Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus (63 page)

Chapter 1: New Man in Rome

1
. For Argyrip(p)a see Cairns (1995), pp. 215–216.

2
. Cairns (1995), pp. 215–216. For Arpinum see Roddaz (1984), p. 23 and Reinhold (1933), p. 9f. n.37.

3
. Suet.,
Calig
. 23.1; Vell. Pat. 2.96.1.

4
. Pliny,
Nat. His
. 7.8: ‘
quinquagenisimo uno raptus anno
’.

5
. Dio 54.28.

6
. Most scholars, like Roddaz (1984), pp. 23–24, prefer 63 BCE, as noted by Meyer (1933), p. 1, who cites Rohden-Dessau (p. 439) for 62 BCE, but I agree with Reinhold in arguing for 64 BCE, assuming Pliny means he had reached 51 in late March 12 BCE.

7
. Steele (1918), p. 117, remarks Agrippa was ‘dissatisfied with his gentile name but sought to retain the color of his primeval dignity by using the
praenomen
’.

8
. Sen.,
Contro
. 2.4.13: ‘
Vipsanius Agrippa fuerat
, (
at
)
Vipsani nomen quasi argumentum paternae humilitatis sustulerat et M. Agrippa dicebatur
.’ My thanks to Bob Durrett for the translation. Syme (1958) posits that Agrippa had decided to drop Vipsanius from his name by 38 BCE in alignment with Octavius’ own name change to ‘Imperator Caesar
Divi F
.’ around the same time: see p.45 of this volume.

9
. Sen.,
Contro
. 2.4.12–13: ‘
cum defenderet reum, fuit accusator qui diceret: ‘‘Agrippae, Marce et quod in medio est’’
(
voluit Vipsanium intellegi
), [
fuit qui diceret
]
‘concurrite, Agrippae: malum habebi
(
ti
)
s
, (
nisi
)
responderitis
(
ad
)
ea, Marce alterque!
’.

10
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 7.8: ‘
In pedes procidere nascentem contra naturam est, quo argumento eos appellavere Agrippas
…’. This explanation is given by Aul. Gel.,
Noct. Att
., B. xvi. c. 6. – B.).

11
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 7.8: ‘
… ut aegri partus, qualiter et M. Agrippam ferunt genitum, unico prope felicitatis exemplo in omnibus ad hunc modum genitis
.’

12
.
CIL
VI.896 =
ILS
129.1.

13
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 6.139.

14
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 7.6 (7.45): ‘
quamquam is quoque adversa pedum valitudine, misera iuventa
’.

15
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 7.6: ‘
adversa pedum
’. The reference to weak legs recalls the unlucky breech birth. Weak legs were also attributed to Germanicus Caesar who rode horses to strengthen them.

16
. Suet.,
Calig
. 23.1: ‘
Agrippae … ignobilitatem
’; Tac.,
Ann
. 1.3.1: ‘
M. Agrippam … ignobilem loco
’.

17
. Vell. Pat. 2.96.1: ‘
Mors deinde Agrippae, qui novitatem suam multis rebus nobilitaverat atque in hoc perduxerat
’.

18
. Roddaz (1884), p. 22ff.

19
. Nicolet (1984), p.98; Wells (1984), p. 8. On the changing status of the
equites
in the period of the late Republic through the early Principate, see Henderson (1963), pp. 61–72.

20
. McCall (2002), pp. 123–136.

21
. Nic. 7.6 inferred.

22
. Paoli (1963), p. 167.

23
. Paoli (1963), p. 169–170.

24
. Livy 2.16, 2.32, and 2.33. Agrippa Menenius Lanatus was consul (503 BCE) of Rome’s early republic and a hero who was awarded a triumph for his victory over the Sabines. See Cairns (1995), p. 212, who also suggests a connection with the
Furii Agrippae
.

25
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.0.1.

26
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 5.2.17.

27
. Florus 2.38; Plut.,
Mar
. 23–27. For a full account of the Battle of Vercellae at Raudian Plains, see Lindsay Powell, ‘The Last Clash of the Cimbri and Romans: The Battle of Vercellae, 101 BC’,
Ancient Warfare
5.1, March/April 2011, pp. 27–33; Lindsay Powell, ‘Fight in the Fog: Vercellae 101 BC’,
Military Heritage
, June 2012, pp. 54–59.

28
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.29.

29
. Plut.,
Mar
. 28.2 records he bestowed citizenship upon as many as a thousand men of Camerinum (modern Camerino in Macerata).

30
. Plut.,
Mar
. 28.3.

31
. Plut.,
Mar
. 28.4.

32
. Florus 2.6; Plut.,
Mar
. 32.3–33.1; App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.34–1.53.

33
. Florus 2.9; Plut.,
Mar
. 34.1; Plut.,
Sulla
7–9.

34
. Plut.,
Sulla
9.7–10.2.

35
. Plut.,
Mar
. 41.2–43.3.

36
. Plut.,
Mar
. 46.5.

37
. Plut.,
Mar
. 45.1; Plut.,
Sulla
31.1–2, 4–6.

38
. Plut.,
Sulla
37.1.

39
. Plut.,
Sulla
38; App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.105–106)

40
. Plut.,
Sulla
38; Plut.,
Pomp
. 8–9.

41
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 10–11.

42
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 12.

43
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 12.3.

44
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 13.4–5;
Crass
. 7.1–2.

45
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 14.1–3.

46
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 14.4–6.

47
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.108–112.

48
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.113.

49
. Florus 2.10; App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.114.

50
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.115.

51
. Plut.,
Crass
. 4–5.

52
. Plut.,
Crass
. 6.3, 6.6.

53
. Plut.,
Crass
. 2.3.

54
. Plut.,
Crass
. 2.4.

55
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 33.10.134.

56
. Florus 2.8; App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.116.

57
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.117.

58
. Plut.,
Crass
. 10.1.

59
. Plut.,
Crass
. 10.2.

60
. Plut.,
Crassus
10.2–3.

61
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.118.

62
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.119.

63
. Plut.,
Crass
. 11.5, 11.7.

64
. Plut.,
Crass
. 11.1–7.

65
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.120.

66
. Plut.,
Crass
. 11.8.

67
. Plut.,
Crass
. 12.1;
Pomp
. 12.1.

68
. Plut.,
Crass
. 12.4;
Pomp
. 6.3, 23.2. For the qualifying age limits for eligibility for magistracies, see Sumner (1971): the normal age for
quaestor
was 30,
praetor
39 and consul 42.

69
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 24, 25.1–3.

70
. Plut.,
Crass
. 13.1.

71
. Plut.,
Caes
. 1.2.

72
. Plut.,
Caes
. 5.6.

73
. Plut.,
Caes
. 5.8–9.

74
. Plut.,
Caes
. 5.8: ‘
ὠνούμενος δὲ ταῖς ἀληθείαις τὰ μέγιστα μικρῶν
’.

75
. Plut.,
Caes
. 7.1–2.

76
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 45.

77
. Plut.,
Cic
. 2.1.

78
. Plut.,
Cic
. 4.

79
. Plut.,
Cic
. 5.1, 8.6–7.

80
. Plut.,
Cic
. 10–24.

81
. Cic.,
Oratorio In Catalinam
2.14. ‘
O condicionem miseram non modo administrandae, verum etiam conservandae rei publicae!
’

82
. Mulroy (1988).

83
. Plut.,
Caes
. 9.2.

84
. Plut.,
Caes
. 9.3, 10.6.

85
. Plut.,
Caes
. 10.1–5.

86
. Plut.,
Cic
. 29; Plut.,
Caes
. 10.11.

87
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 45.

88
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 45.2–3.

89
. Plut.,
Crass
. 7.6.

90
. Plut.,
Caes
. 12.

91
. Plut.,
Caes
. 13.3–6;
Pomp
. 47.1–3.

92
. Plut.,
Caes
. 14.7;
Pomp
. 47.6.

93
. Plut.,
Caes
. 14.1.

94
. Plut.,
Caes
. 14.2.95.

95
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 48.2.

96
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 46.4.

97
.
Lex Clodia de Civibus Romanis Interemptis
.

98
. Plut.,
Cic
. 32; Plut.,
Caes
. 14.17.

99
. Plut.,
Cic
. 33.1.

100
. See Tatum (1999). Respectively the
Lex Clodia de Auspiciis
,
Lex Clodia de Censoribus, Lex Clodia de Sodalitatibus, Lex Clodia de Libertinorum Suffragiis
and
Lex Clodia Frumentaria
.

101
. Plut.,
Caes
. 15.1–4.

102
. Caes.,
Bell. Gall
. 1–3; Plut.,
Caes
. 18–20.

103
. Plut.,
Pomp
. 40.5, 52.4. The design of the building was inspired by the theatre in Mytilene, Lesbos, which Pompeius visited while in the East. The site of the
Theatrum Pompeium
has been identified but little of it survives to view as its remains are located in cellars of the surrounding modern neighbourhood of homes, hotels and restaurants. The largest still-intact sections of the building are to be found in the Palazzo della Cancelleria.

104
. Plut.,
Caes
. 21.6.

105
. Plut.,
Caes
. 22–27.

106
. Plut.,
Crass
. 17–33;
Caes
. 28.1.

107
. Caes.,
Bell. Gall
. 4–8; Plut.,
Caes
. 22–27.

108
. Plut.,
Cic
. 33.3.

109
. Plut.,
Cic
. 33.4–8.

110
. Plut.,
Cic
. 35.1; Cic.,
Philippics
2.21.

111
. Cic.,
Att
. 8.11.1 ‘
uterque regnare vult
’.

112
. Plut.,
Caes
. 28.7.

113
. Plut.,
Caes
. 30.1.

114
. Caes.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.1–7; Plut.,
Caes
. 28.7, 30.3.

115
. Caes.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.5: ‘
dent operam consules, praetores, tribuni plebis, quique pro consulibus sint ad urbem, ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat
’.

116
. Caes.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.7–8; Plut.,
Caes
. 32.1.

117
. Plut.,
Caes
. 32.5.

118
. App.,
Bell. Civ
. 3.61.

119
. Suet.,
Div. Iul
. 32–33: ‘
eatur,’ inquit, ‘quo deorum ostenta et inimicorum iniquitas uocat. ‘‘iacta alea est’’ inquit
’. Menander’s line: Plut.,
Pomp
. 60.2.9: ‘
Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος
’; cf.
Caes
. 32.8.

120
. Plut.,
Caes
. 33.1.

121
. Caes.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.11.

122
. Plut.,
Caes
. 33.2–4.

123
. Caes.,
Bell. Civ
. 1.14; Plut.,
Caes
. 33.6–34.3.

124
. Balsdon (1969), p. 120.

125
. Nic. 7.6.

126
. Vell. Pat. 2.59.1–2.

127
. Vell. Pat. 2.59.2.

128
. Suet.,
Div. Aug
. 8.2 and 89.1; Vell. Pat. 2.59.4; Dio 45.3.1.

129
. Pliny,
Nat. Hist
. 35.26.

130
. Plut.,
Caes
. 3.1.

131
. Cic.,
De Inventione
1.5: ‘
Officium autem eius facultatis videtur esse dicere adposite ad persuasionem; finis persuadere dictione
’; cf.
De Oratore
1.137–147.

132
. Cic.,
De Inventione
1.7: ‘
partes autem eae, quas plerique dixerunt, inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio
’; cf.
De Oratore
1.137–147.

133
. Plut.,
Caes
. 35.3.