Trebonius

• I C. Trebonius, a legate of Caesar in Gaul, a friend of Cicero, Caes. B. G. 5, 24; 6, 40; 7, 81; id. B. C. 1, 36; 3, 20; Cic. Fam. 12, 16; 15, 20; id. Phil. 2, 14, 34; Vell. 2, 69, 1.—
• II The father of the preceding, C. Trebonius, Cic. Fam. 10, 21, 1; id. Phil. 13, 10, 23.—
• III Another of the name is mentioned, Hor. S. 1, 4, 114.

1. L. Trebonius, tribune of the plebs B. C. 447, obtained the surname of Asper on account of his frequent attacks upon the patres. he proposed and carried a plebiscitum, that if the ten tribunes were not chosen before the comitia were dissolved, those who were elected should not fill up the number (co-optare), but that the comitia should be continued till the ten were elected. (Liv. 3.65, 5.10.)

2. Cn. Trebonius, tribune of the plebs B. C. 401, vigorously resisted the attempts of the patres to undermine the law of his ancestor. (Liv. 5.11.)

3. M. Trebonius, consular tribune in B. C. 383. (Liv. 6.21.)

4. P. Trebonius, consular tribune B. C. 379. (Diod. 15.51.) His name does not occur in Livy (6.30) among the consular tribunes of that year.

5. C. Trebonius, legatus of the consul L. Papirins Cursor in B. C. 293. (Liv. 10.40.)

6. Trebonius, slew C. Lusius, a nephew of C. Marius, for attempting a criminal assault upon him. [Lusius.]

7. A. Trebonius, proscribed by Sulla. (Cic. Ver. 1.47.)

8. P. Trebonius, brother of No. 6, attempted to leave his brother some property, but his will was declared void by Verres. (Cic. l.c.)

9. A. Trebonius, a Roman eques and a negotiator or money-lender in the provinces, was recommended by Cicero to the proconsul Lentulus in B. C. 56. (Cic. Fam. 1.3.)

10. C. Trebonius, a distinguished Roman eques, the father of the following. (Cic. Fam. 10.28, Phil. 12.10.)

11. C. Trebonius, played rather a prominent part in the last days of the republic. He commenced public life as a supporter of the aristocratical party, and in his quaestorship (B. C. 60) he attempted to prevent the adoption of P. Clodius into a plebeian family, contrary to the wish of the triumvirs. (Cic. Fam. 15.21.) He changed sides, however, soon afterwards, and in his tribunate of the plebs (B. C. 55) he was the instrument of the triumvirs in proposing that Pompey should have the two Spains, Crassus Syria, and Caesar the Gauls and Illyricum for another period of five years. This proposal received the approbation of the comitia, and is known by the name of the Lex Trebonia. (D. C. 39.33; Cic. Att. 4.8. b. § 2.) For this service he was rewarded by being appointed one of Caesar's legates in Gaul, where he remained till the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49. In the course of the same year he was intrusted by Caesar with the command of the land forces engaged in the siege of Massilia. (Caes. Gal. 5.24, 6.40, B. C. 1.36, 2.1; D. C. 41.19; Cic. Att. 8.3.7.) In B. C. 48 Trebonius was city-praetor, and in the discharge of his duties resisted the seditions attempts of his colleague M. Caelius Rufus to obtain by force the repeal of Caesar's law respecting the payment of debts. The history of these events is related elsewhere. [Vol. III. p. 672. b.] (Caes. Civ. 3.20, 21; D. C. 42.22.) Towards the end of B. C. 47, Trebonius, as propraetor, succeeded Q. Cassius Longinus in the government of Further Spain, but was expelled from the province by a mutiny of the soldiers who espoused the Pompeian party. Notwithstanding this want of success, he still continued to enjoy the favour and confidence of Caesar, who raised him to the consulship in the month of October, B. C. 45, and promised him the province of Asia. (D. C. 43.29, 46.) In return for all these honours and favours, Trebonius was one of the prime movers in the conspiracy to assassinate his benefactor, and among the many instances of black ingratitude on the fatal Ides of March, his was one of the blackest. It had been assigned to Trebonius to keep Antonius engaged in conversation outside the senate-house while the other conspirators perpetrated the foul deed. Trebonius did not remain long at Rome after the murder of Caesar, but went as proconsul to the province of Asia. In the following year (B. C. 43) he sent a supply of money to M. Brutus in Macedonia, and to C. Cassius who was attempting to obtain possession of Syria. In the course of the same year, Dolabella, who had received from Antonius the province of Syria, appeared before Smyrna. where Trebonius was then residing, surprised the town in the night time, and slew Trebonius in his bed. For details see Dolabella, p. 1059. b. (D. C. 44.14, 19, 47.21, 26, 29; Plut. Brut. 19; Appian, App. BC 2.113, 117, 3.2, 26; Cic. Phil. 2.11, 14, 11.1, 2, 4, 12.10, 13.10, ad Fam. 10.28, ad Att. 14.10, ad Fam. 12.12, 14, 15.) A few of Cicero's letters are addressed to this Trebonius (ad Fam. 10.28, 12.16, 15.20, 21). The panegyrics which Cicero pronounces upon this ungrateful wretch in his letters and in the Philippics are most disgusting, and the language which the orator uses on one occasion in reference to the murder of the great man to whom he owed his own life, is positively so loathsome that it deprives us of almost all pity for his own fate. Thus he writes to Trebonius (ad Fam. 10.28) : -- " Quam vellem ad illas pulcherrimas epulas me Idibus Martiis invitasses ! reliquiarum nihil haberemus."

12. Trebonius, a contemporary of Horace. detected in adultery, is otherwise unknown. (Hor. Sat. 1.4. 114.)

procurator of Africa at the death of Nero, A. D. 68, put to death Clodius Macer, the governor of the province, by the command of Galba. (Tac. Hist. 1.7.)

[Rufinus.]

Gaius. A Roman who played a prominent part in the last days of the Republic. He commenced public life as a supporter of the aristocratic party, but changed sides soon afterwards, and in his tribunate of the plebs (B.C. 55) he proposed the lex Trebonia, by which Pompey obtained the two Spains, Crassus Syria, and Caesar the Gauls and Illyricum for another period of five years. (See Caesar.) For this service he was rewarded by being appointed one of Caesar's legates in Gaul. In 48 Trebonius was city-praetor, and towards the end of 47 succeeded Q. Cassius Longinus as pro-praetor in the government of Farther Spain. Caesar raised him to the consulship in October, 45, and promised him the province of Asia. In return for all these honours and favours, Trebonius was one of the prime movers in the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar, and after the murder of his patron (44) he went as proconsul to the province of Asia. In the following year (43) Dolabella surprised Smyrna and put Trebonius to death.