person
Lucius Opimius
L. Opimius
Roman consul 121 BC; carried the senatus consultum ultimum against Gaius Gracchus and killed him. Convicted by the Mamilian commission in 109 BC and exiled.
Reading notes
- Against Piso §95 L. Opimius
L. Opimius, consul 121 BC, the killer of Gaius Gracchus; condemned in 109 BC and exiled, dying at Dyrrachium. The locus classicus for the senate-versus-courts opposition.
- The Subdivisions of Oratory §104 Did Opimius rightly kill Gracchus
The killing of Gaius Gracchus and his followers in 121 BC by the consul Lucius Opimius, under the senatus consultum ultimum. Cicero's standard example of the qualitative status: the deed is admitted, and the question is whether it was justified (here, by the safety of the state).
- Eighth Philippic §14 Lucius Opimius the consul
Consul of 121 BC who, armed with the senate's "final decree" (senatus consultum ultimum), put down Gaius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus on the Aventine. Cicero cites the case as a precedent for armed defence of the state.