Gaius Antius Restio () was a politician of the Roman Republic. He is principally known for the ''lex Antia sumptuaria'', a law against luxury he passed as tribune of the plebs in 68 BC. This law forbade magistrates from attending banquets, in an attempt to contain

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, i ...

. One of the few sources on Restio's life is a poem of his contemporary

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

, telling that he was an enemy of

Publius Sestius Publius Sestius (d. after 35 BC) was a Roman politician and governor in the 1st century BC. He first appears as quaestor for the consul Gaius Antonius Hybrida and served in the campaign to put down the second Catilinarian conspiracy. He serve ...

, a politician and good friend of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

Life

Restio was a '' homo novus'' ("new man"), the first of his family to enter the Senate. He belonged to an obscure plebeian '' gens'', which only emerged in the second half of the second century BC, with a Marcus Antius Briso, tribune of the plebs in 137. Like several other Roman families inventing mythical origins, the Antii claimed descent from

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

through his son Antiades. Modern scholars have suggested they came from

Minturnae Minturno is a city and ''comune'' in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Garigliano (known in antiquity as the Liris), with a suburb on the opposite bank about from its mouth, at the point where the Via Appia cros ...

, or Lanuvium, both Latin cities south of Rome.

''Lex Antia'' (68 BC)

Between 82 and 80, the conservative dictator Sulla amended the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

of the Roman Republic, notably by curtailing the powers of the

tribunes of the plebs Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...

. In 70, the consul Pompey restored the tribunes' former prerogatives, which they used to push for radical legislation, especially against

and malpractices. Restio was elected tribune in this context, and took office on 10 December 69. During his office, Restio passed the ''Lex Antia sumptuaria'', the last of a long list of sumptuary laws passed during the Roman Republic.Lintott, "Electoral Bribery", p. 6. The terms of the law are not known except that it forbade magistrates from accepting invitations to attend banquets.Syme, "Ten Tribunes", p. 59. This ban closed a loophole in the previous legislation, which still permitted magistrates to use friends as surrogate organisers of political banquets. The law was likely directed at politicians who campaigned through extravagant banquets at the time, such as Quintus Hortensius (consul in 69) and Lucius Lucullus (consul in 74), whose private luxury was proverbial. Restio then refused to attend any banquet in order to stay true to his beliefs.Ryan, "Two Persons in Catullus", p. 88.

In ''Catullus 44''

, a friend of

, is described by

in one of his poems as having made a violent speech against Restio, while the latter was said to be a ''petitor''. This word can be translated as a candidate for an election, or a plaintiff during a trial, although the former meaning is favoured in modern publications. If the second meaning (''petitor'' as plaintiff) is considered true, it would likely mean that Restio sued Sestius for breaking the ''lex Antia''. Sestius is also described as hosting lavish banquets, hence his enmity towards Restio. The modern historian Francis Ryan suggests that Restio is the one described running for election in 54 or 53 in a letter of Cicero. As he is mentioned alongside his political allies

Marcus Porcius Cato Marcus Porcius Cato can refer to: *Cato the Elder (consul 195 BC) * Cato the Younger (praetor 54 BC) *Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 118 BC) * Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 36) * Marcus Porcius Cato (father of Cato the Younger) *Marcus Porcius ...

and

Marcus Favonius Marcus Favonius (c. 90 BC – 42 BC) was a Roman politician during the period of the fall of the Roman Republic. He is noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, his espousal of the Cynic philosophy, and for his appearance as the Poet in William ...

—both known for their asceticism like him—Restio either aimed at becoming the colleague of Cato as praetor in 54, or that of Favonius as

aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...

in 54 or 53. Restio apparently lost the elections, perhaps against Marcus Aufidius—a former tribune of the plebs elected alongside Favonius—who received the ''cognomen'' Lurco ("glutton" in Latin), a striking contrast with Restio's austerity. It was probably during this campaign between Restio and Lurco that Sestius' speech against Restio was pronounced. Restio had a son, also named Gaius, who was ''triumvir monetalis'' in 47 and minted

denarii The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very s ...

bearing a portrait of his father. Restio's son was also a supporter of Julius Caesar during the

Civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

against Pompey, but was later caught in the proscriptions of the Second Triumvirate in 43.Crawford, ''Roman Republican Coinage'', pp. 92, 470.

References

Ancient sources

Modern sources

Bibliography

Ancient sources

* Gaius Valerius Catullus, '' Poems'' ( translation on

Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually re ...

). * Marcus Tullius Cicero, '' Letters to Atticus'' ( translation by

Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh (12 July 1843 – 10 July 1906) was an English academic and schoolmaster, known as classical scholar and translator. Life Born at Aldborough, Norfolk on 12 July 1843, he was the third and eldest surviving son in the fa ...

on Wikisource).

Modern sources

* T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association, 1951–1952. * Michael Crawford, ''Roman Republican Coinage'', Cambridge University Press, 1974, . * J. A. Crook,

Andrew Lintott Andrew William Lintott (born 9 December 1936) is a British classical scholar who specialises in the political and administrative history of ancient Rome, Roman law and epigraphy. He is an emeritus fellow of Worcester College, University of Oxfor ...

Elizabeth Rawson Elizabeth Donata Rawson, FBA (13 April 1934 – 10 December 1988''The Cambridge Ancient History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1994), vol. 9, preface, p. xvii.) was a classical scholar known primarily for her work in the intellectual history of ...

(editors), '' The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. IX, The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146-43 B.C.'', Cambridge University Press, 1992. * David B. George,
Catullus 44: The Vulnerability of Wanting to Be Included
, ''The American Journal of Philology'', Vol. 112, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 247–250. *

Erich S. Gruen Erich Stephen Gruen ( , ; born May 7, 1935) is an American classicist and ancient historian. He was the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught full-time from 1966 until 2008 ...

,
Reviewed Work: ''New Men in the Roman Senate, 139 B.C.-14 A.D.'' by T. P. Wiseman
, ''The Classical Journal'', Vol. 69, No. 3 (Feb. – Mar. 1974), pp. 251–253. *

,
Electoral Bribery in the Roman Republic
, '' The Journal of Roman Studies'', Vol. 80 (1990), pp. 1–16. * David Mulroy (editor), ''The Complete Poetry of Catullus'', University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. * Chester Louis Neudling, ''A Prosopography to Catullus'', Oxford, 1955. * Francis X. Ryan, "Two Persons in Catullus", ''Giornale italiano di filologia'', 48, 1996, pp. 85–91. * Ronald Syme,
Ten Tribunes
, ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', 1963, Vol. 53, Parts 1 and 2 (1963), pp. 55–60. {{DEFAULTSORT:Restio, Gaius Antius 1st-century BC Romans Populares Senators of the Roman Republic Tribunes of the plebs Antii