Thermus

• a Roman cognomen in the Minucian gens: Q. Minucius Thermus, Cic. Fam. 2, 17, 6; 2, 17, 18; 2, 13, 53.

1. Q. Minucius Thermus, Q. F. L. N. (Fasti Capit.), served under Scipio as tribunus militum in the war against Hannibal in Africa in B. C. 202, was tribune of the plebs B. C. 201, curule aedile B. C. 197, and in the same year was appointed one of the triumviri for founding six colonies on the coast of Italy (Appian, Pun. 36, 44 ; Liv. 30.40, 32.27, 29, 34.45). In the following year, B. C. 196, he was praetor, and received the province of Nearer Spain, where he carried on the war with great success, and received in consequence the honour of a triumph on his return to Rome in B. C. 195 (Liv. 33.24, 26, 44, 34.10; Appian, Hisp. 39). In B. C. 193 he was consul with L. Cornelius Merula. He obtained Liguria as his province, where a formidable insurrection had just broken out. He made Pisae his head-quarters, and carried on the war with vigour; but in consequence of his inferiority to the enemy in numbers, he was obliged to remain on the defensive and was twice in great peril during the campaign. In the following year B. C. 192, his imperium was prolonged, and lie received additional troops, by means of which he was able to assume the offensive, and to gain a decisive victory over the Ligurians. Next year his imperium was again prolonged, and he again gained a victory over the Ligurians, who had made an unexpected attack upon his camp in the night. He returned to Rome in B. C. 190, and Sued for a triumph, but it was refused him, chiefly through the influence of M. Cato, who delivered on the occasion his two orations intitled De decem Hominibus and De falsis Pugnis. Cato accused him of having unjustly put to death ten freemen in his province, and of having in his petition for the triumph invented many false battles, and exaggerated the number of the enemy that had been slain (Liv. 34.54, 55, 35.3, 11, 20, 21, 36.38, 38.46; Gel. 10.3, 13.24; Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 40-44, 2d ed. ). There was also an oration of Cato intitled De suis Virtutibus contra Thermum, which is cited by Festus (pp. 182, 234), and other grammarians. Meyer (Ibid. p. 45, foll.) supposes that Cato accused Thermus in B. C. 189, and that this oration was spoken in this year; but this is improbable, as we know that Thermus served under Scipio Asiaticus in this year in the war against Antiochus. He and his brother Lucius were sent by Scipio to receive the oath of Antiochus to the treaty which was concluded at the end of the war. In the course of the same year he was nominated by the senate one of the ten commissioners to settle the affairs of Asia. He was killed in the following year, B. C. 188, while fighting under Cn. Manlius Vulso against the Thracians. (Appian, Syr. 39 ; Plb. 22.26; Liv. 37.55, 38.41, 46.)

2. L. Minucius Thermus, brother of the preceding, served under Scipio Asiaticus, and along with his brother received the oath of Antiochus to the treaty concluded in B. C. 189. In B. C. 178 he served as legatus under the consul A. Manlius Vulso, in Istria. (Plb. 22.26; Liv. 41.8.)

3. Minucius Thermus, accompanied the consul L. Valerius Flaccus into Asia, in B. C. 86, and was there left by him in command of the troops in the following year. He was, however, deprived of the command by Fimbria shortly afterwards. (Appian, Mithr. 52 ; Dio Cass. Fragm. 129, p. 52. 31, ed. Reimar.)

4. M. Minucius Thermus, propraetor in B. C. 81, accompanied L. Murena, Sulla's legate, into Asia. Thermus was engaged in the siege of Mytilene, and it was under him that Julius Caesar served his first campaign, and gained his first laurels (Suet. Cacs. 2). [Caesar, p. 539b.]. This Thermus has frequently been confounded with No. 3; but it must be observed that they were in Asia at different times, and moreover that No. 3 must have been an adherent of Marius, while No. 4 belonged to Sulla's party. (Comp. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iii. p. 132, note 96.)

5. A. Minucius Thermus, was twice defended by Cicero in B. C. 59, and on each occasion acquitted. It is not stated of what crime he was accused. (Cic. pro Flacc. 39 ; comp. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. v. p. 619.) As Cicero says that the acquittal of Thermus caused great joy among the Roman people, we may conclude that he had previously filled some public office, and thus he may be the same as the Thermus who, when curator viae Flaminiae, sued for the consulship in B. C. 65. (Cic. Att. 1.1.)

6. Q. Minucius Thermus, was proprietor B. C. 51 and 50 in Asia, where he received many letters from Cicero, who praises his administration of the province (ad Fam. 13.53-57, comp. ad Att. 5.13, 20, 21.14, 6.1.13). On the breaking out of the civil war he espoused the side of Pompey, and was sent with five cohorts to occupy Iguvium; but on the approach of Curio with three cohorts, he fled from the town. In B. C. 43 he was sent by M. Lepidus as ambassador to Sex. Pompeius. He appears afterwards to have followed the fortunes of Sex. Pompeius, for he is mentioned among the distinguished adherents of Pompeius, who deserted the latter in B. C. 35, and went over to Antonius. (Caes. Civ. 1.12; Cic. Att. 7.13, Phil. 13.6; Appian, App. BC 5.139.)

7. Minucius Thermus, was a friend of Sejanus, and on the fall of the latter was put to death by Tiberius in A. D. 32. (Tac. Ann. 6.7.)

8. Minucius Thermus, a man of praetorian rank, was sacrificed by Nero in A. D. 66, to the hatred of Tigellinus. (Tac. Ann. 16.20.)

The following coin of the Minucia gens has on the obverse a woman's head, and on the reverse two men fighting over a third who has fallen. The legend, which is partly effaced in the specimen figured below, is Q. THERM. M. F. The subject of the reverse evidently refers to the preservation of the life of a Roman citizen in battle; and hence it has been conjectured with some probability that this coin may have been struck by the son of M. Thermus [No. 4], in order to commemorate the youthful exploit of Caesar, who saved the life of a Roman citizen while fighting under Thermus.