Catulus, Quintus Lutatius

▪ Roman general [died 86 BC]

died 86 BC

      Roman general, at first a colleague and later a bitter enemy of the politically powerful commander Gaius Marius.

      As consul with Marius in 102, Catulus was sent to hold the passage of the Alps from the invading Cimbri and Teutoni tribes, but he was forced back to the Po River. In 101 the Cimbri were defeated in the Raudian Fields, near modern Vercelli, Italy, by the united armies of Catulus and Marius. When the chief credit for this victory went to Marius, Catulus sided with Marius' political rival, Lucius Cornelius Sulla. After Marius' capture of Rome late in 87, Catulus was forced to commit suicide. Catulus was distinguished as an orator, poet, and prose writer.

▪ Roman politician [died 61/60 BC]

born c. 120 BC

died 61/60

      Roman politician, a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction in the Senate.

      Catulus' father, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, had been forced to commit suicide after Gaius Marius' capture of Rome. The younger Catulus therefore became an adherent of Marius' opponent, the commander Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who was dictator of Rome from 82 to 80. In 78, when he was consul, Catulus defeated an army led by his colleague in the consulship, Aemilius Lepidus, who sought to overthrow Sulla's constitutional innovations. Catulus unsuccessfully opposed laws conferring extraordinary military powers upon the ambitious Pompey in 67 and 66; as censor in 65, Catulus fought the attempt of Marcus Licinius Crassus to enfranchise the Transpadane Gauls. A consistent opponent of Julius Caesar, Catulus suffered a bitter disappointment when Caesar was elected pontifex maximus (“high priest”) in 63 over his own far stronger claim. The Optimate leader unsuccessfully attempted to implicate Caesar in Catiline's conspiracy to seize power (63), and in return Caesar in 62 accused Catulus of embezzling public funds—a charge that was later dropped.

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