Titus Labienus
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Titus Labienus | |
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Born | c. 100 BC Caesar's Civil War |
Titus Labienus (c. 100 – 17 March 45 BC) was a high-ranking military officer in the late
Biography
Early career
As his
Tribune of the Plebs, Trial of Gaius Rabirius
In 63 BC, Titus Labienus was a
At Caesar's instigation, Labienus accused
Rabirius appealed to the
In the same year, Labienus carried a
Labienus was more a soldier than politician and primarily used his office as a gateway to secure himself positions of high military command. After his term as tribune, Labienus served as Caesar's legate (second-in-command) in Gaul and so he took Caesar's place whenever he was out of Gaul.[4]
Lieutenant under Caesar in Gaul
As Caesar's senior legate during his campaign in Gaul, Labienus was the only legate mentioned by name in Caesar's writings about his first campaign.[5] He was a skilled cavalry commander.
Labienus commanded the winter quarters in
In 57 BC, during the Belgian campaign, in a battle against the Atrebates and Nervii near Sabis, Labienus, commanding the 9th and 10th legions, defeated the opposing Atrebates force and proceeded to take the enemy camp.[8] From there he sent the 10th Legion against the rear of the Nervii line while they were engaged with the rest of Caesar's army, single-handedly turning the tide of battle and securing Caesar the victory.[9]
Labienus is also credited with the defeat of the
Labienus's victory over the
In September, 51 BC, Caesar made Labienus governor of Cisalpine Gaul.[14]
Defection from Caesar, command under Pompey in Civil War
After Caesar crossed the Rubicon, Labienus left his post in Cisalpine Gaul and joined Pompey.[15] He was rapturously welcomed on the Pompeian side,[4] bringing some Gallic and German cavalry with him. He also brought an account on Caesar's military strength.[16]
Pompey made Labienus commander of the cavalry (magister equitum). Labienus attempted to persuade Pompey to face Caesar in Italy and not retreat to Hispania (Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) to regroup, insisting that Caesar's army was thin and weakened after his campaign in Gaul.[17]
But Labienus's ill fortune under Pompey was as marked as his success had been under Caesar. From the defeat at the
Death came to Labienus in the
Fictional accounts
- Labienus is featured in The Gods of War, a novel by British author Conn Iggulden, though in a much reduced role, as his historical position as Caesar's second-in-command is filled instead by Marcus Junius Brutus, whose relationship with Caesar is conversely greatly expanded.
- Labienus was an important minor character in the earlier Masters of Rome novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough. In these, his first appearance is in the Trial of Rabirius, but this is placed rather later in the political year than it is usually stated as having been, orchestrated by Caesar as a reaction to Cicero's decision to have several Catiline conspirators executed without trial while the "Senatus Consultum Ultimum" is in force – rather than as a prior warning against such an action before the decree was even in place. He then falls on hard times because he had drawn the disfavour of Pompey for having an affair with his wife Mucia Tertia, the daughter of Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex, the pontifex maximus and consul in 95 BC, and thus a member of Rome's nobility that he moved to his vast estates in Picenum. He is portrayed latterly as a very capable but fierce and cruel soldier and commander, whose brilliance wins battles in Gaul, but whose brutality went some way towards alienating Caesar's Gallic allies and thus causing the battles in the first place. McCullough takes a somewhat different interpretation of the events, and has Caesar shunning Labienus, instead of Labienus defecting to Pompey. In the novels, Caesar disowns Labienus when it comes to civil war, not wanting him on his side because he is too cruel and unpredictable.
- Labienus was also featured in the BBC One docudrama Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire.
- Labienus is a significant character in S.J.A. Turney's series Marius' Mules.
- Labienus features in the campaign of the video game Praetorians. He is a playable character in several missions set in the Gallic Wars to finally re-emerge as the main antagonist in the last mission set at the end of the Civil War.[21] In the game's version of events, Labienus did not die in the Battle of Munda, but has managed to flee to the Pompeian encampment where he makes his final stand.[22]
See also
- Labiena (gens)
Notes
- ^ a b Tyrrell (3)
- ^ Tyrrell (4)
- ^ Tyrrell (9)
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Tyrrell (19)
- ^ Dio (41.4.3)
- ^ Bellum Gallicum (5.8)
- ^ BG (2.23)
- ^ BG (2.26)
- ^ BG (5.57)
- ^ BG (6.8)
- ^ BG (7.61)
- ^ BG (7.62)
- ^ BG (8.52)
- ^ M. Tullius Cicero (Fam, 16.12)
- ^ John Leach, Pompey the Great, p. 176.
- ^ Tyrrell (31)
- ^ Sextus Julius Frontinius: Stratagems Book II
- Bellum AfricumBook 41
- ^ Dio (43.38)
- ^ timski. "Praetorians – Guide and Walkthrough". gamefaqs.gamespot.com. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
- ^ JÀSHÁN. "Praetorians HD Remaster - Just One... More... Fight (Hard)". youtube.com. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
References
- Caesar's Bellum Africum
- Caesar's Bellum Civile
- Caesar's Bellum Gallicum
- Cassius Dio's Roman History
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 6.
- Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares
- Sextus Julius Frontinus
- Tyrrell, William B. Biography of Titus Labienus, Caesar's Lieutenant in Gaul. Diss. Michigan State Univ., 1970. 10 May 2007 <http://www.msu.edu/~tyrrell/Labienus.pdf >.