PUBLIUS CORNELIUS LENTULUS

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 431 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PRE-PYR

PUBLIUS CORNELIUS LENTULUS , called SPINTHER from his likeness to an actor of that name, one of the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

adherents of the Pompeian party. In 63 n.c. he was curule aedile, assisted Cicero in the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy, and distinguished himself by the splendour of the games he provided. Praetor in 6o, he obtained the governorship of Hispania Citerior (59) through the support of Caesar, to whom he was also indebted for his election to the consulship (57). Lentulus played a prominent part in the recall of Cicero from

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

, and although a temporary coolness seems to have arisen between them, Cicero speaks of him in most grateful terms. From 5653 Lentulus was

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of the province of Cilicia (with Cyprus) and during that time was commissioned by the senate to restore

Ptolemy

PTOLEMY (
CLAUDIUS
PTOLEMAEUS)

XI. Auletes to his kingdom (see PTOLEMIES). The Sibylline books, however, declared that the king must not be restored by force of arms, at the

risk

RISK

of peril to Rome. As a provincial

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

, Lentulus appears to have looked after the interests of his subjects, and did not enrich himself at their expense. In spite of his indebtedness to Caesar, Lentulus joined the Pompeians on the outbreak of civil war (49). The generosity with which he was treated by Caesar after the capitulation of Corfinium made him hesitate, but he finally decided in favour of Pompey. After the battle of Pharsalus, Lentulus escaped to Rhodes, where he was at first refused admission, although he subsequently found an asylum there (Cicero, Ad Alt. xi. 13. 1). According to Aurelius

Victor

VICTOR
VICTOR, GAIUS
JULIUS
- JULIUS
(4th cent. A.D.)
VICTOR, SEXTUS AURELIUS

(De vir. ill. lxxviii., 9, if the

reading

READING

be correct), he subsequently fell into Caesar's hands and was put to death.
Gee Caesar, Bell. Cie. i. 15-23, iii. 102; Plutarch, Pomp. 49; Valerius Maximus ix. 14, 4; many letters of Cicero, especially Ad Fu,n. i. i-9.

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