consul

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 1.1 §1 my candidacy

  Cicero is canvassing for the consulship of 63 BC, the supreme annual magistracy held by two colleagues. As a 'new man' without consular ancestors, his canvass (petitio) depended on counting friends and tracking rivals, which is what this letter does.

• Ad Atticum 1.2 §1 In the consulship of Lucius Julius Caesar and Gaius Marcius Figulus

  Romans dated the year by its two ordinary consuls; this is 64 BC. The solemn consular formula opening the letter underlines that Cicero is recording his son's birth as a public, datable event. This L. Iulius Caesar (cos. 64) is not the future dictator.

• Ad Atticum 1.2 §2 opposed to my honour

  Honos here is the consulship itself, the highest 'honour' (office) in the Roman cursus honorum. Cicero fears the nobility will block his bid for it.

• Ad Atticum 3.12 §1 an enemy as consul-elect

  A consul-elect for 57 BC hostile to Cicero --- most likely Q. Metellus Nepos, who entered office an enemy though he was later won over to support the recall.

• Ad Atticum 5.12 §2 By the time you read this, we shall have consuls

  Cicero reckons that by the time his letter reaches Rome the consular elections for 50 BC will have been held; he is eager for news of how the result bears on Caesar, Pompey, and the pending trials.

• Ad Atticum 7.20 §1 these consuls of ours

  The consuls of 49 BC, C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, charged with raising and leading the Pompeian levy in Italy; Cicero's contempt is for their failure to muster any real force against Caesar.

• Ad Atticum 9.2 §1 the consuls had crossed over

  The consuls of 49 BC, C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, were the Republic's chief magistrates and had thrown in with Pompey; their crossing to Greece would mark the legitimate government's abandonment of Italy.

• Ad M. Brutum 1.3 §1 The consuls have turned out to be just the kind of men I have so often described to you

  The consuls of 43 BC were Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa; both died fighting Antony at Mutina in April 43 BC, and Cicero is praising their courage in posthumous retrospect.

• Ad M. Brutum 1.4 §1 the consuls

  The consuls of 43 BC were Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa; both died fighting Antony at Mutina in April 43, making this letter among the last written before that catastrophe was known in all quarters.

• Ad M. Brutum 1.16 §10 both as consul and now as consular

  Cicero was consul in 63 BC; in Roman usage a "consularis" (consular, or ex-consul) was a former consul who retained lifelong standing in the Senate to speak before others of lesser rank. Brutus addresses Cicero by both his past and present dignities to emphasise how much is at stake in his capitulation.

• Ad M. Brutum 1.16 §11 that consul is rightly seen to live up to this consular

  A pointed wordplay: Brutus says the consul of 63 BC (Cicero's peak achievement, suppressing Catiline) is expected to be matched by Cicero the consular (ex-consul) of 43 BC — but if Cicero courts Octavian, the later man will have cancelled the glory of the earlier.

• Ad M. Brutum 2.1 §1 The good faith of the consuls I did not condemn --- though it was strongly under suspicion

  The consuls of 43 BC were Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa, both of whom died of wounds after the battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina (April 43 BC); Cicero here defends their loyalty while regretting their lack of speed and forcefulness, pointedly noting suspicion had fallen on them for slowness.

• Ad Familiares 4.7 §2 who held the consulship with the greatest distinction

  Marcellus was consul in 51 BC, the year in which he pressed hardest for an early end to Caesar's Gallic command, helping precipitate the crisis that led to civil war; Cicero flatters him as a statesman who foresaw the coming disaster.

• Ad Familiares 10.10 §1 if we had a consul at Rome

  Both consuls of 43 BC — Hirtius and Pansa — were with the army at Mutina; in their absence the urban praetor held consular authority at Rome by the custom of the ancestors (mos maiorum).

• Ad Familiares 11.6 §2 the consuls-elect

  The consuls-designate for 43 BC, Hirtius and Pansa, who had not yet entered office; the tribunes proposed providing them a guard against Antony.

• Ad Familiares 11.9 §1 with the consuls taken from us

  Both consuls of 43 BC died within days of the relief of Mutina: Pansa of wounds taken at Forum Gallorum, Hirtius in the final battle. Their loss left a dangerous vacuum in command and at Rome.

• Ad Familiares 11.21 §4 your consulship

  Decimus Brutus was consul-designate for 42 BC; Cicero invokes the authority of that coming consulship as a guarantee of security.

• Ad Familiares 12.2 §3 the consuls-elect excepted

  The designati, here Hirtius and Pansa, who were to enter the consulship on 1 January 43 BC; consuls-elect already enjoyed special precedence in senatorial debate.

• Ad Familiares 12.4 §1 Excellent consuls

  The consuls of 43 BC, A. Hirtius and C. Vibius Pansa, who took office on 1 January and led the war against Antony at Mutina.

• Ad Familiares 12.4 §1 but the consulars are utterly disgraceful

  Consulars (former consuls) were the Senate's most senior members; Cicero complains that the rank-and-file and junior senators showed more courage against Antony than the ex-consuls did.

• Ad Familiares 12.9 §2 it is pledged to the year of your consulship

  Cassius and M. Brutus had been designated consuls for 41 BC; Cicero stakes the Republic's slender hope on that future year of their joint magistracy.

• Ad Familiares 12.10 §3 Against him we have the consuls-designate

  With both consuls of 43 (Hirtius and Pansa) dead at Mutina, Cicero looks to the consuls-designate for 42 BC --- D. Brutus and Plancus --- to oppose Lepidus in Gaul.

• Ad Familiares 12.28 §2 if it were ever convened while the consuls are absent

  The Senate was normally summoned by a consul; with both consuls of 43 (Pansa and Hirtius) away on campaign at Mutina, it met only for urgent new business (rem novam), so routine grants for Cornificius could not be voted.

• Ad Familiares 12.30 §4 the Senate has been left orphaned by the loss of the consuls

  Both consuls of 43, Hirtius and Pansa, died of wounds from Mutina within days of each other in April, leaving the Senate without its presiding magistrates (orbus, "orphaned") at the height of the crisis.

• Ad Quintum Fratrem 2.1 §1 We consulars were there

  The consulares were ex-consuls, the most senior rank in the Senate, called on for their opinions first. Cicero, consul in 63 BC, was one of them.

• Fourth Philippic §9 consul-elect

  Decimus Brutus had been designated (consul designatus) to hold the consulship for 42 BC. The title strengthened his standing in resisting Antony as a magistrate-in-waiting of the Roman people.