person
L. Domitius
also: Lucius Domitius
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul 54 BC, praetor 58, son of the consul of 96 and son-in-law of Cato Uticensis. A pillar of optimate opposition to the triumvirate, he died at Pharsalus in 48 BC (Phil. 2.71); he had appeared as a witness in the urban-praetor case of Verres a quarter-century earlier (Verr. 2.1.139).
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 4.8A §2 About Domitius
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the leading anti-triumviral candidate, was being obstructed in his run for the consulship of 54 BC; Cicero pities him while noting his troubles are deserved.
- Ad Atticum 7.24 §1 Domitius had not three thousand soldiers
Against Philotimus's report of a strong army, Lucretius's letter put L. Domitius Ahenobarbus's real force at under three thousand men, a number too small to check Caesar; Domitius was indeed soon trapped at Corfinium.
- Ad Atticum 8.8 §2 letters from Domitius to him, his own to the consuls
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, holding Corfinium against Caesar, wrote begging Pompey to march to his relief while writing also to the consuls; Pompey refused and left him to his fate.
- Ad Atticum 8.8 §2 Domitius, they say, on hearing the news, has given himself up
When Pompey would not relieve him, Domitius's own troops at Corfinium forced his surrender to Caesar in late February 49 BC; Caesar spared him and his officers, the famous early act of clementia.
- Ad Atticum 8.12 §3 he would come to Domitius's aid
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was besieged by Caesar in Corfinium; Cicero had assumed from Pompey's own letter that Pompey would march to relieve him. Pompey did not, and Corfinium surrendered (mid-February 49 BC) with Domitius captured.
- Ad Atticum 8.14 §3 a sum of money quite large, which Domitius had at Corfinium, has not been returned to him
Domitius had brought a large war-chest of public and private money into Corfinium; when the town surrendered, Caesar took it over, and (despite his clemency to the men) it was not given back. The detail circulated as a grievance among the released Pompeians.
- Ad Atticum 8.15 §1 whether Domitius is with the fasces
Domitius had been designated Pompeian commander in further Gaul, entitled to the fasces, the bundled rods carried by lictors that marked a magistrate's imperium. The question is whether, after his release at Corfinium, he still held that command and its insignia.
- Ad Atticum 9.3 §1 his father was near the City
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the commander Caesar had captured and released at Corfinium in February, was now reported near Rome rather than with Pompey. Cicero needs to know his movements because Domitius's choices were a bellwether for whether escape from Italy was still feasible.
- Ad Familiares 8.15 §2 the Domitii come to a bad end
A pun: 'your Domitius' is L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the Pompeian consul of 54 lately captured by Caesar at Corfinium, while 'this one' is the murdered Ligurian notable, so Caelius jokes that men named Domitius habitually meet sticky ends.
- Second Philippic §71 you had killed Lucius Domitius
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul 54 BC and staunch optimate, was killed in the rout at Pharsalus in 48 BC; Cicero charges Antony with cutting him down along with other fugitives.
- For Titus Annius Milo §22 preside over this inquiry
Pompey's law required that the presiding officer (quaesitor) be of consular rank; he appointed L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul of 54 BC, to conduct the trial.