Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura (114 BC – 5 December 63 BC) was one of the chief figures in the
Catilinarian conspiracy. He was also the step-father of the future triumvir
Mark Antony.
Biography
When accused by
Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had ...
(to whom he had been
quaestor
A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times.
In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...
in 81 BC) of having squandered the public money, he refused to render any account, but insolently held out the calf of his leg (''sura''), on which part of the person boys were punished when they made mistakes in playing ball, akin to inviting a
slap on the wrist. He was
praetor in 75 BC, governor of
Sicily in 74 BC, and
consul in 71 BC.
In 70, he was one of a number of senators expelled from the senate for immorality (he was later readmitted at an unknown date). In 63, soon after his election to praetor, he joined
Catiline. Relying upon a
Sibylline oracle that three Cornelii should be rulers of
Rome, Lentulus regarded himself as the destined successor of
Lucius Cornelius Sulla and
Lucius Cornelius Cinna. When Catiline left
Rome after
Cicero's second speech ''In Catilinam'', Lentulus took his place as chief of the conspirators in the city. In conjunction with C. Cornelius Cethegus, he undertook to murder Cicero and set fire to Rome, but the plot failed owing to his timidity and indiscretion.
On learning that ambassadors from the
Allobroges were in Rome bearing a complaint against their oppression by Roman provincial governors, Lentulus made overtures to them with the object of obtaining armed assistance. Pretending to fall in with his views, the ambassadors obtained a written agreement signed by the chief conspirators, and informed Q. Fabius Sanga, their "patron" in Rome, who in turn informed Cicero.
The conspirators were arrested and forced to admit their guilt. He was put to death in the Tullianum on 5 December 63 BC, along with other senatorial supporters of Catiline.
See also
*
Lentulus, Roman patrician family.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
xxxvii. 30, xlvi. 20
*
Plutarch, ''Cicero'', 17
*
Sallust, ''Catilina''
*
Cicero, ''
In Catilinam'', iii., iv.; ''Pro Sulla'', 25.
* March, Duane A. (1989), ''"Cicero and the 'Gang of Five'"'', Classical World, Volume 82, p.225–234.
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Lentulus Sura, Publius
114 BC births
63 BC deaths
1st-century BC executions
1st-century BC Roman consuls
Catilinarians
Sura, Publius
Executed ancient Roman people
People executed by the Roman Republic
Ancient Roman patricians
Roman Republican praetors
Roman governors of Sicily