Quintus Servilius Caepio was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

statesman and general,

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 106 BC, and

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts ( Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was ...

in 105 BC. He was the father of Quintus Servilius Caepio and the grandfather of Servilia.

Consulship and Arausio

During his consulship in 106 BC, he passed a controversial law, with the help of the famous orator

Lucius Licinius Crassus Lucius Licinius Crassus (140–91 BC) was a Roman orator and statesman. He was considered the greatest orator of his day, most notably by his pupil Cicero. Crassus is also famous as one of the main characters in Cicero's work '' De Oratore'', a ...

, by which the jurymen were again to be chosen from the senators instead of the

equites The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian ...

.Cicero, ''de oratore'' 1.255Cicero, ''pro Cluentio'' 140Tacitus, Ann. xii. 60 However, it appears this law was overturned by a law of

Gaius Servilius Glaucia Gaius Servilius Glaucia (died late 100 BC) was a Roman politician who served as praetor in 100 BC. He is most well known for being an illegal candidate for the consulship of 99 BC. He was killed during riots and political violence i ...

in either 104 or 101 BC. After his consulship, he was assigned to Gaul, where he captured the town of Tolosa, ancient

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

. There, he found some 50 thousand bars of gold and 10 thousand bars of silver which were legendarily stolen from the temple of

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The orac ...

by the Sordisci in the

Gallic invasion of the Balkans Gallic groups, originating from the various La Tène chiefdoms, began a southeastern movement into the Balkans from the 4th century BC. Although Gallic settlements were concentrated in the western half of the Carpathian basin, there were notabl ...

in 279 BC. The riches of Tolosa were shipped back to Rome, but only the silver made it; the gold was stolen by a band of marauders, who were rumoured to have been hired by Caepio himself. The Gold of Tolosa was never found, and was said to have been passed all the way down to the last heir of the Servilii Caepiones,

Marcus Junius Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Ser ...

. During the southern migration of the Cimbri in 105 BC, Caepio was assigned an army to defeat the migrating tribe. Also tasked to defeat the Cimbri was the consul for that year,

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was a Roman politician and general. A ''novus homo'' ("new man"), Mallius was elected to the consulship of the Roman Republic in 105 BC. He was sent as consul to the province of Transalpine Gaul to stop the migration of the C ...

, who was a ''novus homo'' ("new man"). While the sitting consul outranked Caepio, Caepio refused to cooperate with the consul and his army. Leading one of the two Roman armies into the

Battle of Arausio The Battle of Arausio took place on 6 October 105 BC, at a site between the town of Arausio (now Orange, Vaucluse), and the Rhône River. Ranged against the migratory tribes of the Cimbri under Boiorix and the Teutoni under Teutobod were two ...

, this refusal to cooperate with his superior officer, led to the destruction of both armies. Caepio refused to camp with Maximus and his troops; when the battle began, both Roman armies were overrun and defeated by the massively numerically superior Cimbri force, resulting in the deaths of some 60 to 80 thousand Roman soldiers.

Exile

Upon his return to Rome, Caepio was stripped of his proconsulship by the Assembly. A law proposed by Lucius Cassius Longinus stripped any person of his seat in the Senate if he had had his imperium revoked by the Senate. Based on this law, Caepio was stripped of his seat in the Senate. Then, he was tried in the courts for the theft of the Tolosa gold, but with many senators on the jury, he was acquitted. He was then tried for "the loss of his army" by two

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 o ...

Gaius Norbanus Gaius Norbanus (died 82 BC) was a Roman politician who was elected consul in 83 BC alongside Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. He committed suicide in exile at Rhodes after being proscribed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla shortly after the latter's v ...

and

Lucius Appuleius Saturninus Lucius Appuleius Saturninus (died late 100 BC) was a Roman populist and tribune. He is most notable for introducing a series of legislative reforms, alongside his associate Gaius Servilius Glaucia and with the consent of Gaius Marius, during the ...

. Despite being defended by the orator Lucius Licinius Crassus, Caepio was convicted, and was given the harshest sentence allowable: he was stripped of his citizenship, forbidden fire and water within eight hundred miles of Rome, nominally fined 15,000 talents (about 825,000 lb) of gold, and forbidden to see or speak to his friends or family until he had left for

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. The huge fine — which greatly exceeded the amount in the Roman treasury — was never collected. Two versions detail what happened thereafter: according to one, Caepio died in prison and his body, mangled by the executioner, was put on display on the Gemonian steps; however, according to the more commonly accepted version, he spent the rest of his life in exile in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prom ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. Historian Timagenes claimed that he was survived only by his daughters, if true, he must have died after 90 BC since that was when his son Quintus was killed.

Family

Caepio was likely married to a Caecilia Metella whom he had three children with, a son named Quintus Servilius Caepio as well as at least two daughters Servilia, the wife of Catulus and Servilia, the wife of Marcus Livius Drusus. His wife may have been a daughter of

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus (c. 188 BC – 116 BC/115 BC) was a statesman and general of the Roman Republic during the second century BC. He was praetor in 148 BC, consul in 143 BC, the Proconsul of Hispania Citerior in 142 BC an ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Servilius Caepio, Quintus (consul 648 AUC) 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Ancient Roman exiles Ancient Roman generals Family of Servilia (mother of Brutus) People of the Cimbrian War Senators of the Roman Republic Quintus (consul 648 AUC)

Consulship and Arausio

Exile

Family

See also

Notes