Ancient History & Civilisation

Appendix IV

The Dominance of the Metelli (123–98 BC)

Throughout this period of Roman history one family stands out: the Caecilii Metelli. Even in a dynastic system such as Rome’s, the success of the Metelli in the period was unique. Even families such as the Scipiones had never achieved so much success by so many family members in such a short period of time, achieving seven consulships, four censorships and five triumphs within twenty-five years. Unfortunately for them, these successes occurred during a period for which our sources have now almost disappeared, leaving the majority of them in obscurity. The most well-known of this period is Metellus Numidicus and then mostly for his part in the rise of Marius, rather than on his own merit (though hopefully the preceding chapters have gone some way to correct this balance). There exists an excellent analysis of the Metelli by Van Ootegheim, which is rather inaccessible to the standard reader, being in French and long out of print.⁴⁸⁷ The following is a brief résumé of the Metellan family’s success:

The Metelli were an old and established plebeian family, first reaching the consulate in the third century BC, serving as consuls in both Punic Wars. Following the Second Punic War, however, the family’s fortunes appear to have dipped and no Metellan reached the consulate for over fifty years. The family’s fortunes were reversed by Metellus ‘Macedonicus’, who not only won great military and political glory, but re-founded a dynasty with his brother, with five of their sons becoming consul (123, 119, 117, 115, 113 and 109 BC).

The Third Century BC

284	L. Caecilius Metellus Denter	Consul

	The first of the family to reach the consulship and the first to bear the cognomen Metellus.


283	L. Caecilius Metellus Denter	Praetor

	There is much debate over the accuracy of this praetorship, coming so soon after his consulship. Polybius states that he was killed in the Battle of Arretium.⁴⁸⁸


251	L. Caecilius Metellus	Consul

	Served in Sicily during the First Punic War, and won a notable victory over the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal at the Battle of Panormus, capturing over 100 elephants, which he paraded in his triumph.

247	L. Caecilius Metellus (2)	Consul

	Elected consul for a second time, he again served in Sicily, laying siege to the city of Lilybaeum.

c.243	L. Caecilius Metellus (2)	Pontifex Maximus

	Became Pontifex Maximus around this period and served until his death in 221 BC.⁴⁸⁹

206	Q. Caecilius Metellus	Consul
	M. Caecilius Metellus	Praetor

	The first recorded case of two Metelli holding office at the same time, consul and Praetor. Quintus and his consular colleague shadowed Hannibal’s movements about Italy.

Second Century BC

148	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’	Praetor

	Perhaps the most famous of all the Metlli, he defeated and captured the Macedonian Pretender Andriscus, ending the Fourth Macedonian War, leading to the annexation of Macedon. He remained in Greece, winning victories at Scarpheia and Chaeronaea.

146	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’	Triumph

	Celebrated a triumph for his defeat of Andriscus.

143	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’	Consul

	Thanks to his actions in the Macedonian War, became the first Metellan consul for several generations. Defeated a slave uprising at Miturnae in Italy and then served in the Celtiberian War in Spain.

142	L. Caecilius Metellus Calvus	Consul

	Brother of Macedonicus; the first example of two Metelli following each other in the consulship, but nothing else is known of his activities during the year.

131	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’	Censor

	First Metellan to become censor; clashed with the Tribune Atinius Labeo, who threatened to throw Metellus from the Tarpeian Rock, after his omission from the Senate. Also of note is the fact that this pair of censors was the first ever all-plebeian pairing (traditionally, it had been a patrician and a plebeian).

The Metellan Period of Dominance

123	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’	Consul

	Son of Metellus Macedonicus, invaded and annexed the Balearic islands (see Chapter 1).

121	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’	Triumph

	Celebrated a triumph for the conquest of the Balearic Islands.

120

Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’

Censor

119	L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’	Consul

	Son of Metellus Calvus; in Rome he clashed with the tribune C.

	Marius, who threatened him with imprisonment, whilst in his province he fought the Dalmatians, earning the cognomen ‘Dalmaticus’.

117	L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus	Consul

	A son of Metellus Macedonicus; no clear detail on his activities as consul.

					L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’		Triumph

					Celebrated his triumph for fighting the Dalmatians.

115	M. Caecilius Metellus	Consul

	Another son of Metellus Macedonicus received Sardinia and Corsica as his province, possibly to fight increased banditry.

	L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’/Diadematus Censor

	It is unclear which of the two L. Caecilii Metelli became censor this year.

c.114	L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’	Pontifex Maximus

	We are not told for certain when he took office but he was certainly in post this year.

113	C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius	Consul

	Another son of Metellus Macedonicus campaigned in Thrace against the Scordisci (see Chapter 3).

111	M. Caecilius Metellus	Triumph
	C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius	Triumph

	In an unprecedented move, both brothers celebrated their triumphs on the same day; Marcus for his activities in Sardinia and Caius for those in Thrace.

109	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’	Consul

	Again, in another unprecedented move, both censors came from the same family. Their censorship also saw the attempt to remove Saturninus and Glaucia from the Senate.

106

Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’

Triumph

102	Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’	Censors
	C. Caecilius Metellus	Caprarius

	Again, in another unprecedented move, both censors came from the same family. Their censorship also saw the attempt to remove Saturninus and Glaucia from the Senate.

Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos

Consul

Thus this period saw seven different brothers and cousins become consul, with four of them going on to reach the censorship, including the extraordinary double censorship of 102 BC, at a time when Marius was consul for the fourth time. One of their number even became Pontifex Maximus (Rome’s chief priest). Furthermore, they celebrated five triumphs, including the extraordinary feat of two triumphs on the same day in 111 BC. It is easy enough to understand why this dominance petered out, given that all available Metelli of that generation had been advanced through the cursus honorum (the sequence of offices a senator aspired to gain). Following this period, the children and grandchildren of these men achieved consulships in 80, 69, 68, 60, 57 and 52 BC, with a second period of consulships, the last of which being the noted Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica, a Scipio by birth, but a Metellan by adoption, who was the father-in-law of Pompey and fought Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC. Like his colleague Cato, he too committed suicide rather than come to terms with Caesar.⁴⁹⁰

The key issue that has not yet been accounted for is how these two branches of the family came to exercise such dominance in this period. Certainly, Metellus Macedonicus raised the profile of the family once more and made the elections of his sons much more likely, as well as his own brother. Yet to have all the available sons of both brothers reach the consulship was unprecedented. Regrettably, like much in this period, without a good surviving narrative source we have little clear information to go on. Nevertheless, it does hint at a degree of co-ordination and resources that no other family was able to muster.

Although this period of dominance was always going to come to an end, the rise of Marius too has often been overstated in its impact on the Metelli, especially in the light of the double Metellan censorship of 102 BC. The family did survive the disruptions and mass murder of the First Civil War and was able to gain a number of consulships in the late Republic, albeit without the same level of dominance that they saw in this period.

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