Publius Servilius Isauricus

Publius Servilius Isauricus^[1][2][3] was a Roman senator who served as consul in 48 BC together with Julius Caesar. He is generally regarded as a puppet of Caesar, having a long friendship with the Dictator.

Biography

Early life

He was the son of Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus.

Career

In 54 BC, Isauricus was

In March 48, praetor Marcus Caelius Rufus began talking of abolishing all debt in the city, as even the upper classes had begun to feel the pressure of shortage of money; even Cicero's wife Terentia was forced to sell most of her jewelry. Caelius, however, had no jurisdiction on the standing of debts, his only magistracy being in the administration of foreigners in Rome; instead, debts fell under Gaius Trebonius' jurisdiction.

After Caelius set up a tribunal within earshot of Trebonius in the Forum for the second time, Isauricus himself went to the Forum to confront the rogue magistrate, followed by a retinue of fasces-wielding guards. After a heated argument on the tribunal, Isauricus famously pulled an axe out of one of the fasces and destroyed Caelius's wooden magistrate's chair. Caelius and Isauricus nearly came to blows, and the mob became so confrontational with the Consul that the guards actually needed to unsheathe their axes to ward them off.

Caelius made fun of Isauricus by holding up his repaired magistrate's chair, which was held together with leather straps. Famously, Isauricus was beaten by his father with a strap of leather, which was shameful for the family name, though Isauricus himself claimed it had toughened him up. Caelius repeatedly escaped Isauricus, and was not arrested but went to join Titus Annius Milo in an insurrection against Caesar, and were both captured and executed.

Later life and family

Isauricus married