A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1064 METELLUS. METELLUS.
Ill B. C. 66 Metellus returned to Rome, but he
was prevented from obtaining a triumph by the
partisans of Pompey. Metellus, however, could
not relinquish his claim to a triumph, and accordingly resolved to wait in the neighbourhood of the
city till more favourable circumstances. His patience was as great as his desire for the honour;
for he was still waiting before the city in B. c. 63,
when the conspiracy of Catiline broke out. He
was sent into Apulia to prevent an apprehended
fo,~d'rising of the slaves; and in the following year,.
B. C. 62, after the death of Catiline, he was at
length permitted to make his triumphal entrance?,*toli~.~,r;tix into Rome, and received the surname of Creticus..F:A [0o~J 4~] He was robbed, however, of the chief ornaments
of his triumph, Lasthenes and Panares, whom a
tribune of the plebs compelled him to surrender to
COINS OF METELLUS SCIPIO. Meteusas was naturally to be expected joined
Metellus, as was naturally to be expected, joined
~23. Q. CAECILIUS METELLUS CRETICUS. His Lucullus and the other leaders of the aristocracy in
descent and that of his two brothers is quite un- their opposition to Pompey, and succeeded in precertain; for he evidently could not have been the venting the latter from obtaining the ratification of
son of Metellus Macedonicus, as Florus (iii. 8. his acts in Asia. In B. C. 60 Metellus was sent
~ 1) states. (Drumann, vol. ii. p. 50.) Metellus by the senate with two others to investigate the
was consul B. C. 69 with Q. Hortensius, and ob- state of Gaul, where a rising of the people was
tained the conduct of the war against Crete, which apprehended. He is mentioned by Cicero, in B. C. 57,
Hortensius had declined, when the lot had given as one of the pontiffs before whom he spoke respectthis province to him. Metellus left Italy in B. C. ing his house, and he probably died soon afterwards.
68 with three legions. He was engaged two (Liv. Epit. 98-100; Flor. iii. 7, iv. 2'; Eutrop.
whole years in the subjugation of the island, and vi. 11; Oros. vi. 4; Vell. Pat. ii. 34, 38; Justin.
did not return to Rome till the third. The diffi- xxxix. 5; Appian, Sic. 6; Dion Cass. Frag. 178,
culty of the conquest was much increased by the xxxvi. 1, 2; Plut. Pomip. 29; Sall. Cat. 30; Cic.
unwarrantable interference of Pompey; for after Verr. i. 9, pro Flace. 3, 13, 40, in Pison. 24, ad
Cydonia, Cnossus, and many other towns had fallen Att. i. 19, de Har. Resp. 6.)
into the hands of Metellus, and the war seemed 24. L. CARCILIUS METETLUS, brother of the
almost at an end, the Cretans sent to offer their sub- preceding [No. 23], was praetor B.C. 7], and as
mission to Pompey, from whom they hoped to obtain propraetor succeeded Verres in the government of
more favourable terms than from Metellus. By Sicily in B. c. 70. He defeated the pirates, who
the Gabinian law, passed in B. c. 67, which gave to had conquered the Roman fleet and taken possesPompey the conduct 6f the war against the sion of the harbour of Syracuse, and compelled
pirates, the supreme command in the whole of the them to leave the island. His administration is
Mediterranean was also assigned to him; he praised by Cicero for restoring peace and security
therefore had a pretext for interfering in the affairs to the inhabitants, after the frightful scenes which
of Crete, but it was clearly never intended that he had been enacted there by Verres; but he nevershould supersede Metellus. His emissaries had theless attempted, in conjunction with his brothers,
probably persuaded the Cretans to make this offer;. to shield Verres from injustice, and tried to prebut however this may be, he immediately complied vent the Sicilians from bringing forward their
with their request, and sent his legate L. Octavius testimony and complaints against him. He was
to receive the surrender of their towns, and shortly consul B. C. 68 with Q. Marcius Rex-, but died at
afterwards another of his legates, Cornelius Sisenna, the beginning of his year. (Liv. Epit. 98; Oros.
came to the island from Greece with the command vi. 3; Cic. Verr. Act. i. 9, Accus. ii. 4, iii. 16,
of some troops. Metellus, however, refused to ii. 28, 56, 67, iii. 53, in Pis. 4; Dion Cass.
take any notice of their claims, and continued to xxxv. 4.)
attack and subdue the towns, although the in- 25. M.'CAECILIUS METELLUTS, brother of the
habitants were encouraged in their resistance to two preceding [Nos. 23, 24], wva praetor B. C. 69,
him by the legates of Pompey. Eleuthera and in the same year that his eldest brother was
Luppa fell into his hands; and in the capture of consul. The lot gave him the presidency in the
the latter town Octavius was made prisoner, but court de peeunliis repetundis, and Verres was very
dismissed by Metellus with contempt. Cornelius anxious that his trial should come on before MeSisenna had meantime died, and hitherto Octavius tellus. (Cic. Verr. Act. i. 8, 9, 10.) Since he did not
had not ventured to use force against Metellus, but obtain the consulship, Drumann conjectures (vol.
now he employed the troops of Sisenna to fight on ii. p 57) that the gladiators of M. Metellus, whom
the side of the Cretans. But as these troops Cicero mentions in B. c. 60 (ad Att. ii. 1. ~ 1),
shortly afterwards withdrew from the island, for may have belonged to the son of the praetor, and
some reason unknown to us, Octavius took refuge were exhibited by him in honour of his father,
with Aristion in Hierapytna, from which, however, who' would therefore have died about this time.
he fled -at the approach of Metellus, leaving the 26. Q. CAECILIUS METELLUS CRETICUS, is conCretans to their fate. Thereupon Lasthenes and jectured by Drumann (vol. ii. p. 57) to have been
Panares, the chief leaders of the Cretans,'made the son of No. 23, and to have been the quaestor
their' submission to him, and the war was brought with C. Trebonius, who supported'the adoption of
to a close. Clodius into a plebeian family, when Trebonius