Gaius Flavius Fimbria (cavalry prefect)
Gaius Flavius Fimbria | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | 115 or 114 BC |
Died | 85 BC (aged 29–30) Pergamum, Roman Asia (modern-day Bergama, İzmir, Turkey) |
Cause of death | suicide |
Nationality | Roman |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Roman Republic Marius and Cinna |
Years of service | 87–85 BC |
Rank | Probably cavalry prefect and pro-quaestor |
Commands | Fimbrian legions |
Battles/wars | Bellum Octavianum First Mithridatic War |
Gaius Flavius Fimbria (c. 115 – 85 BC) was a Roman general. Born to a recently distinguished senatorial family, he became one of the most violent and bloodthirsty partisans of the consul Cornelius Cinna and his ally, Gaius Marius, in the civil war of 87 BC. During the conflict, Fimbria served them as both cavalry commander and negotiator, and took a leading part in the political purges that followed their capture of Rome, putting a number of prominent aristocrats to death.
In 85 BC, during an expedition to
Life
Partisan of Marius
Gaius
Cinna sent Fimbria as an envoy to negotiate an alliance with the
The following year, 86 BC, Cinna and Marius, now in undisputed control of the government, were declared consuls, the latter for his seventh time. Fimbria became a prominent figure in the Marian–Cinnan regime, and is described as one of their fiercest and loyalest partisans.[12] He was probably appointed quaestor to the elderly Marius,[13] who died two weeks into his term as consul. At his funeral, Fimbria threatened the pontifex maximus, Mucius Scaevola, apparently arranging for him to be murdered. Upon hearing that his victim survived, albeit with a severe wound, Fimbria launched against him a prosecution before the people (judicium populi[14]). When asked what charges could he possibly bring against such a well-reputed man, Fimbria declared that the victim had failed to submit his body to the full thrust of the blade.[1]
Cinna's government in 86 BC organized a military expedition to the
March and mutiny
The expedition began badly, for after sailing from
Fimbria, encharged with the cavalry, led the advance guard of the army a few days ahead of the main force, and began to stir up trouble by allowing his troops to plunder the surrounding area as they marched through Macedonia and Thrace. After reports made their way back to the rest of the army, and Flaccus himself, he rebuked Fimbria, and ordered the soldiers to give up the stolen booty.[22] After scoring minor victories against isolated Mithridatic garrisons along the Via Egnatia, alongside the Thracian coast, the army camped outside Byzantium. Here Fimbria seized the opportunity to deliver a speech to the soldiers, denouncing Flaccus, accusing him of withholding their money and booty, and living in luxury within the city, while the soldiers endured storms and the winter cold outside.[23] Some of the men, roused to fury, stormed into the city and lodged themselves in places of their choosing.[24]
Fimbria, around this time, entered into a dispute with another officer over lodgings, and Flaccus showed little sympathy for his recalcitrant subordinate, deciding in favor of the latter party. Flaccus then discharged Fimbria and appointed another officer,
In Asia
Flavius Fimbria now marched against the armies of the king, Mithridates, soundly defeating a large force under the command of the king's
Fimbria treated most cruelly all the people of Asia who had revolted from Rome or sided with Sulla. Having gained admission to Ilium by declaring that, as a Roman, he was friendly, he massacred the inhabitants and burnt the place to the ground. But in 85 Sulla crossed over from Greece to Asia, made peace with Mithridates, and turned his arms against Fimbria, who, seeing that there was no chance of escape, committed suicide, with the assistance of a slave.[29] The two Fimbrian legions were made to serve in Asia till the end of the Third Mithridatic War,[28] but two of his officers, Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius, fled to Mithridates and were of long service to him.[30]
Notes
- ^ A confusing text of Granius Licinianus mentions a battle between the elder Crassus and Fimbria.[9]
- ^ According to Livy, Fimbria was a legate, while Appian made him a senator who accompanied Flaccus on his own accord.[16] Velleius called him a cavalry prefect and Strabo a quaestor. Lintott argued for a quaestorship, owing principally to Fimbria's prosecution of Scaevola, which would have required Fimbria to hold a public office.[17] His arguments for Fimbria being quaestor have been accepted by a number of scholars.[18][19]
Citations
- ^ a b Cicero Pro Roscio Amerino 12.33
- ^ Sumner, pp. 76, 124.
- ^ Lintott, p. 700.
- ^ Sumner, p. 124; Lintott, p. 698; Broughton, pp. 49, 566.
- ^ Lovano, p. 40.
- ^ Broughton, p. 50.
- ^ Lovano, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Broughton, p. 49.
- ^ Lovano, p. 44 n. 64.
- ^ Münzer, col. 2599.
- ^ Lintott, p. 700; Broughton, p. 49.
- ^ Lovano, pp. 57, 98.
- ^ Lintott, pp. 697, 700; Sumner, p. 124.
- ^ Lintott, p. 696.
- ^ Lovano, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Lintott, pp. 696, 699.
- ^ Lintott, pp. 696, 700.
- ^ Sumner, p. 124.
- ^ a b c Lovano, p. 98.
- ^ a b Appian Mithridatic Wars 51
- ^ a b Lovano, p. 99.
- ^ Bennett, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Bennett, p. 48.
- ^ Bennett, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Appian Mithridatic Wars 52
- ^ Bennett, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Bennett, p. 51.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Appian, History of Rome 12.9.60
- ^ Emilio Gabba, Republican Rome, The Army, and the Allies (University of California Press, 1976), p. 113 online.
References
- Bennett, Harold (1923). Cinna and His Times: A Critical and Interpretative Study of Roman History During the Period 87–84 BC (University of Chicago PhD). Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Company. OCLC 568722841.
- Broughton, T. Robert S. (1952). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume II: 99 B.C.–31 B.C. New York: American Philological Association.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fimbria, Gaius Flavius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 347. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- JSTOR 4435231.
- Lovano, Michael (2002). The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-07948-3.
- Münzer, Friedrich, "Flavius 88", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE, PW), volume 6.2, columns 2599–2601 (Stuttgart, 1909).
- Sumner, G.V. (1973). ISBN 0-8020-5281-9.