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

932 -MARCELLUS.. MARCELLUS.
8. M. CLAUDIUS M. F. M. N.. ARCELLM(S, son Clodius in B.C. 56. (Cic. ad At. iv. 3.)'In
of No. 5,' conspicuous for- his three consulships. February of that year he defended Milo, at Cicero's
He succeeded his father as pontifex in B. C. 177, request, against the charge of violence brought
though he had not then held any:of the higher against'him by Clodius. (Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii.. 3.)
offices of the state. (Liv. xli. 13.) In 169 he In 54 he was one of the six advocates who dewas appointed praetor, and Spain assigned him for fended the cause of M. Scaurus (Ascon. ad Scaur.
his province. (Id. xliii. 11, 15.) Three'years p. 20, ed. Orell.); and after the death of Clodius
later he obtained his first consulship, B. C. 166, (B. C. 52), took a prominent part in the defence of
which was marked by a victory over the Alpine Milo. (Id. ad Milon. pp. 35,.40, 41.) In the
tribes of the Gauls, for which he was honoured same year he was elected consul, together with
with a triumph. (Liv. xlv. 44, Epit. xlvi.; Fast. Ser. Sulpicius Rufus, for the ensuing year.:For
Capit.) His second consulship, in B.c. 155, was, this distinction he was probably indebted to the.
in like manner, distinguished by a triumph over support and favour' of Pompey; and during the
the Ligurians (Fast. Capit.); but we know nothing period of his magistracy (B.c. 51) he showed himself;
farther of his exploits on either of these occasions. a zealous partisan of the latter, and sought to secure
In B. C. 152 he was a third time raised to the con- his favour by urging the senate to'extreme measulship, together with L. Valerius Flaccus, and ap-. sures against Caesar. Among other modes in
pointed to conduct the war in Spain. Here he which he displayed his zeal, was the very indisobtained some successes over the Celtiberians; and creet one of causing a citizen of Comum to be
having added to the impression thus produced by scourged, in order to show' his contempt for the
the clemency with which he treated the van- privileges lately bestowed by Caesar upon that
quished, he induced all the tribes at that time in colony. (Cic. ad Altt. v. 11; Appian, B. C. ii..
arms to give hostages, and send ambassadors to 26; Suet. Caes. 28.) But his vehemence gradually
Rome to sue for peace; but his conduct was attri- abated, as he found himself opposed by his colleague.
buted to indolence or timidity: the senate refused Sulpicius and several of the tribunes, while Pompey
to ratify the proposed terms, and appointed L. himself lent him no active support, and even disLucullus, one of the new consuls, to succeed Mar- tinctly refused to second him in his proposition for
cellus, -and continue the war. Meanwhile, Mar- the immediate abrogation of Caesar's authority.
cellus, after an expedition against the Lusitanians, But the election of the new consuls terminated
in which he had reduced the strong town of Ner- favourably to the party of Pompey; and' at length,
gobriga, had returned to winter at Corduba; but on the 30th of September, Marcellus procured a
on learning the resolution of the senate, he sud- resolution of the senate, that the whole subject
denly broke tp his winter-quarters, and marched should be brought under discussion on the 1st of
into the cocuntry -of the Celtiberians; whereupon March in the following year. After this no further
all those tribes who had been previously in arms steps were taken before the expiration of his office.
hastened to submit at discretion; a result previously (Suet. Caes. 28, 29; Dion Cass. xl. 58, 59; Apconcerted, as it was suspected, with the consul pian, B. C. ii. 26; Caes. B. G. viii. 53; Cic. ad
himself, who admitted them to favourable terms, Att. viii. 3; Caelius, ad Faim. viii. 1, 8, 10, 13.)
while he had the satisfaction of handing over the But all the party zeal and animosity of Marcellus
province to his successor in a state of perfect tran- did not blind him to the obvious imprudence of
quillity. (Appian, Hisp. 48-50; Polyb. xxxv. forcing on a war for which they were unprepared;
2, 3; Liv. Epit. xlviii.; Eutrop. iv. 9.) The ad- and hence, as it became evident that an open rupministration of Marcellus in Spain was farther dis- ture was inevitable, he endeavoured to moderate
tinguished by the'foundation of the important the vehemence of his own party, Thus, in B. c.
colony of Corduba. (Strab. iii. p. 141.) In 148 50, we find him urging the senate to interpose their
he was sent ambassador to Masinissa, king of Nu- authority with the tribunes to induce them to
midia, but was shipwrecked'on the voyage, and withdraw their opposition (Cic. ad Fam. viii. 13)
perished. (Liv. Epit. L.; Cic. in Pison. 19, de and at the beginning of the year 49 he in vain
Divin. ii. 5.) It is, recorded of this Marcellus suggested the necessity of making levies of troops,
that he commemorated, by an inscription in the before any open steps were taken against Caesar.
temple'of Honour and Virtue, consecrated by his (Caes. B. C. i. 2.) His advice was overruled, and
father, the circumstance that his grandfather, his he was among the first to fly from Rome and Italy.
father, and himself, had enjoyed between them no But though he joined'Pompey and his partisans in
less than nine consulships, an instance unparalleled Epeirus, it is clear that he did not engage with any
in the history of Rome. (Ascon. ad Cic. Pison. p. heartiness in the cause of which, according to.
12; ed. Orell.) Cicero, he foresaw the failure from the beginning:
9. M. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS, son of the pre- anld after the battle of Pharsalia he abandoned all
ceding, and father of the following, as well as of thoughts of prolonging the contest, and withdrew
No. 12. He is not mentioned by any ancient to Mytilene, where he gave himself up to the purauthor, but is supplied as a necessary link of the suits of rhetoric and philosophy. Here Caesar was
pedigree. (See Drumann, Geseh. Roms, vol. ii. p. content to leave him unmolested in a kind of
393, and below, No. 12.) honourable exile; and Marcellus himself was un —
10. M.' CLAUDnS MARCELLUS, curule aedile in willing to sue to the conqueror for forgiveness,
B. C. 91. (Cic. de Or. i. 13.) He is supposed by though Cicero wrote to him repeatedly from Rome,
Drumann to be the father of the following, and urging him in the strongest manner to-do so, and
brother of No. 12. assuring him of the clemency of Caesar. But
11. M. CLAUDIUS, M. F. M.-N. MARCELLUS though Marcellus himself would take no steps to
(probably a son of the preceding), the friend.:of procure his recall, his friends at Rome were not
Cicero, and subject of the oration Pro M. Mar'cello, backward in their exertions for thht purpose; and
ascribed, though erroneously, to' the great orator. at length, in a full assembly of the senate, C. Marlie is first mentioned as curule aedile with P. cellus, the cousin of the exile, threw himself as