Balbus

• a Roman cognomen, Cic. Att. 8, 9, 4; id. Balb. passim; id. Cael. 11, 27; id. de Or. 3, 21, 78 al.

a family-name in several gentes. It was originally a surname given to some one who had an impediment in his speech.

I. Acilii Balbi, plebeians.

1. M'. Acilius Balbus, L. F. K. N., consul B. C. 150. (Cic. de Senect. 5, ad Att. 12.5; Plin. Nat. 7.36.)

2. M'. Acilius Balbus, M. F. L. N., consul B. C. 114. (Obsequ. 97; Plin. Nat. 2.29, 56. s. 57.) It is doubtful to which of the Acilii Balbi the annexed coin is to be referred. The obverse has the inscription Ba(L)Bvs, with the head of Pallas, before which is X. and beneath Roma, the whole within a laurel garland. On the reverse we have MV. Acili, with Jupiter and Victory in a quadriga.

II. T. Ampius Balbus, plebeian,

tribune of the plebs B. C. 63, proposed, in conjunction with his colleague T. Labienus, that Pompey, who was then absent from Rome, should, on account of his Asiatic victories, be allowed to wear a laurel-crown and all the insignia of a triumph in the Circensian games, and also a laurel crown and the praetexta in the scenic games. (Vell. 2.40.) He failed in his first attempt to obtain the aedileship, although he was supported by Pompey (Schol. Bob. pro Planc. p. 257, ed. Orelli); but he appears to have been praetor in B. C. 59), as we find that he was governor of Cilicia in the following year. (Comp. Cic. Fam. 1.3.) On the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49, he sided with the Pompeian party, and took an active part in the levy of troops at Capua. (Ad Att. 8.11, b.) He no doubt left Italy with the rest of his party, for we find him in the next year endeavouring to obtain money by plundering the temple of Diana in Ephesus, which he was prevented from doing only by the arrival of Caesar. (Caes. Civ. 3.105.) Balbus was one of those who was banished by Caesar; but he afterwards obtained his pardon through the intercession of his friend Cicero (comp. Cic. Fam. 13.70), who wrote him a letter on the occasion, B. C. 46. (Ad Fam. 6.12.)

Balbus appears to have written some work on the history of his times; for Suetonius (Suet. Jul. 77) quotes some remarks of Caesar's from a work of T. Ampius. Balbus was also mentioned in the fourth book of Varro " De Vita Populi Romani." (Varr. Fragm. p. 249, ed. Bip.)

III. Q. Antonius Balbus, plebeian,

is supposed to be the same as Q. Antonius who was praetor in Sicily in B. C. 82 and was killed by L. Philippus, the legate of Sulla. (Liv. Epit. 86) The annexed coin was struck either by, or in honour of, this Balbus. The obverse represents the head of Jupiter; the reverse is Q. A(N)To. Ba(L)B. Pr. with Victory in a quadriga.

IV. M. Atius Balbus, plebeian,

of Aricia, married Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar, who bore him a daughter, Atia, the mother of Augustus Caesar. [Atia.] He was praetor in B. C. 62, and obtained the government of Sardinia, as we learn from the annexed coin (copied from the Thesaur. Morell.), of which the reverse is Atius Balbus Pr., with the head of Balbus; and the obverse, Sard. Pater, with the head of Sardus. the father or mythical ancestor of the island. In B. C. 59, Balbus was appointed one of the vigintiviri under the Julian law for the division of the land in Campania; and, as Pompey was a member of the same board, Balbus, who was not a person of any importance, was called by Cicero in joke Pompey's colleague. (Suet. Oct. 4, Phil. 3.6, ad Att. 2.4.)

V. Cornelii Balbi, plebeians.

The Cornelii Balbi were, properly speaking, no part of the Cornelia gens. The first of this name was not a Roman; he was a native of Gades; and his original name probably bore some resemblance in sound to the Latin Balbus. The reason why he assumed the name of Cornelius is mentioned below. [No. 1.]

1. L. Cornelius Balbus, sometimes called Major to distinguish him from his nephew [No. 3]. was a native of Gades. and descended from an illustrious family in that town. Gades, being one of the federate cities, supported the Romans in their war against Sertorius in Spain, and Balbus thus had an opportunity of distinguishing himself. He served under the Roman generals, Q. Metellus Pius, C. Memmius, and Pompey, and was present at the battles of Turia and Sucro. He distinguished himself so much throughout the war, that Pompey conferred the Roman citizenship upon him, his brother, and his brother's sons; and this act of Pompey's was ratified by the law of the consuls, Cn. Cornelius Lentulus and L. Gellius, B. C. 72, (Cic. pro Balb. 8.) It was probably in honour of these consuls that Balbus took the gentile name of the one and the praenomen of the other; though some modern writers suppose that he derived his name from L. Cornelius, consul in B. C. 199, who was the hospes of the inhabitants of Gades. (Pro Bulb. 18.)

At the conclusion of the war with Sertorius, B. C. 72, Balbus removed to Rome. He obtained admission into the Crustuminian tribe by accusing a member of this tribe of bribery, and thus gaining the place which the guilty party forfeited on conviction. Balbus had doubtless brought with him considerable wealth from Gades, and supported by the powerful interest of Pompey, whose friendship he assiduously cultivated, he soon became a man of great influence and importance. One of Pompey's intimate friends, the Greek Theophanes of Mytilene, adopted him; and Pompey himself shewed him marks of favour, which not a little offended the Roman nobles, who were indignant that a man of Gades should be preferred to them. Among other presents which Pompey made him, we read of a grant of land for the purpose of pleasure-grounds. But Balbus was too prudent to confine himself to only one patron; he early paid court to Caesar, and seems to have entirely ingratiated himself into his favour during Pompey's absence in Asia in prosecution of the Mithridatic war. From this time, he became one of Caesar's most intimate friends, and accompanied him to Spain in B. C. 61, in the capacity of praefectus fabrum, when Caesar went into that province after his praetorship. Soon after his return to Rome, the first triumvirate was formed, B. C. 60; and though he was ostensibly the friend both of Pompey and Caesar, he seems to have attached himself more closely to the interests of the latter than of the former. On Caesar's departure to Gaul in B. C. 58, Balbus again received the appointment of praefectus fabrum, and from this time to the breaking out of the civil war, he passed his time alternately in Gaul and at Rome, but principally at the latter. He was the manager and steward of Caesar's private property in the city, and a great part of the Gallic booty passed through his hands. But his increasing wealth and influence raised him many enemies among the nobles, who were still more anxious to ruin him, as he was the favourite of the triumvirs. They accordingly induced an inhabitant of Gades to accuse him of having illegally assumed the rights and privileges of a Roman citizen. The cause came on for trial probably in B. C. 55; and as there was yet no breach between Pompey and Caesar, Balbus was defended by Pompey and Crassus, and also by Cicero, who undertook the defence at Pompey's request, and whose speech on the occasion has come down to us. Balbus was acquitted, and justly, as is shewn in the article Foederatae Civitates in the Dict. of Ant.

In the civil war, in B. C. 49, Balbus remained at Rome, and endeavoured to some extent to keep up the semblance of neutrality. Thus he looked after the pecuniary affairs of his friend, the consul Cornelius Lentulus, who was one of Pompey's partizans ; but his neutrality was scarcely disguised. It is true that he did not appear against Pompey in the field, but all his exertions were employed to promote Caesar's interests. He was especially anxious to gain over Cicero, with whom he had corresponded before the breaking out of the civil war. Knowing the weak side of Cicero, he had first requested him to act the mediator between Caesar and Pompey, and afterwards pressed him to come to Rome, which would have been tantamount to a declaration in Caesar's favour. Cicero, after a good deal of hesitation, eventually left Italy, but returned after the battle of Pharsalia (B. C. 48), when he re-opened his correspondence with Balbus, and requested him to use his good offices to obtain Caesar's pardon for hin. During all this time, Balbus, in conjunction with Oppius, had the entire management of Caesar's affairs at Rome ; and we see, from Cicero's letters, that Balbus was now regarded as one of the chief men in the state. He seems, however, to have used his good fortune with moderation, and never to have been deserted by the prudence which had always been one of his chief characteristics. We are therefore disposed to reject the tale, which is related only by Suetonius (Suet. Jul. 78) and Plutarch (Plut. Caes. 60), that Balbus prevented Caesar from rising to receive the senate on his return from the Spanish war, in B. C. 45.

On the murder of Caesar in March, 44, Balbus was placed in a somewhat critical position. He retired from the city, and spent two months in the country, and was one of the first who hastened to meet young Octavianus at Neapolis. During this time, he frequently saw Cicero, who believed that his professions to Octavianus were hollow, and that he was in reality the friend of Antony. In this, however, Cicero was mistaken; Balbus, whose good fortune it always was to attach himself to the winning party, accompanied Octavianus to Rome, and was subsequently advanced by him to the highest offices in the state. It is uncertain in what year he was praetor; but his propraetorship is commemorated in the annexed coin of Octavianus (copied from the Thesaur. Morell.), which contains on the obverse C. Caesar. IIIVir. R. P. C. with the head of Octavianus, and on the reverse Balbus Pro Pr. He obtained the consulship in B. C. 40, the first instance, according to Pliny (Plin. Nat. 7.43. s. 44), in which this honour had been conferred upon one who was not born a Roman citizen. The year of his death is unknown. In his will he left every Roman citizen twenty denarii apiece (D. C. 48.32), which would seem to shew that he had no children, and that consequently the emperor Balbinus could not be, as he pretended, a lineal descendant from him.

Balbus was the author of a diary (Ephemeris) which has not come down to us, of the most remarkable occurrences in his own and Caesar's life. (Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 9.14; Suet. Jul. 81; Capitolin. Balbin. 2.) He took care that Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic war should be continued ; and we accordingly find the eighth book dedicated to him. There does not, however, appear to be sufficient grounds for the conjecture of some modern writers, that Balbus was the author of the History of the Spanish war. In the collection of Cicero's letters we find four from Balbus. (Ad Att. 8.15, 9.6, 13.)

2. P. Cornelius Balbus, brother of the preceding, received the Roman franchise at the same time as his brother; but appears to have died soon afterwards, either in Gades or Rome.

3. L. Cornelius Balbus, P. F., son of the preceding [No. 2], and frequently called Minor, to distinguish him from his uncle [No. 1], was born at Gades, and received the Roman franchise along with his father and uncle. On the breaking out of the civil war (B. C. 49) he served under Caesar, and was sent by him to the consul L. Cornelius Lentulus, who was an old friend of his uncle's, to persuade him to return to Rome. Balbus undertook the same dangerous commission in the following year, and paid Lentulus a visit in the Pompeian camp at Dyrrhachium, but he was not successful either time. Balbus served under Caesar in the Alexandrian and Spanish wars, during which time he kept up a correspondence with Cicero, with whom he had become acquainted through his uncle. In return for his services in these wars, Caesar made him pontiff; and it is therefore probably this Cornelius Balbus who wrote a work on the Roman sacra, of which the eighteenth book is quoted by Macrobius. (Saturn. 3.6.)

In B. C. 44 and 43, Balbus was quaestor of the propraetor Asinius Pollio in Further Spain; and while there, he added to his native town Gades a suburb, which was called the new city, and built a dock-yard; and the place received in consequence the name of Didyma or double-city. (Strab. iii. p.169.) But his general conduct in Spain was of a most arbitrary and tyrannical kind; and at length, after plundering the provincials and amassing large treasures, he left Spain in B. C. 43, without even paying the soldiers, and crossed over to Bogud in Africa.

From that time, we hear nothing of Balbus for upwards of twenty years. We then find him governor of Africa, with the title of proconsul, although he had been neither praetor nor consul. While in Africa, he obtained a victory over the Garamantes, and enjoyed a triumph in consequence in March, B. C. 19, the first instance of this honour having been conferred upon one who was not born a Roman citizen. (Plin. Nat. 5.5; Vell. 2.51; Strab. iii. p.169.) Balbus, like his uncle, had amassed a large fortune; and, as Augustus was anxious to adorn Rome with public buildings, Balbus erected at his own expense a theatre in the city, which was remarkable on account of its containing four pillars of onyx. It was dedicated in B. C. 13, with festive games, on the return of Augustus to Rome; and as a compliment to Balbus for having built it, his opinion was asked first in the senate by Tiberius, who was consul in that year. (D. C. 54.25; Plin. Nat. 36.7. ε. 12.) After this we hear nothing further of Balbus. He may have been the Cornelius Balbus whom L. Valerius made his heir, although he had involved Valerius in many law-suits, and had at last brought a capital charge against him. (V. Max. 7.8.7.)

(For further information respecting the Cornelii Balbi, see Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum and Drumann's Rom, vol. ii. p. 594, &c.)

1. D. Laelius Balbus, D. F. D. N., one of the quindecemviri who superintended the celebration of the saecular games in B. C. 17 (Fast. Capitol.), and consul in B. C. 6. (D. C. 4.9.)

2. Laelius Balbus, accused Acutia, formerly the wife of P. Vitellius, of treason (majestas), but was unable to obtain the usual reward after her condemnation, in consequence of the intercession of the tribune Junius Otho. He was condemned in A. D. 37 as one of the paramours of Albucilla, deprived of his senatorial rank, and banished to an island: his condemnation gave general satisfaction, as he had been ever ready to accuse the innocent. (Tac. Ann. 6.47, 48.) VIII. Lucilii Balbi.

1. L. Lucilius Balbus, the jurist. See below.

2. Q. Lucilius Balbus, probably the brother of the preceding, a Stoic philosopher, and a pupil of Panaetius, had made such progress in the Stoic philosophy, that he appeared to Cicero comparable to the best Greek philosophers. (De Nat. Deor. 1.6.) He is introduced by Cicero in his dialogue " On the Nature of the Gods" as the expositor of the opinions of the Stoics on that subject, and his arguments are represented as of considerable weight. (De Nat. Deor. 3.40, de Divin. 1.5.) He was also the exponent of the Stoic opinions in Cicero's " Hortensius." (Fragm. p. 484, ed. Orelli.)

1. C. Thorius Balbus, of Lanuvium, is said by Cicero to have lived in such a manner, that there was not a single pleasure, however refined and rare, which he did not enjoy. (De Fin. 2.20.) He must not be confounded, as he has been by Pighius, with L. Turius who is mentioned in Cicero's Brutus (100.67). The annexed coin of L. Thorius Balbus contains on the obverse the head of Juno Sospita, whose worship was of great antiquity at Lanuvium, with the letters I. S. M. R. (that is, Junonis Sospitae magnae reginae); and on the reverse L. Thorius Baabvs, with a bull rushing forward. Eckhel (v. p. 324, &c.) thinks that the bull has an allusion to the name of Thorius, which the Romans might regard as the same as the Greek θούριος, impetuous.

2. Sp. Thorius Balbus, tribune of the plebs bout B. C. 111, was a popular speaker, and introduced in his tribuneship an agrarian law, of which considerable fragments have been discovered on bronze tablets, and of which an account is given in the Dict. of Ant. s. v. Thoria Lex. (Cic. Brut. 36, de Orat. 2.70; Appian, App. BC 1.27.)

a consular, husband of Metia Faustina, the daughter of the elder Gordian. (Capitolin. c. 4.) According to some historians, the third Gordian, who succeeded Balbinus and Pupienus Maximus, was the issue of this marriage, while others maintain that he was the son of Gordian the second. [Gordianus.] [W.R]

a Roman jurist, one of the pupils of Q. Mucius Scaevola, and one of the legal instructors of the eminent lawyer and distinguished friend of Cicero, Servius Sulpicius Rufus. He was probably the father of Lucilius, the companion of Appius Pulcher in Cilicia (Cic. Fam. 3.4), and the brother of Q. Lucilius Balbus, the Stoic philosopher. [BALBUS, No. 8.] Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 3.21) speaks of the duo Balbi as Stoics. By Heineccius (Hist. Jur. Rom. § 149) and others the jurist Lucius has been confounded with Quintus the Stoic philosopher. The jurist was occasionally quoted in the works of Sulpicius; and, in the time of Pomponius, his writings did not exist in a separate form, or, at least, were in the hands of few. (Dig. i. tit. 2. s. 42.) He was a man of much learning. In giving advice and pleading causes his manner was slow and deliberate. (Cic. Brut. 42, pro Quint. 16, 17.) [J.T.G]

(qu. P.), a Roman, contemporary with Cicero. He was remarkable for his skill in law, and for his attention to the duties of justice, morality, and religion. (Cic. Clu. 38.) For these reasons he bore a high character as a judex in public as well as private trials. There is a passage in Cicero (in Ver. 2.12) in relation to L. Octavius Balbus, which has been misinterpreted and corrupted by commentators and critics ignorant of the Roman forms of pleading. Cicero accuses Verres of having directed an issue of fact in such an improper form, that even L. Octavius, if he had been appointed to try it, would have been obliged to adjudge the defendant in the cause either to give up an estate of his own to the plaintiff, or to pay pecuniary damages. The perfect acquaintance with Roman law, and the knowledge of his duty which Balbus possessed, would have compelled him to pass an unjust sentence. To understand the compliment, it is necessary to remark, that in the time of Cicero a judex in a private cause was appointed for the occasion merely, and that his functions rather resembled those of a modern English juryman than those of a judge. It was his duty to try a given question, and according to his finding on that question, to pronounce the sentence of condemnation or acquittal contained in tho formula directed to him by the praetor. It was not his duty but the praetor's to determine whether the question was material, and whether the sentence was made to depend upon it in a manner consistent with justice. In the ordinary form of Roman action for the recovery of a thing, as in the English action of detinue, the judgment for the plaintiff was not directly that the thing should be restored, but the defendant was condemned, unless it were restored, to pay damages. The remainder of the chapter has been equally misinterpreted and corrupted. It accuses Verres of so shaping the formula of trial, that the judex was obliged to treat a Roman as a Sicilian, or a Sicilian as a Roman.

The death of Octavius Balbus is related by Valerius Maximus (5.7.3) as a memorable example of paternal affection. Proscribed by the triumvirs Augustus, Antony, and Lepidus, B. C. 42, he had already made his escape from his house, when a false report reached his ears that the soldiers were massacring his son. Thereupon he returned to his house, and was consoled, by witnessing his son's safety, for the violent death to which he thus offered himself.

The praenomen of Balbus is doubtful. In Cic. Clu. 38 most of the MSS. have P.; in Cic. in Verr. 2.12 the common reading is L. [J.T.G]

, of Gades. A soldier who served under Pompey against Sertorius in Spain, and received from him the gift of Roman citizenship, and, returning with him to Rome, lived on intimate terms with Caesar as well as with Pompey. In B.C. 56, he was accused of having illegally assumed Roman citizenship; was defended by Cicero, whose speech has come down to us; and was acquitted. In the Civil War, Balbus had the management of Caesar's affairs at Rome. After the death of Caesar he gained the favour of Octavianus, who raised him to the consulship in B.C. 40.