Murena

Murena (old form Muraena), ae, f., = μύραινα.

• The murena, a fish of which the ancients were very fond, Plin. 9, 55, 81, § 171: muraenam exdorsua, Plaut. Aul. 2, 9, 2 (399); id. Pers. 1, 3, 30 (110); Juv. 5, 99.—
• II Transf., a black stripe in the shape of this fish, a black vein in the table-tops of citron-wood, Plin. 13, 15, 30, § 98.

Murena, ae, f. (ante-class form Muraena, but without class. authority),

• a Roman surname in the gens Licinia, Varr. R. R. 3, 3, 10; Col. 8, 16.—So,
• • • 1 L. Licinius Murena, who was defended by Cicero, in an oration still extant, against the charge of ambitus, Cic. Mur. 7, 15, etc.—
    • 2 A. Terentus Varro Murena, an intimate friend of Cicero, Cic. Fam. 16, 12, 6; 13, 22, 1.—
    • 3 L. Licinius Varro Murena, brother-in-law of Maecenas, Hor. S. 1, 5, 38.
• —Hence, Mū-renĭānus (Mūraen-), a, um, adj., of or belonging to Muraena, Muraenian: oratio, i. e. that pronounced by Cicero on behalf of L. Licinius Murena, Mart. Cap. 5, 172, § 525.

2. Mūrēna, ae, m. (1. murena), Name einer röm. Familie aus der gens Licinia. Bes. bekannt sind L. Licinius Murena, wegen Amtserschleichung (de ambitu) angeklagt und von Cicero in einer noch erhaltenen Rede verteidigt, Cic. Mur. 15. – L. Licinius Varro Murena, Bruder der Terentia, der Gemahlin des Mäcenas, von A. Terentius Varro adoptiert, Hor. sat. 1, 5, 38: Freund Ciceros, Cic. ep. 13, 22, 1; später geriet er in den Verdacht, an der Verschwörung des Fannius Cäpio gegen Augustus beteiligt zu sein und wurde deshalb zum Tode verurteilt u. hingerichtet, Vell. 2, 91, 2. Sen. de brev. vit. 4, 5 u. de clem. 1, 9, 6. Suet. Aug. 56, 4 u. 66, 3; Tib. 8. Tac. ann. 1, 10. – Dav. Mūrēniānus, a, um, murenianisch, subst., Mūrēniāna, ae, f. (verst. oratio), die Rede Ciceros für Murena, Mart. Cap. 5. § 525. – ➳ Die Schreibweise Murena ist nach den Hdschrn., Inschrn. u. Münzen die einzig übliche, s. Drak. Liv. epit. 86 extr. Schneiders Gr. 1, 1. S. 55.

2 Mūrēna, (10) æ, m. , surnom dans la gens Licinia ; not^t L. Licinius Muréna [qui fut défendu par Cicéron] : Cic. Mur. 15 || -nĭānus, a, um, qui concerne Muréna : Capel. 5, 525.

Mure'na

Μουρήνας, the name of a family of the Licinia gens, which was originally from Lanuvium, now Cività Lavigna, an old Latin town near the Via Appia. The name Murena, which is the proper way of writing the word, not Muraena, is said to have been given in consequence of one of the family having a great liking for the lamprey (murena), and building tanks (vivaria) for them, (Plin. Nat. 9.54, ed. Hard.; Macrob. Saturn. 2.11.)

Mure'na

1. P. Licinius was praetor, but in what year is unknown.

Mure'na

2. P. Licinius Murena,the son of P. Licinius, attained the rank of praetor, and was a contemporary of the orator L. Crassus. He was the first of the family who had the cognomen Murena.

Mure'na

3. P. Licinius Murena, the son of the preceding, was a man of moderate talent, but he paid great attention to the study of antiquity, and was a man of some literary knowledge. (Cic. Brut. 54.) He lost his life in the wars of Marius and Sulla (B. C. 82); for his death is mentioned by Cicero as taking place at the same time with the murder of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the jurist and Pontifex Maximus, or shortly after; and Cicero seems to mean that he died a violent death; and if so, he must have perished by the hands of the Marian faction, though there is no direct authority for that statement, which is made by Drumann. (Cic. Brut. 90; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iv. p. 184.)

Mure'na

4. L. Licinius Murena, the brother of the preceding, was praetor probably before he served under Sulla in Greece. He was in the battle of Chaeroneia, B. C. 86, in which Sulla defeated Archelaus, the general of Mithridates. Murena had the command of the left wing, and was opposed to Taxiles. (Plut. Sull. 17, &c.) Murena accompanied Sulla into the Troad, where peace was made with Mithridates (B. C. 84), and Murena was left as propraetor in Asia, with the command of the two legions of Fimbria which had deserted their commander and come over to Sulla (Appian, App. Mith. 64). Murena, who wished to have a triumph, sought a quarrel with Mithridates, took Comana in Cappadocia, and robbed the rich temple. His answer to Mithridates, who complained of the infraction of the treaty, was that he could see no treaty; and, in fact, there was no written treaty between Sulla and Mithridates. Mithridates sent to Rome to complain, and in the mean time Murena crossed the swollen Halys, ravaged the country of Mithridates, and returned into Galatia and Phrygia loaded with booty. Calidius, who had been sent by the Roman senate, gave him verbal orders to stop hostilities, but he brought no written instructions with him, and Murena again commenced his ravages. Mithrdates now sent Gordius against Murena, and soon joined Gordius with a larger force. A fierce battle was fought on the river, which was probably the Halys, though Appian (App. Mith. 65) mentions no name, in which Murena was defeated with great loss, and he made his retreat over the mountains into Phrygia. In the early part of B. C. 81 Sulla sent A. Gabinius with strict orders to Murena to stop hostilities, and with instructions to reconcile Mithridates and Ariobarzanes. Murena returned to Rome, and had a triumph in B. C. 81, which he did not deserve. He probably died soon after. His wife lived to see her son consul. (Cic. pro Muren. 41.)

Mure'na

5. L. Licinius Murena, the son of No. 4, served under his father (B. C. 83) in the war against Mithridates. He was quaestor at Rome with the jurist Serv. Sulpicius, who was afterwards his opponent in the canvas for the consulship. In his aedileship Murena adorned the walls of the Comitium with Lacedaemonian stone (Plin. Nat. 35.14). In the third Mithridatic war, which began B. C. 74, he served under L. Lucullus (Plut. Luc. 15, &c.), and was left by him to direct the siege of Amisus, while Lycullus advanced against Mithridates. At the captare of Amisus B. C. 71). Tyrannio was made prisoner, and he was given to Murena at his request, who thereupon made him free, by which act it was implied that he had been a slave. Plutarch (Plut. Luc. 19) blames Murena for his conduct in this matter, and adds that it was not in this instance only that Murena showed himself far inferior to his general in honourable feeling and conduct. Murena followed Tigranes in his retreat from Tigranocerta to the Taurus, and took all his baggage, and he was left to maintain the siege of Tigranocerta while Lucullus marched from before that city to check Tigranes, who was again in sight of Tigranocerta with a large army. He returned to Rome before the end of the war, and was one of ten commissioners who were sent out to settle affairs in the countries conquered by Lucullus. (Cic. Att. 13.6.) In B. C. 65, was praetor with Serv. Sulpicius, and had the jurisdictio, while Sulpicius had the unpopular function of presiding at the quaestio peculatus (Cic. pro Muren. 20). Murena expended considerable sums on the public exhibitions (ludi Apollinares), which he had to superintend during his office. (Plin. Nat. 33.3; Cic. pro Muren. 18, 19.) After his praetorship (B. C. 64) he was propraetor of Gallia Cisalpina, where his brother Caius served under him, and he settled the disputes between debtor and creditor in a satisfactory and equitable way, as Cicero says.

In B. C. 63 he was a candidate for the consulship, and was elected with D. Junius Silanus. Serv. Sulpicius, an unsuccessful candidate, instituted a prosecution against Murena for bribery (ambitus), and he was supported in the matter by M. Porcius Cato, Cn. Postumius, and Serv. Sulpicius the younger (Plut. Cat. Min. 21, Cic. 35, and the oration of Cicero for Murena). Murena was defended by Q. Hortensius, M. Tullius Cicero, who was then consul, and M. Licinius Crassus. The speech of Cicero, which is extant, is of the same class as his later speech in defence of Cn. Plancius, who was also tried for ambitus. The time when the speech for Murena was delivered is shown by the fact that Catiline had then left the city, but the conspirators who remained behind had not been punished: it was therefore delivered in the latter part of November of the unreformed calendar. The orator handled his subject skilfully, by making merry with the formulae and the practice of the lawyers, to which class Sulpicius belonged, and with the paradoxes of the Stoics, to which sect Cato had attached himself. Yet he did not attack the character and motives of either Sulpicius or Cato, which would have been injurious to his client, for both the prosecutors were men above suspicion. But he defended the private character of Murena against the imputations that had been cast on him, and he represents him as a man of merit in his public and private capacity, and with more virtues than we can readily give him credit for. As in the oration for Cn. Plancius he says comparatively little on the main charge, which, indeed, it was the business of the prosecutors to prove; and he rather labours to show that there were sufficient reasons for his election without supposing that he had purchased votes. He shows that under present circumstances, with Catiline at the head of an army in the field, and his associates in the city, it was necessary to have a vigorous consul to protect the state in the coming year. Murena was acquitted. (Plut. Cat. Mi. 21.)

Early in the month of December following Cicero moved in the senate the question of punishing the conspirators who had been seized. Silanus, who was first asked his opinion, was for putting them to death, and Murena ultimately voted the same way (Cic. Att. 12.21). The consulship of Silanus and Murena was a stormy period, owing to the agitation of Q. Metellus Nepos, who wished for the return of Pompeius to oppose the party of the Optimates. The disturbances in Rome grew so high that the senate empowered the consuls in the usual form to preserve the safety of the cornmonwealth. Cato, who was a colleague of Metellus, was opposed to the consuls, but Murena protected him in an affray (Plut. Cat. Mi. 28 . In this consulship was passed the Lex Licinia Junia, he which enacted that a lex should be promulgated for three nundinae before the people voted upon it. There is no mention of Murena having a province after his consulship, and nothing more is said about him.

His stepson, L. Natta, was the son of Murena's wife by a previous husband, probably one Pinarius Natta, as Drumann shows (vol. ii. p. 370).

Mure'na

6. C. Licinius Murena, the brother of No. 5, and his legatus in Cisalpine Gallin, which he administered in the year after his brother's administration, and seized some of the band of Catiline (Sall. B. C. 42), before the defeat and death of their leader.

Mure'na

7. A. Terentius Varro Murena, was adopted by A. Terentius Varro, whose name he took, according to the custom in such cases. Drumann conjectures that he was the son of the consul, which seems probable. In the civil wars he is said to have lost his property, and that C. Proculeius, a Roman eques, gave him a share of his own property. This Proculeius is called the brother of Varro, but, if we take the words of Horace literally (Carm. 2.2), Proculeius had more than one brother. Drumann conjectures that this Proculeius was a son of C. Licinius Murena, the brother of the consul, who had been adopted by one Proculeius. This would make Proculeius the cousin of Varro. It was common enough among the Romans to call cousins by the name of brothers (frater patruelis, and frater).

Murena was sent by Augustus, in B. C. 25, to attack the Salassi in the Alps: he reduced the people to obedience, sold the male prisoners for slaves, and the chief part of the territory was distributed among Praetorian soldiers, who founded the town of Augusta, now Aosta, in the province of Aosta, one of the eight divisions of the continental dominion of the king of Sardinia (D. C. 53.25; Strab. p. 206, ed. Casaub.). Murena was named consul suffectus for B. C. 23. In B. C. 22 he was involved in the conspiracy of Fannius Caepio, and was condemned to death and executed, notwithstanding the intercession of Proculeius and Terentia, the sister of Murena. Dio Cassius (54.3), when speaking of the death of Murena, calls him Licinius Murena, though he had already (53.25) called him Terentius Varro. Such confusion is common enough with the Roman writers, when they are speaking of adopted persons. Horace (Hor. Carm. 2.10) addresses Murena by the name of Licinius, and probably intended to give him some advice as to being more cautious in his speech and conduct.

The authorities for the Licinii Murenae are given by Drumann, Geschichte Rows, vol. iv. p. 183, &c. [G.L]

Mure'na, Abla'vius

praefectus praetorio in the reign of Valerian (A. D. 253-260), who addressed Ablavius a letter respecting Claudius, afterwards emperor. (Trebell. Poll. Claud. 15.)

Murēna

Licinius. The name Murena (not Muraena) is said to have been given in consequence of one of the family having a great liking for the lamprey (murena), and building tanks (vivaria) for them. (1) Publius, a man of some literary knowledge, lost his life in the wars of Marius and Sulla , B.C. 82, and

(2) Lucius, brother of the preceding, served under Sulla in Greece in the Mithridatic War. After Sulla had made peace with Mithridates (84), Murena was left as propraetor in Asia. Anxious for distinction, Murena sought a quarrel with Mithridates; and after carrying on the war for two years, was at length compelled, by the strict orders of Sulla , to stop hostilities. Murena returned to Rome, and had a triumph in 81. He probably died soon after.

(3) Lucius, son of the last, served under his father in the Second Mithridatic War and also under Lucullus in the Third Mithridatic War. In 65 he was praetor, in 64 propraetor of Gallia Cisalpina, and in 63 was elected consul with D. Iunius Silanus. Sulpicius, an unsuccessful candidate, instituted a prosecution against Murena for bribery (ambitus), and he was supported in the matter by M. Porcius Cato, Cn. Postumius, and Serv. Sulpicius the Younger. Murena was defended by Q. Hortensius, M. Tullius Cicero, who was then consul, and M. Licinius Crassus. The speech of Cicero, which is extant, was delivered in the latter part of November. The orator handled his subject skilfully by joking about the formulae and the practice of the lawyers, to which class Sulpicius belonged, and with the paradoxes of the Stoics, to which sect Cato had attached himself. Murena was acquitted, and was consul in the following year, 62.

(4) A. Terentius Varro Murēna, probably the son of the preceding, was adopted by A. Terentius Varro, whose name he took, according to the custom in such cases. In the Civil Wars, he is said to have lost his property, and C. Proculeius, a Roman knight, is said to have given him a share of his own property. This Proculeius is called the brother of Varro; but, if we take the words of Horace literally (Carm. ii. 2), Proculeius had more than one brother. It is conjectured that this Proculeius was a son of the brother of No. 3, who had been adopted by one Proculeius. This would make Proculeius the cousin of Varro. It was common enough among the Romans to call cousins by the name of brothers (frater patruelis and frater). In 25 Murena subdued the Salassi in the Alps, and founded the town of Augusta (Aosta) in their territory. He was consul suffectus in 23. In 22 he was involved in the conspiracy of Fannius Caepio, and was condemned to death and executed, notwithstanding the intercession of Proculeius and Terentia, the sister of Murena and wife of Maecenas.