48_50; Plb. 35.2, 3; Liv. Epit. xlviii.; Eutrop. 4.9.) The administration of Marcellus in Spain was farther distinguished by the foundation of the important colony of Corduba. (Strab. iii. p.141.) In 148 he was sent ambassador to Masinissa, king of Numidia, but was shipwrecked on the voyage, and perished. (Liv. Epit. L.; Cic. in Pisoi. 19, de Divin. 2.5.) It is recorded of this Marceilus that he commemorated, by an inscription in the temple of Honour and Virtue, consecrated by his father, the circumstance that his grandfather, his father, and himself, had enjoyed between them no less than nine consulships, an instance unparallled in the history of Rome. (Ascon. ad Cic. Pison. p. 12, ed. Orell.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

9. M. Claudius Marcellus, son of the preceding, and father of the following, as well as of No. 12. He is not mentioned by any ancient author, but is supplied as a necessary link of the pedigree. (See Drumann, Gesch. Roms, vol. ii p. 393, and below, No. 12.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

10. M. Claudius Marcellus, curule aedile in B. C. 91. (Cic. de Or. 1.13.) He is supposed by Drumann to be the father of the following, and brother of No. 12.

Marcellus Clau'dius

11. M. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N. (probably a son of the preceding), the friend of Cicero, and subject of the oration Pro M. Marcello, ascribed, though erroneously, to the great orator. He is first mentioned as curule aedile with P. Cledius in B. C. 56. (Cic. Att. 4.3.) In February of that year he defended Milo, at Cicero's request, against the charge of violence brought against him by Clodius. (Cic. ad Q. Fr. 2.3.) In 54 he was one of the six advocates who defended the cause of M. Scaurus (Ascon. ad Scaur. p. 20, ed. Orell.); and after the death of Clodius (B. C. 52), took a prominent part in the defence of Milo. (Id. ad Mion. pp. 35, 40, 41.) In the same year he was elected consul, together with Ser. Sulpicius Rufus, for the ensuing year. For this distinction he was probably indebted to the support and favour of Pompey; and during the period of his magistracy (B. C. 51 ) he showed himself a zealous partisan of the latter, and sought to secure his favour by urging the senate to extreme measures against Caesar. Among other modes in which he displayed his zeal, was the very indiscreet one of causing a citizen of Comum to be scourged, in order to show his contempt for the privileges lately bestowed by Caesar upon that colony. Cic. Att. 5.11; Appian, App. BC 2.26; Suet. Jul. 23.) But his vehemence gradually abated, as he found himself opposed by his colleague Sulpicius and several of the tribunes, while Pompey himself lent him no active support, and even distinctly refused to second hint in his proposition for the immediate abrogation of Caesar's authority. But the election of' the new consuls terminated favourably to the party of Pompey; and at length, on the 30th of September, Marcellus procured a resolution of the senate, that the whole subject should be brought under discussion on the 1st of March in the following year. After this no further steps were taken before the expiration of his office. (Suet. Jul. 28, 29; D. C. 40.58, 59; Appian, B. C.2.26; Caes. Gal. 8.53; Cic. Att. 8.3; Caelius, ad Fam. 8.1, 8, 10, 13.)

But all the party zeal and animosity of Marcellus did not blind him to the obvious imprudence of forcing on a war for which they were unprepared; and hence, as it became evident that an open rupture was inevitable, he endeavoured to moderate the vehemence of his own party. Thus, in B. C. 50, we find him urging the senate to interpose their authority with the tribunes to induce them to withdraw their opposition (Cic. Fam. 8.13) and at the beginning of the year 49 he in vain suggested the necessity of making levies of troops, before any open steps were taken against Caesar. (Caes. Civ. 1.2.) His advice was overruled, and he was among the first to fly from Rome and Italy. But though he joined Pompey and his partisans in Epeirus, it is clear that he did not engage with any heartiness in the cause of which, according to Cicero, he foresaw the failure front the beginning: and after the battle of Pharsalia he abandoned all thoughts of prolonging the contest, and withdrew to Mytilene, where he gave himself up to the pursuits of rhetoric and philosophy. Here Caesar was content to leave him unmolested in a kind of honourable exile; and Marcellus himself was unwilling to sue to the conqueror for forgiveness, though Cicero wrote to him repeatedly from Rome, urging him in the strongest manner to do so, and assuring him of the clemency of Caesar. But though Marcellus himself would take no steps to procure his recall, his friends at Rome were not backward in their exertions for that purpose; and at length, in a fill assembly of the senate, C. Marcellus, the cousin of the exile, threw himself at Caesr's feet to implore the pardon of his kinsman, and his example was followed by the whole body of the assembly. Caesar yielded to this demonstration of opinion, and Marcellus was declared to be forgiven, and restored to all his former honours. Cicero wrote to announce to him this favourable result, in a letter now lost; but the answer of Marcellus is preserved, and is marked by a singular coldness, which would lead us to the conclusion that his indifference in this matter was real, and not assumed. He, however, set out immediately on his return; but having touched at the Peiraeeus, where he had an interview with his former colleague, Sulpicius, then proconsul in Greece, he was assassinated immediately afterwards by one of his own attendants, P. Magius Chilo. There seems no doubt that the deed was prompted by private resentment, though suspected at the time to have been committed at the instigation of Caesar. Sulpicius paid him all due funeral honours, and caused him to be buried in the Academy, where a monument was erected to him by the Athenians, at the public expense. (Cic. Fam. 4.4, 7_11, 12, 6.6, ad Att. 13.10-22, pro M. Marcello, passim, Brut. 71.)

Marcellus had been, as already observed, a friend of Cicero's from his earliest youth; their views on political affairs had generally coincided, and they continued to act in concert until the breaking out of the civil war. Hence we cannot wonder at the very high praises bestowed by the latter upon the wisdom and prudence of Marcellus, of whom he speaks on several occasions in terms which would lead us to suppose him a perfect model of a philosophic statesman. Caelius, on the contrary, calls him slow and inefficient; but while his conduct in his consulship was certainly not such as to give us a high opinion of his political sagacity or prudence, it would rather seem to have deserved censure for defects the very opposite of these. Of his merits as an orator, we are wholly incompetent to judge, but they are said to have been of a high order, and inferior to few except Cicero himself. (Cic. Brut. 71. All the passages in Cicero relating to M. Marcellus will be found collected or referred to by Orelli, Onomasticon Tullian. pp. 157, 158. See also Drumann, Gesch. Roms, vol. ii. p. 39,, &c., and Passow in Zimmermann's Zeitschrif jüi Alterthumswissenschaft, 1835.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

12. C. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., a brother of the preceding, of whom very little is known previous to his election in B. C. 50, to be consul for the ensuing year (49), a distinction which he obtained, it is said, in consequence of his declared enmity to Caesar. (Caès. B. G. 8.50.) He is constantly confounded with his cousin, C. Marcellus [No. 14] who was consul in the year 50 with L. Aemilius Paullus, a confusion little to be wondered at: indeed it is sometimes impossible to determine which of the two is meant. Matters were fast approaching to a crisis when he and his colleague, L. Cornelius Lentulus, entered upon their office. While yet only consuls elect, they had lent their countenance to the violent and illegal act of the consul C. Marcellus in investing Pompey with the command of the army without authority from the senate (D. C. 40.66); and on the very first day of their consulship (1 Jan. B. C. 49) they brought under the consideration of the senate the measures to be taken in regard to Caesar, who was then at Ravenna, and from whom letters had been presented by Curio. It does not appear that Marcellus took any prominent part in the debates that ensued, and the violent proceedings which led to the flight of the tribunes and the actual breaking out of the war; but neither do we learn that he attempted to check the intemperate zeal of his colleague, and the other leaders of the war party. He appears indeed, so far as we can judge, to have been a man of small abilities, who was put forward as a tool by the more violent partisans of Pompey. On the breaking out of the war he accompanied his colleague, Lentulus, in his hasty flight from Rome, took part in the subsequent proceedings at Capua, and eventually crossed over to Dyrrhachium with a part of the army of Pompey. In the following year (B. C. 48) we find him mentioned as commanding a part of Pompey's fleet (Caes. Civ. 3.5); but this is the last we hear of him, and it therefore seems probable, as suggested by Drumann, that he perished in the civil war. (D. C. 41.1_3; Caes. Civ. 1.1_5, 14, 25; Appian, App. BC 2.33, 37-39; Plut. Caes. 35, Pomp. 62; Cic. Att. 7.18, 20, 21, 9.1.) Cicero certainly alludes to him some years afterwards as then dead. (Phil. 13.14.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

13. C. Claudius Marcellus, M. F. M. N., uncle of the two preceding, and father of the consul in B. C. 50. He is called by the Pseudo-Asconius (ad Verr. p. 206) great-grandson (pronepos) of the conqueror of Syracuse [No. 4]; but as has been pointed out by Wesseling and Drumann, this is impossible on chronological grounds, and he must have been a grandson of No. 8, and therefore abnepos of No. 4. He was praetor apparently in B. C. 80, and afterwards succeeded M. Aemilius Lepidus in the government of Sicily. He found that province in a state of great distress and confusion from the exactions and oppressions of his predecessor; but by the mildness and justice of his administration, he restored it to such a flourishing state, that Cicero tells us he was looked upon by the Sicilians as the second saviour of their country. Statues were erected to him in almost every city of the island; and the festival of the Marcellea already instituted in honour of his progenitor [see No. 4] was now renewed in his favour. Throughout the speeches against Verres, Cicero dwells frequently upon the administration of Marcellus, as affording the most striking contrast to that of the accused. By a singular accident, Marcellus himself was present on that occasion, as one of the judges of Verres. (Cic. Ver. 2.3, 21, 3.16, 91, 4.40, 42, &c., Div. in Caecil. 4.) He held the office of augur, in which Cicero was one of his colleagues, and is cited by him as one of those who regarded the whole science of augury as a merely political institution. (Cic. de Divin. 2.35, de Leg. 2.13.) He lived to see his son elected consul for the year B. C. 50; and on that occasion Cicero wrote him a letter of congratulation ad Fam. 15.8), expressed in the most friendly terms. Elsewhere also the latter dwells in the strongest manner upon the respect and affection with which he had always regarded Marcellus (pro Sull. 6).

Marcellus Clau'dius

14. C. Claudius Marcellus, C. F. M. N., son of the preceding, and first cousin of M. Marcellus [No. 11 ], whom he succeeded in the consulship, B. C. 50. He enjoyed the friendship of Cicero from an early age, and attached himself to the party of Pompey in the state, notwithstanding his connection with Caesar by his marrige with Octavia. It was evidently to the influence of Pompey, combined with that of his cousin M. Marcellus, that he was indebted for his elevation to the consulship at the comitia of the year 51; and during the year of his office he showed himself a zealous and uncompromising advocate of the party hostile to Caesar. His measures were, however, very much impeded by the opposition of his colleague, L. Aenilius Paullus, as well as of the tribune C. Curio, both of whom, though previously hostile, had been recently gained over by Caesar. The latter is said to have endeavoured to corrupt Marcellus also, but to have found him inaccessible to bribes. (Appian, App. BC 2.26.) On the 1st of March, B. C. 50, Marcellus brought before the senate, as previously arranged, the question of superseding Caesar in his command; but the interposition of Curio prevented any conclusion being come to at that time; and afterwards the illness of Pompey and the elections for the ensuing year caused the question to be again postponed. The consul, however, succeeded in obtaining a decree of the senate for withdrawing from Caesar two of his legions, under pretence that they were wanted for the Parthian war; but as soon as the troops arrived in Italy they were detained at Capua, to wait for further orders. Meanwhile, repeated discussions took place in the senate in regard to Caesar, Curio still insisting that if he was compelled to resign his command, Pompey should do so too ; while Marcellus in vain endeavoured to force on a decree in pursuance of the views of himself and the more violent party. At length, a rumour having arrived that Caesar was actually marching upon Rome with four legions, the consul once more took the opportunity to propose that Pompey should be immediately placed at the head of the forces then in Italy; but having again failed in obtaining the consent of the senate, lie took the extraordinary step of investing Pompey with the command by his own personal authority, supported only by that of the two consuls elect, C. Marcellus and L. Lentulus. (Caes. Gal. 8.54, 55; D. C. 40.59_64; Appian, App. BC 2.27_31; Plut. Pomp. 58, 59.)

The violence with which Marcellus urged matters to a crisis at this time is strangely contrasted with his timidity and helplessness when the war had actually broken out, and which exceeded, according to Cicero, that of all others of his party. He used his utmost endeavours with Cicero to induce him not to quit Italy, in order that he might himself have an excuse for remaining : but even when the orator reluctantly followed Pompey and the senate to Epeirus, Marcellus could not make up his mind to do the same; he remained in Italy; and probably, from this circumstance, coupled with his relationship to Caesar, readily obtained the forgiveness of the conqueror. Thus, in B. C. 47, he was able to intercede with the dictator in favour of his cousin, M. Marcellus, who was then still in exile: and at a later period we find him enjoying, as the husband of Octavia, a place of high consideration. He is repeatedly mentioned by Cicero in the year 44, and must have lived till near the close of B. C. 41, as his widow, Octavia, was pregnant by him when betrothed to Antony in the following year. (Cic. Fam. 4.4, 7, 11, ad Att. 10.15, 15.12, pro Marc. 4, 1 , Phil. 3.6; D. C. 48.31.) Orelli has referred many of these passages to C. Marcellus, M. f., whom he considers as the husband of Octavia; but Drumann has satisfactorily shown that they relate to his cousin, the subject of the present article.

Marcellus Clau'dius

15. M. Claudius Marcellus, C. F. C. N., son of the preceding and of Octavia, the daughter of C. Octavius and sister of Augustus. He must have been born in the year B. C. 43, and was a youth of promising talents and engaging manners, having been brought up with great care by his mother, a woman of superior understanding, as well as of the highest virtue. As early as B. C. 39 he was betrothed in marriage to the daughter of Sex. Pompey, as one of the conditions of the peace concluded in that year between Pompey and Octavian (D. C. 48.38); but the marriage never took place, as Pompey's death, in B. C. 35, removed the occasion for it.

In B. C. 29 Augustus, on his return from Egypt, distributed a congiarium, in the name of young Marcellus, to the boys of the Roman populace (id. 2.21); and in B. C. 25 we find him, together with Tiberius, presiding at the games and spec tacles exhibited by Augustus at the foundation of his new colony of Emerita in Spain. (Id. 53.26.) It was apparently in the same year that Augustus adopted him as his son, at the same time that he gave hin his daughter Julia in marriage (Plut. Ant. 87; Dio Cass. Dii. 27), and caused him to be admitted into the senate with praetorian rank, and with the privilege of suing for the consulship ten years before the legal period. Shortly after wards (in B. C. 24), the young Marcellus was elected curule aedile for the ensuing year, and dis tinguished his magistracy by the magnificence of the games which he exhibited, on occasion of which the whole forum was covered over with an awning, as well as the theatres themselves, which were hung with splendid tapestries. Augustus himself did every thing in his power to contribute to the effect of this display, in which Octavia also bore an importart part. (Dio Cass. Dii. 28, 31; Pro pert. 3.18. 13-20; Plin. H. N 19.1.) But Marcellus was not destined to survive the year of this his first office: in the autumn of B. C. 23, almost before the end of the games and shows, he was attacked by the disease, of which he died shortly after at Baiae, notwithstanding all the skill and care of the celebrated physician Antonius Musa. He was in the 20th year of his age (Propert. Ml.c.), and was thought to have given so much promise of future excellence, that his death was mourned as a public calamity; and the grief of Augustus, as well as that of his mother, Octavia, was for a time unbounded.

On the other hand, his untimely fate was so favourable to the views of Livia as to give rise to the suspicion, probably unfounded, that she had been the means of hastening it. (D. C. 53.33.) The rising favour of Marcellus with Augustus had led to the general expectation that he would name him his successor; and it is probable that he would have done so had the life of the young man been prolonged; but he evidently deemed him as yet unequal to the charge; and in a severe illness, which endangered his own life at the beginning of the year 23, Augustus had certainly destined Agrippa to succeed to the management of affairs in case of his death, a circumstance which gave rise to great jealousy between the two, and to the temporary removal of Agrippa from Rome, (Ibid. 31, 32.)

The obsequies of Marcellus were celebrated with the greatest magnificence by Augustus, who himself pronounced the funeral oration over his remains, after which they were deposited in the mausoleum lately erected for the Julian family. At a subsequent period (B. C. 14) Augustus dedicated in his name the magnificent theatre near the Forum Olitorium, of which the remains are still visible. But the most durable monument to the memory of Marcellus is to be found in the wellknown passage of Virgil, which must have been composed and recited to Augustus and Octavia before the end of the year 22. (D. C. 53.30-32, 54.26; Vell. 2.93; Plut. Marc. 30; Suet. Oct. 63; Tac. Ann. 1.3, 2.41, Hist. 1.15; Propert. 3.18; Verg. A. 6.860_886; Serv. ad Virg. l.c.; Donat. Vit. Virg.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

16. M. Claudius Marcellus, called by Cicero, for distinction's sake, the father of Aeserninus. (Brut. 36.) We have no account of his connection with the main branch of the Marcelli, the family of the conqueror of Syracuse: the pedigree, as made out by Drumann, though not in itself improbable, is wholly without authority. He is first mentioned as serving under Marius in Gaul in B. C. 102, when he bore an important part in the defeat of the Teutones near Aquae Sextiae. (Plut. Marc. 20, 21.) In B. C. 90 his name occurs as one of the lieutenants of L. Julius Caesar in the Marsic war: and it appears that after the defeat of the consul by Vettius Cato, Marcellus threw himself, with a body of troops, into the strong fortress of Aesernia in Samnium, where he held out for a considerable time, but was at length compelled to surrender for want of provisions. (Appian, App. BC 1.40, 41; Liv. Epit. lxxiii.) It is doubtless from some circumstance connected with this siege that his son derived the surname of Aeserninus. There is little doubt that it is this M. Marcellus who appears as one of the judges in the trial of P. Quintius, B. C. 81 (Cic. pro Quint. 17), and to whom Cicero also alludes as having a deadly feud with the orator L. Crassus (pro Font. 7). He was himself a speaker of no ordinary merit. (Cic. Brut. 36.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

17. M. Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, M. F., is mentioned by Cicero as a young man at the trial of Verres (B. C. 70), on which occasion he appeared as a witness. (Cic. Ver. 4.42, where, however, several editions give his name as C. Marcellus.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

18. M. Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, quaestor in Spain in 48, under Q. Cassius Longinus. Drumann supposes him to be a son of the preceding, with whom Orelli, on the contrary, regards him as identical. (Onomast. Tullian.) Cassius sent him with a body of troops to hold possession of Corduba, on occasion of the mutiny and revolt excited in Spain by his own exactions. But Marcellus quickly joined the mutineers, though, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, is not certain; and put himself at the head of all the troops assembled at Corduba, whom he retained in their fidelity to Caesar, at the same time that he prepared to resist Cassius by force of arms. But though the two leaders, with their armies, were for some time opposed to one another, Marcellus avoided coming to a general engagement; and on the arrival soon after of the proconsul, M. Lepidus, he hastened to submit to his authority, and place the legions under his command at his disposal. By the questionable part he had acted on this occasion Marcellus at first incurred the resentment of Caesar, but was afterwards restored to favour. (Hirt. B. Alex. 57-64; D. C. 42.15, 16.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

19. M. Claudius Marcellus Aesernjnus, M. F., consul in B. C. 22. (D. C. 54.1, and Arg.) Perhaps the same with the preceding. He married Asinia, the daughter of C. Asinius Pollio, who was consul in B. C. 40.

Marcellus Clau'dius

20. M. Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, M. F., son of the preceding. When a boy he broke his leg while acting in the Trojan games before Augustus, a circumstance of which his grandfather, Asinius Pollio, complained so loudly that the custom was abolished. (Suet. Oct. 43.) He was trained with much care by his grandfather in all kinds of oratorical exercises, and gave much promise as an orator. (Senec. Epit. Control. lib. iv. praef.) In A. D. 20 he was one of those whom Piso requested to undertake his defence on the charge of having poisoned Germanicus, but he declined the office. (Tac. Ann 3.11.) It is probable that Asinius Marcellus who is mentioned by Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 14.40) as a great-grandson of Pollio, was a son of this Aeserninus.

Marcellus Clau'dius

21. P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, was a son of No. 16, and brother of No. 17 (Cic. Brut. 36), who must have been adopted by some one of the Cornelii Lentuli, though we know not by whom. (See Orell. Onom. Tull. p. 177.) He is mentioned by Cicero (l.c.) as an orator of considerable merit, and figures as one of the lieutenants of Pompey in the war against the pirates, B. C. 67. (Appian, App. Mith. 95.) It appears that he married a Cornelia, of the family of the Scipios. (Orell. l.c.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

22. Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, P. F., was a son of the preceding. (Dio Cass. Arg. xxxix.) He is first mentioned as zealously supporting the cause of the Sicilians against Verres, while yet a young man, B. C. 70. (Cic. Div. in Caecil. 4, in Verr. 2.42.) He next appears in B. C. 61, as supporting his kinsman, L. Lentulus Crus, in the accusation of Clodius, for violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. (Schol. Bob. ad Cic. in Clod. p. 336, ed. Orell.) In B. C. 59 he held the office of praetor, and presided at the trial of C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero. (Cic. in Vatin. 11; Orell. Onom. Tall. p. 177.) The following year he repaired to Syria, and administered that province for nearly two years, during which his time was principally taken up with repressing the predatory incursions of the neighboring Arabs. (Appian, App. Syr. 51.) But he returned to Rome soon enough to sue for the consulship at the elections of the year 57, and was chosen for the ensuing year, together with L. Marcins Philippus. Before the close of the same year also he took a prominent part in favour of Cicero, after the return of the latter from exile, and exerted himself zealously and successfully to procure the restoration of his house and property. (Cic. Att. 4.2, 3, ad Q. Fr. 2.1, de Har. resp. 1.7.) During the year of his consulship (B. C. 56), Marcellinus opposed a vigorous resistance to the factious violence of Clodius and of the tribune C. Cato; and by his conduct in this respect earned from Cicero the praise of being one of the best consuls he had ever seen. (Ad Q. Fr. 2.6.) At the same time he endeavoured to check the ambition and restrain the power of Pompey, and at the very commencement of his magistracy succeeded in preventing his being sent to Egypt with an army to reinstate Ptolemy Auletes. But not content with this, he was constantly inveighing against him and his ambition in his speeches both to the senate and people: and though the former generally were disposed to concur with him in these sentiments, it is probable that these attacks of Marcellinus contributed to induce Pompey to draw closer the bonds which united him to his brother triumnvirs, at the interview which took place this year at Lucca. (Cic. ad Fam.1.1, 2, ad Q. Fr. 2.6; D. C. 39.16, 18.) We hear very little of Marcellinus after the expiration of his consulship; and the period of his death is wholly unknown. Cicero praises his eloquence, which displayed itself especially during the time that he was consul. (Brut. 70.) He held the sacerdotal office of one of the Epulones. (Id. de Har. resp. 10.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

23. (P.) Cornelius Lentutlus Marcellinus (probably a son of the preceding), was quaestor in the army of Caesar in B. C. 48, and commanded the part of his intrenchments near Dyrrhachium, which was attacked by Pompey. Marcellinus was defeated with heavy loss, and saved only by the timely arrival of M. Antony to his support. (Caes. Civ. 3.62_65; Oros. 6.15.) The praenomen of this Marcellinus is unknown: it has been supposed that he was the father of the following, who is called P. F., but of this there is no proof.

Marcellus Clau'dius

24. P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, P. F., consul in B. C. 18. (D. C. 54.12, and Arg. liv.) Supposed to be a son of the preceding, but he may have been a grandson of No. 21. It is probable that the coin above described (p. 931,b.) was struck by him rather than by No. 21, to whom it has been generally ascribed. (Riccio, Monete Consolari, p. 52.)

The following Marcelli are also mentioned in history, of whose relation to either of the above families nothing is known.

Marcellus Clau'dius

25. M. Claudius Marcellus, plebeian aedile in B. C. 216. (Liv. 23.30.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

26. M. Claudius Marcellus, tribune of the plebs in B. C. 171. (Liv. 42.32.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

27. M. Claudius Marcellus, praetor in B. C. 137, was killed by lightning during the year of his office. (Jul. Obseq. 83.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

28. M. Claudius Marcellus, an associate and friend of Catiline, and one of those who took part in his conspiracy, B. C. 63. On the discovery of their designs, he endeavoured to get up an insurrection among the Pelignians; but this was quickly suppressed by the praetor, L. Bibulus, and Marcellus himself put to death. (Cic. in Cutil. 1.8; Oros. 6.6.)

Marcellus Clau'dius

29. C. Claudius Marcellus, M. F., son of the preceding. He took part in all his father's plans, and appears to have thrown himself into Capua with a view of exciting the slaves and gladiators there to revolt; but being driven from thence by P. Sestius, took refuge in Bruttium, where he was put to death. (Cic.pro Sest. 4; Oros. 6.6.) [E.H.B]

Marcellus , Corne'lius

a Roman senator in Nero's reign, was involved with others [Fabatus Calpurnius] in the charge of being privy to the crimes of Lepida, the wife of C. Cassius, A. D. 64. Marcellus eluded punishment on this occasion, but he was put to death by Galba's order in Spain, A. D. 68 (Tac. Ann. 16.8, Hist. 1.37), probably as a partisan of Nero's. (Comp. Plut. Galb. 15.) [W.B.D]

Marcellus Empi'ricus

was born at Burdigala (Bordeaux) in the fourth century after Christ. He is said to have held the office of " magister officiorum" under Theodosius the Great, A. D. 379-395, and to have lost this post under his successor Arcadius. He was a Christian, but it seems doubtful whether he was really a physician, though he is sometimes called "Archiater." Works De Medicamentis Empiricis, Physicis ac Rationabilibus

He is the author of a pharmaceutical work in Latin, De Medicamentis Empiricis, Physicis ac Rationabilibus, which he says in the preface he compiled for the use of his sons. It is of little value, and contains many charms and superstitious absurdities, as might have been anticipated when he tells us, that he inserted in the work not only the medicines approved of by physicians, but also those recommended by the common people (agrestes et plebeii). Further Information

It was first published in 1536, fol. Basil., and is inserted in the collection of medical writers published by Aldus, Venet. 1547, and H. Stephens, Paris, 1567. Further Information

Sprengel, Hist. de la Méd. vol. ii.; Chonlant, Iandb. der Büc]erkunde für die Aeltere Aedicin. [W.A.G]

Marcellus , E'prius

born of an obscure family at Capua, rose by his oratorical talents to distinction at Rome in the reigns of Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian. (Dialog. de Orator. 8 ; Schol. Vet. ad Juv. Sat. 4.81.) On the deposition of L. Silanus, A. D. 49, Marcellus was appointed to the vacant praetorship, which, however, was so nearly expired that he held it only a few days, or perhaps hours. (Tac. Ann. 12.4; comp. Suet. Cl. 29.) At the beginning of Nero's reign Marcellus was proconsul of a portion of Asia Minor, probably of Pamphylia, for in A. D. 57, after his return to Rome, the Lycians, who since their annexation by Claudius, in A. D. 43, were attached to that province (D. C. 60.17), accused him of malversation. His eloquence, or rather his wealth, procured an acquittal, and some of his accusers were banished as the authors of an unfounded and frivolous charge. (Tac. Ann. 13.33.) Marcellus now became one of the principal delators under Nero. He was able, venal, and unscrupulous, and he accordingly acquired wealth, influence, and hatred. In A. D. 66, he seconded Cossutianus Capito [Capito Cossutianus] in the impeachment of Thrasea Paetus, and for his exertions received from Nero an extravagant fee (id. Ann. 16.23, 26, 28, 33). The fortunes of Marcellus were for a time shaken by Nero's death. He became in turn the object of attack -- by Helvidius Priscus, Thrasea's son-iin-law, as a delator, and by Licinius Caecina, a partisan of Otho's [Caecina, No. 10], as a favourer of Vitellius, A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. 2.53, 4.6.) His contest with Helvidius Priscus in the senate, A. D. 70, when the mode of appointing the delegates to Vespasian in Egypt was debated, is sketched by Tacitus (Tac. Hist. 4.6-8) with a brevity that leaves nothing obscure. From Helvidius and Caecina Marcellus escaped as much through the dislocation of the times, the feebleness of the emperor, and the fears of the senate, as by his own eloquence and address. But Helvidius assailed him a third time on the old charge of delation, and, on this occasion, his talents, backed indeed by his strong interest with Mucianus and Domitian, rescued him. (Dialog. de Orat. 8, comp. 5.) He ingratiated himself with the elder Vespasian also, and was nearly as powerful for a while under the Flavian house as under Claudius and Nero. But towards the close of Vespasian's reign, A. D. 79, Marcellus, from what motives is unknown, engaged in Alienus Caecina's conspiracy against the emperor [Caecina Alienus]. Caecina was assassinated, Marcellus was tried, convicted, and, unable to withstand the long-stored hatred of the senators, destroyed himself. (D. C. 66.16.) The character of Marcellus is drawn by the author of the Dialogue de Oratoribus (5, 8, 13); his eloquence was his only merit, and he abused it to the worst purposes.

A coin of the town of Cyme in Aeolia bears on its obverse, *A*N*Q*G. *E*P*I*W. *M*A*P*K*E*A*A*W. *T. *K*Y., and refers, probably, to the period of his proconsulate of Pamphylia. (Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet. vol. ii. p. 493.) [W.B.D]

Marcellus , Gra'nius

praetor of Bithynia, in the reilg of Tiberius, was accused, in A. D. 15, by his own quaestor, Caep10 Crispinus, and by the notorious delator, Hispo Romanus, of treason and extortion in his provincial government. Marcellus was acquitted of treason, but convicted and fined for extortion. Tacitus marks this trial as one of the earliest of those frivolous yet fatal accusations which multiplied with the years and vices of Tiberius. (Tac. Ann. 1.74.) [W.B.D]

Marcellus , Mi'ndius

was an adherent of Augustus in the last war with Sext. Pompey, B. C. 36. Through Marcellus Menodorus negotiated his second desertion from Pornpey to Augustus. (Appian, App. BC 5.102.) [W.B.D]

Marcellus , P. Nera'tius

is mentioned by the younger Pliny (Plin. Ep. 3.8) as a person of rank and interest at Trajan's court. He was consul in A. D. 104. (Fasti.) [W.B.D]

Marcellus , No'nius

a Latin grammarian, the author of an important treatise, which in MSS. is designated as Nonü Marcelli Peripatetici Tuburticensis de Compendiosa Doctrina per Litteras ad Filium, for the latter portion of which title many printed copies substitute erroneously De Proprietate Sermonis. The most recent editor is obliged to confess, after a full investigation of every source from which information could be derived, that we are totally unacquainted with the personal history of this writer, that we cannot fix with certainty either the place or the time of his birth, that it is difficult to detect the plan pursued in the compilation of the work, that no satisfactory classification of the numerous codices has yet been accomplished, and that no sure estimate has been formed of their relative value. The epithet Tuburticensis, which appears also under the varying shapes, Tuburcicensis, Tuburgiceesis, Tiburticensis, Thiburticensis, Tiburiensis, does not lead readily to any conclusion. We can scarcely agree with Wass in considering it equivalent to Tiburtinus, a word which occurs so frequently elsewhere, that even the most ignorant transcribers would not have transformed it so rudely; nor can we persuade ourselves that Gerlach has succeeded in proving that it must be derived from Tubursicumor Tubasrsicca, in Numidia, near the river Ampsaga, a town which became at an early period the seat of a Christian bishopric, and is to be distinguished from Tubursicum, in the proconsular province of Africa, also a bishop's see, the inhabitants of which unquestionably termed themselves Thibursicenses (see Orelli, Corp. Inscrip. No. 3691), from the Colonia Tuburnica, the Oppidum Tuburnicense of Pliny (Plin. Nat. 7.4), and from the Oppidum Tuburbitunue, Majus and Oppidum Minus of the ecclesiastical writers. It is equally difficult to determine within narrow limits the epoch when Nonius flourished: he must be later than the middle of the second century, since once at least (p. 49, ed. Gerl.) he refers to Appuleius, and frequently copies A. Gellius, although he nowhere refers to him by name. He must be earlier than the sixth century, since he is himself quoted repeatedly by Priscian (pp. 43, 278, 477, ed. Krehl.). Two points are thus fixed, but they are unfortunately far asunder, and we are left to wander over a space of three centuries, while the very nature of the piece almost entirely excludes the possibility of drawing any inference from style; all that can be said upon this head is, that the various words ond expressions which have been adduced for the purpose of proving that he must belong to the fifth century, will, without exception, be found, upon examination, to fail in establishing this proposition; and on the other hand, the arguments employed to demonstrate that he ought to be placed at the commencement of the third are equally powerless. He may be the same person with the grammarian Marcellus addressed by Ausonius (Care. xix.), but there is no evidence whatever in favour of the supposition except the identity of a very common name. Works De Compendiosa Doctrina

The work is divided into eighteen chapters, but of these the first twelve ought in reality to be viewed as separate treatises, composed at different periods, with different objects, and not linked together by any connecting bond. At the same time each chapter is far from presenting a compact, well-ordered, consistent whole, but generally exhibits a confused farrago, as if a compartment of an ill-kept commonplace book had been transcribed without adequate pains having been bestowed on the classification and distribution of the materials collected. Some idea of the contents may be obtained from the following outline: Cap. I. De Proprietate Sermonum,

De Proprietate Sermonum, may be regarded as a glossary of obsolete words, which are thrown together without any arrangement. Many are, however, inserted which do not belong to this class, and which might, with perfect propriety, be transferred to c. iv. Cap. II. De Honestis et Nove Veterum Dictis.

De Honestis et Nove Veterum Dictis. A collection of words placed in alphabetical order, which were employed by the early Latin writers in a sense different from that which they bore in the age of Nonius. Many of these ought to have found a place in c. i.; and from the statements with regard to others, we might draw some curious inferences regarding the state of the language when this tract was drawn up. Cap. III. De Indiscretis Generibus,

De Indiscretis Generibus, a collection of words in alphabetical order, of which the gender is found to vary in the best authorities, such as finis, calx, papaver, and the like. Cap. IV. De vera Significatione Verborum,

De vera Significatione Verborum, a collection of words in alphabetical order, which occur in the same or in different writers with marked variations of meaning, such as aequor, conducere, lustrare. This is by far the longest section in the book. Cap. V. De Differentiis Verborum,

De Differentiis Verborum, what we should now term a dissertation on synonyms, being a collection of words not in alphabetical order, which, although allied in signification, express distinct modifications of thought, such as auspicium and augurium, urbs and civitas, superstitio and religio. Cap. VI. De Impropriis,

De Impropriis, a collection of words, not in alphabetical order, which are frequently employed, not in their true and literal, but in a figurative sense, such as liber, focus, rostrum; the greater number of the examples, however, ought to have been included in chapter iv. Cap. VII. De Contrarüs Generibus Verborum,

De Contrarüs Generibus Verborum, a collection of verbs not in alphabetical order, which, although usually deponent, are occasionally found assuming the active form, and vice versa, such as vaeas for vagaris, contempla for contempllre, praesagitur for praescagit. Intermingled are archaic forms, such as esuribo for esuriam, which belong to c. x., and some of which are actually repeated there, as expediam for expediam; and some archaic constructions, such as potior illam rem, libertatem uti, opus est illamrem, which are altogether out of place, but might have been inserted in chapter ix. Cap. VIII. De Mutata Declinatione,

De Mutata Declinatione, a collection of nouns, not in alphabetical order, which vary in form or in declension, or in both, as itiner, iter ; lacte, lac; poelma, poematum; perrieus, pervicax ; senati, senatuis, senatus, for the genitive of senatus. Cap. IX. De Generibus et Casibus,

De Generibus et Casibus, a collection of passages in which one case seems to be substituted for another, such as fustiditmei, non ego sum dignus salutis. Cap. X. De M tatis Conjugationibus,

De M tatis Conjugationibus, a collection of verbs, not in alphabetical order, which are conjugated sometimes according to one form, sometimes according to another, such as fervit and fervet, cupiret and cuperet, larit and lavat. Some of the examples belong to c. vii., such as possetur for posset, poteratur for poterat; others, such as expedibo, audibo, ought to have constituted a separate section. Cap. XI. De Indiscretis Adverbüs,

De Indiscretis Adverbüs, a collection of adverbs, not in alphabetical order, which occasionally appear under forms at variance with ordinary usage or with analogy, such as amiciter, ampliler, fidele, memore, pugnitus, largittus. Cap. XII. De Doctorum Indagine,

De Doctorum Indagine, is a complete medley, being a sort of supplement to the preceding books, and containing, in addition, some curious notices upon matters of antiquarian research. Cap. XIII.-XVIII. Technical Terms on Various Subjects.

Cap. XIII.-XVIII. are all in the style of the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux, each containing a series of technical terms in some one department. They are severally entitled De Genere Navigiorum, De Genere Vestimentorum, De Genere Vasorum vel Poculorium, De Genere vel Colore Vestimentorum, De Genere Ciborum vel Pomorum, De Genere Armorum, De Propinquitate. of which the last appears to be an unfinished sketch. Assessment

Although the attentive reader will soon discover that he can repose no confidence in the learning, critical sagacity, or logical precision of Nonius Marcellus, this compilation must ever be looked upon as one of value, since it is in a great measure made up of quotations from the early dramatists, annalists, satirists, and antiquaries, from Accius, Afranius. L. Andronicus, Caecilius, Ennius, Nonius, Pacuvius, Turpilius, Lucilius, Cato, and Varro, writers whose chief works have not descended to us, and most of whom exist in fragments only. as well as from Plautus, Terence, Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil, and a few others, of whom we have more copious remains, thus affording many curious specimens of what we can find nowhere else, and occasionally enabling us to correct and illustrate the text of those productions which have been preserved entire. Editions

The Editio Princeps of Nonius Marcellus is, according to the best bibliographic authorities, a folio volume, in Roman characters, without date and without name of place or printer, but which is known to have been printed at Rome, by George Laver, about 1470. The first edition with a date was published in 1471, and is, like the former, without name of place or printer. The first critical edition was that of Junius, 8vo. Antv. 1565, which was followed by that of Gothofredus, 8vo. Paris, 1586. Considerable reputation was enjoyed by the editions of Mercier, 8vo. Paris, 1583 and 1614, especially the second, which gave a new recension of the text, and was reprinted at Leipzig, 8vo. 1826. This, however, as well as every other, is now superseded by the edition of Gerlach and Roth, 8vo. Basil, 1842, which is in every respect infinitely superior to any of its predecessors. It contains, as well as those of Junius, Gothofredus, and Mercier, the tract of Fulgentius Planciades, "De Prisco Sermnone." [Fulgentius.] Further Information

Osann, Beiträge zur Griech. und Röm. Litteratugescht. p. 381; Praef. ad ed. T. D. Gerlach, et C. L. Roth. [W.R]

Marcellus , Oro'ntius

was the person to whom Longinus addressed his treatise Περὶ Τέλους, or De Finibus. (Longin. Fr. 5. ed. Weiske.) He was a pupil of Plotinus. (Porphyr. Vit. Plotin. 7.) A daughter of Marcellus studied philosophy, and married Porphyry, the biographer of Plotinus. (Cyril. contr. Julian. p. 209; Eunap. Vit. Sophist. Porphyr) [W.B.D]

Marcellus

a Physician who appears to have lived in the first century after Christ in the reign of Nero, A. D. 54-68. (Marcell. Empir. de Medicam. 100.20, p. 332, ed. I. Steph.) He is perhaps the same person who is quoted by Galen (De Remed. Parab. 2.21, vol. xiv. p. 459), Aetius (3.1, 49, p. 506), Paulus Aegineta (3.41, 79, iv. l l, 6.48, pp. 460, 498, 507, 570), and Alexander Trallianus (8.8, p. 256, ed. II. Steph.) [W.A.G]

Marcellus , M. Pompo'nius

a grammarian, who sometimes also pleaded causes, lived in the reign of Tiberius, and was celebrated as a rigid purist in language. There is an anecdote respecting this Marcellus and the emperor Tiberius related in Vol. I. p. 599b. (Suet. de Illius. Gramm. 22; D. C. 57.17.)

Marcellus Side'tes

a native of Side in Pamphylia, was born towards the end of the first century after Christ, and lived in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, A. D. 117-161. Works

He wrote a long medical poem in Greek hexameter verse, consisting of forty-two books, which was held in such estimation, that it was ordered by the emperors to be placed in the public libraries at Rome. (Suid. s. v. Μάρκελλος, and Kuster's note; Eudoc. Violar. apud Villoison, Anecd. Graeca, vol. i. p. 299.) Of this work only two fragments remain. Περὶ Λυκανθρώπου, De Lycanthropia

The first fragment Περὶ Λυκανθρώπου, De Lycanthropia is preserved (but in prose) by Aetius (2.2, 11, p. 254; compare Paul. Aegin. 3.16, and Mr. Adams's note, vol. i. p. 390), and is curious and interesting. Ἰατρικὰ περὶ Ἰχθύων, De Remedis ex Piscibus.

The second fragment, Ἰατρικὰ περὶ Ἰχθύων, De Remedis ex Piscibus, is less interesting, and consists of about 100 verses. Editions

It was first published in a separate form in Greek and Latin by Fred. Morell, Paris, 8vo. 1.591, and is to be found in the first volume of Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. ed. vet., and elsewhere. Further Information

See Choulant, Handb. der Böcherkunde für die Aettere Medicim. [W.A.G]

Marcellus , Sex. Va'rius

a native of Apameia, the husband of Julia Soemias, by whom he was the father of Elagabalus. [See genealogical table prefixed to Caracalla.] He frequently discharged the duties of an imperial procurator, and was admitted into the senate. His various designations, titles, and distinctions, have been preserved in a bilinguar inscription discovered near Velitrae, which was published at Rome in 1765, accompanied by a dissertation, and which are given by Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 245. After him, Elagabalus was originally called Varius Avitus Bassianus, and he gave his name to the Thermae Varianae, placed by Victor in the xiiithl Region. (D. C. 78.30.) [W.R]

Marcellus , Victo'rius

was the pereon to whom Quintilian dedicated his work, De Institutione Oratorie. He was apparently a man of rank and learning. A son of Marcellus was educated by Quintilian. (Quint. Ep. cd Tryph., lnst. i. proem. iii. proem. vi. proemt. xii. fine.) See Dodwell, Ann. Quintil. § 27. Statius inscribed the third book of his Silvae to Marcellts. [W.B.D]

Marcellus , U'lpius

The period of this jurist is determined by Capitolinus (Antonin. Piaus, 12), who states that Marcellus was one of the legal advisers of the emperor Antoninus Pius, and enumerates with him, Salvius Valens, Javolenus. and others. It also appears from his own writings that Marcellus lived under Pius, for he mentions a decision of Aurelius Antoninus (Dig. ,35. tit. 1. s. 48); if Aurelius Antonintis here means Pius, and itot Marcus his successor. That he was living under the Divi Fratres, Marcus Antoninus and L. Verus, appears from a reference which he makes to an oration of the two emperors respecting tutors giving security (satisdatio). The passage is a citation by Ulpian from Marcelltls, and the term Divi may be, and appears to be, the addition of Ulpian, and therefore does not prove that Marcellus survived Marcus Antoninus (Dig. 26. tit. 2. s. 19). Marcellus also quotes a judgment of Antoninus Augustus (Dig. 28. tit. 4. s. 3), by whom he means M. Antoninus, as appears from his naming the consuls Pudens and Pollio, who belong to A. D. 166. The question turned upon a will, in which the testator had cancelled the names of the heredes in his testament, and his property was claimed by the fiscus as bona caduca. The case was argued before the emperor by the advocati of the fiscus and the advocati of the claimants under the will. The emperor's judgment was in favour of the equitable interpretation, but against the strict law.

The conjecture that the Ulpius Marcellus, who commanded in Britain in the reign of Commodus, is the jurist, hardly needs refutation. The only ground for it is the sameness of name, to which it is objected that Dio Cassius, who speaks of the military talent of Ulpius Marcellus, says nothing of his legal reputation (Dio Cassius, 72.8, and the note of Reimarus). Besides this, it is very unlikely that a man who had been a jurist during the reigns of Pius and Marcus, the latter of which lasted near twenty years, should turn soldier under Commodus, the successor of Marcus, in the year A. D. 182. The soldier Marcellus may have been the son of the jurist.

The works of Marcellus mentioned in the Florentine Index are, thirty-one books of Digesta, six books on the Leges Julia et Papia, and a book of Responsa. But there are excerpts from other works of his in the Digest, as a work entitled " Publica" (Dig. 3. tit. 2. s. 22), the object of which may be collected from its being referred to under the title " De iis qui infamia notantur ;" on the office of a praesul (Dig. 4. tit. 4. s. 43); and on the office of a consul, the fifth book of which is quoted by Marcianus (Dig. 40. tit. 15. s. 1). Marcellus also commented on the writings of Salvius Julianus (Dig. 4. tit. 4. s. 11), and on Pomponius (Dig. 7. tit. 4. s. 29). Marcellus was commented on by Cervidius Scaevola (Dig. 24. tit. 1. s. 11) and Ulpian. He is often cited by subsequent jurists, especially Paulus and Ulpian, and by Modestinus, one of the latest of the jurists. There are 159 excerpts from Ulpius Marcellus in the Digest. This notice differs in some matters from that of Zimmern, Geschichte des Röm. Privatrechts, vol. ii. p. 358, whose authorities do not always agree with his text. [G.L]

Marcellus

The name of an illustrious plebeian family of the Claudia gens. (1) M. Claudius Marcellus, celebrated as having been five times consul and commander of Syracuse. In his first consulship, B.C. 222, Marcellus distinguished himself by slaying in battle with his own hand Britomartius or Virdomarus, the king of the Insubrian Gauls, whose spoils he afterwards dedicated as spolia opima in the temple of Iupiter Feretrius. This was the third and last instance in Roman history in which such an offering was made. Marcellus was one of the chief Roman generals in the Second Punic War. He took Syracuse in B.C. 212, after a siege of more than two years, in which all his powerful military engines were rendered wholly unavailing by the superior skill and science of Archimedes, who directed those of the besieged. On the capture of the city Archimedes was one of the inhabitants slain by the Roman soldiers. Marcellus fell in battle against Hannibal in 208, and was buried by the enemy with military honours.

(2) M. Claudius Marcellus, consul B.C. 51 and a bitter enemy of Caesar. In B.C. 46 he was pardoned by Caesar on the intercession of the Senate; whereupon Cicero returned thanks to Caesar in the oration Pro Marcello, which has come down to us. Marcellus, who was then living at Mitylené, set out on his return; but he was murdered at the Piraeus by one of his own attendants, P. Magius Chilo.

(3) C. Claudius Marcellus, brother of the preceding and also an enemy of Caesar. He was consul in 49, when the Civil War broke out.

(4) C. Claudius Marcellus, first cousin of the two preceding and, like them, an enemy of Caesar. He was consul in 50, but he did not join Pompey in Greece, and was therefore readily pardoned by Caesar.

(5) M. Claudius Marcellus, son of the preceding and of Octavia, the daughter of C. Octavius and sister of Augustus. He was born B.C. 43. Augustus, who had probably destined him for his successor, adopted him as his son, and gave him his daughter Iulia in marriage (B.C. 25). In 23 he was curule aedile, but died in the same year, to the great grief of Augustus as well as of his mother Octavia. The memory of Marcellus is immortalized by the well-known passage of Vergil (Aen. vi. 860-886), which was recited by the poet to Augustus and Octavia. In his honour, Augustus built the great theatre near the Forum Olitorium, remains of which still exist. See Vergilius.

Marcellus , Nonius

See Nonius.