Mark Celius Vinician

The main source of information about Mark Celius is the epitaph on his grave, found in Tuscula . It says: “M (arco) Coelio M (arci) f (ilio) Viniciano / pr (aetori) pro co (n) s (ule) tr (ibuno) pl (ebis) q (uaestori) / Opsilia uxor fecit” (“Mark Tseliy, son of Mark, Vinician / praetor , proconsul , tribunes , quaestor / Opsilia, wife, did” ^[1] ).

From the text of the epitaph it follows that Mark was born into the noble plebeian family of Vinicius ^[2] , but was adopted by a certain Mark Celius. At the beginning of his political career, he served as a quaestor . There are no exact dates here, but Canadian researcher Robert Broughton , taking into account the requirements of the Willian law on the mandatory three-year interval between higher magistracy and the date of the tribune of Vinician, assigns his questura to 56 BC. e ^[3] . In 53 BC e. Mark Celius was a folk tribune ^[4] . Together with his colleagues Guy Lucilius Gyrr and Publius Licinius Crassus Unian , he proposed to endow Gnei Pompey the Great with an empire with dictatorial powers , but Mark Tullius Cicero spoke out against this. Under the influence of the latter, Crassus Junian changed his point of view, and in the end the initiative of the stands was rejected. This story (Cicero called it “stupid” ^[5] ) made Mark Celius unpopular among the people: in 51 BC. e., when he wanted to run for plebeian aediles , the popular assembly rejected his candidacy ^[6] , and the crowd “followed him with a loud cry” ^[5] .

In what began in 49 BC. e. of the civil war between Gnei Pompey the Great and Guy Julius Caesar, Mark Celius sided with the latter. It is known that he participated in 47 BC. e. in the Pontic war . After the defeat of the enemy under Zele, Caesar left Vinician in Pontus at the head of two legions ^[7] . Perhaps it was Gaius Julius who made Mark Celius praetor and governor of a province in the rank of proconsul ^[6] .

After 47 BC e. Vinician is not mentioned in the sources. It is known that his wife was called Opsilia; she survived her husband and buried him in Tuskul, where a tombstone was installed with an epitaph preserved to this day ^[6] .

Sources

1. Mark Tullius Cicero . Letters from Mark Tullius Cicero to Attica, relatives, brother Quintus, M. Brutus. - SPb. : Nauka, 2010 .-- V. 3 .-- 832 p. - ISBN 978-5-02-025247-9 , 978-5-02-025244-8.
2. Guy Julius Caesar . Notes on the Gallic War. Civil War Notes. - SPb. : AST, 2001 .-- 752 s. - ISBN 5-17-005087-9 .

Literature

1. Broughton R. Magistrates of the Roman Republic. - New York, 1952. - Vol. II. - P. 558.
2. Gundel H. Vinicius // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - 1961. - Bd. II, 17. - Kol. 109.
3. Münzer F. Coelius // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - 1900. - Bd. VII. - Kol. 184.
4. Münzer F. Coelius 12 // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - 1900. - Bd. VII. - Kol. 195-196.
5. William Smith , Ed. Vinicia'nus, M. Cae'lius (neopr.) . A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology . William Smith, Ed. ;