Gaius Appuleius Decianus

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Gaius Appuleius Decianus was tribune of the plebs in 98 BC, known primarily for his connection to politically motivated prosecutions in the Late Roman Republic.

The case against P. Furius

Decianus attempted to prosecute

Appuleia and perhaps even by Saturninus himself.[3] "Tumultuous efforts" were made during the tribunate of Decianus to avenge the deaths of Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia.[4]

The trial of Furius was politically motivated; no actual charge is even recorded, but may have been

equites acted as judges.[6]

Furius was acquitted. Appian says[7] that C. Canuleius was the tribune who prosecuted Furius; this may be a textual error, an additional prosecutor, or a reference to a second trial. A mob, however, took their own revenge on Furius, attacking him and tearing his body to pieces.[8]

The case against L. Valerius Flaccus

Decianus also prosecuted

cousin of the same name had been consular colleague in 100 BC when Marius turned against Saturninus. During the 90s and into the mid-80s, the Valerii Flacci tended to be moderate in their political tactics while supporting the popularist Marian-Cinnan faction. Decianus appears to have been unsuccessful in this prosecution as well; Flaccus's career shows no signs of having been hampered.[9]

Tried and convicted

The political ineffectuality of Decianus was underscored when he himself was brought to trial after his term ended. The charges remain unspecified in the historical record, but he is most likely to have been brought before the new maiestas tribunal for which members of the equestrian order served as judges.[10] The Bobbio Scholiast notes[11] that Decianus was condemned for his "seditious and tumultuous tribunate," to which may be compared similar remarks by Cicero on Sextus Titius, a tribune the same year as Furius.[12] Decianus's sorrow at the death of Saturninus was used against him, as was the possession by Titius of a bust of the demagogue; these signs of attachment to a public enemy even after his death were construed as treasonous.[13]

After his trial, Decianus fled to

Mithridates VI of Pontus prior to the First Mithridatic War.[11] Although exile and flight was the customary response to condemnation, Decianus took the unusual measure of bringing his young son with him, indicating that he had no intention of trying to regain his place in Roman society.[15]

Gaius Appuleius C. f. Decianus

Decianus' son, who had the same name, lived in Apollonis but retained his Roman citizenship.[16] Cicero accuses both Deciani of participating in depredations against the free civitas of Apollonis with Mithridates.[17] This younger Decianus served as an advisor to the L. Valerius Flaccus who governed Asia in 62 BC, but he was later one of the prosecutors in the case against Flaccus[18] that is the subject of Cicero's defense speech Pro Flacco.

Selected primary sources

Selected bibliography

  • Gruen, Erich S. "Political Prosecutions in the 90's BC." Historia 15 (1966) 32–64.
  • Kelly, Gordon P. A History of Exile in the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press, 2006, especially pp. 180–181. Limited preview online.

References

  1. ^ Cicero, Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo 24–25; see also Valerius Maximus 8.1.
  2. ^ T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), pp. 4–5, 532.
  3. E. Badian
    , "P. Decius P.f. Subulo: An Orator of the Time of the Gracchi," Journal of Roman Studies 46 (1956) 91–96, especially p. 95.
  4. ^ Erich S. Gruen, "Political Prosecutions in the 90's BC," Historia 15 (1966), pp. 34–35.
  5. ^ Harriet I. Flower, The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political Culture (University of North Caroline Press, 2006), p. 83 online.
  6. ^ Gruen, "Political Prosecutions," p. 32 and p. 36, note 33.
  7. ^ Appian, Bellum civile 1.33, Bill Thayer's edition at LacusCurtius online.
  8. ^ David F. Epstein, Personal Enmity in Roman Politics, 218–43 B.C. (Croom Helm, 1987), p. 79 online.
  9. ^ Michael Charles Alexander, The Case for the Prosecution in the Ciceronian Era (University of Michigan Press, 2002), p. 80 online.
  10. ^ Gruen, "Political Prosecutions," pp. 36 and 63.
  11. ^ a b Bobbio Scholiast 94 (Stangl).
  12. ^ Gruen, "Political Prosecutions," p. 38, note 38.
  13. ^ Harriet I. Flower, The Art of Forgetting (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), p. 84.
  14. ^ Cicero, Pro Flacco 77.
  15. ^ Gordon P. Kelly, A History of Exile in the Roman Republic (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 88–89 online.
  16. ^ Gordon, A History of Exile, p. 136.
  17. ^ Cicero, Pro Flacco 71.
  18. ^ See also Decimus Laelius.
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