Lucius Munatius Plancus

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 13.33 §2 but if Plancus is fixed on it

  Most likely L. Munatius Plancus, a Caesarian who may be competing for the same debt (nomen) Cicero is pursuing through Cispius. The identification rests on context and is not certain.

• Ad Atticum 15.27 §2 About Plancus, I have it in mind

  Lucius Munatius Plancus, a Caesarian who in 44 BC was governor-designate of Gallia Comata; Cicero notes he will keep some matter concerning him in view.

• Ad Atticum 15.29 §3 this Plancus, our friend from Buthrotum

  Plancus here is the commissioner managing the contested settlement of Roman squatters (agripetae) at Buthrotum in Epirus; the news that he and the squatters had been expelled by the Buthrotians bears on the land affair Cicero and Atticus had long worked to resolve.

• Ad Atticum 16.1 §2 And why is Plancus moving so fast

  Plancus here is the commissioner overseeing the disputed Buthrotum land allotment; his rapid movements alarm Cicero because they bear on the settlement Atticus wanted stopped.

• Ad Atticum 16.4 §3 Plancus has taken the money and run off

  Plancus, the land commissioner charged with the Buthrotum settlement, is here suspected of pocketing the funds and abandoning the colonists.

• Ad Atticum 16.16 §1 I have written to Plancus, and sent the letter off; you have the copy

  Plancus, the commissioner concerned with the Buthrotum land settlement that mattered so much to Atticus; Cicero encloses a copy of his letter to him so Atticus can see exactly what was said.

• Ad Familiares 10.1 §1 the prospect of your consulship

  Plancus had been designated consul for 42 BC (with Decimus Brutus) under Caesar's forward arrangements; Cicero fears the republic may not survive the eighteen-month wait until Plancus takes office.

• Ad Familiares 10.2 §1 My zeal for your election

  The Senate was voting honours and supports tied to Plancus's standing and his designated consulship; Cicero explains he could not attend the relevant session in safety.

• Ad Familiares 10.3 §3 men thought you too compliant with the times

  A delicate allusion to Plancus's earlier accommodation with Antony and the Caesarian leadership; Cicero excuses it as prudent calculation under constraint rather than genuine endorsement.

• Ad Familiares 10.3 §3 You are consul-designate

  As consul-designate for 42 BC, Plancus held a recognised rank and a free hand that (Cicero argues) freed him to act on his own judgement rather than bend to the dominant faction.

• Ad Familiares 10.5 §3 I advise you as a son

  Cicero, some twenty years Plancus's senior and tied to his family, claims a quasi-paternal authority; the triple figure (as a son, as myself, as your closest friend) marks the warmth and urgency of the appeal.

• Ad Familiares 10.6 §3 not merely a consul and a consular, but a great consul and a great consular too

  A consularis (consular) was a former consul, a permanent rank of prestige in the Senate; Cicero's point is that the mere title means nothing without the moral conduct that justifies it, pressing Plancus to act decisively for the optimates.

• Ad Familiares 10.8 §1 PLANCVS IMR COS. DESIG. S. D. COS. PR. TR. PL. SENATVI POPVLO PLEBIQVE ROMANAE

  The formal salutation of an official senatorial dispatch: Plancus writes as imperator (battlefield commander's acclamation, abbrev. IMR) and consul-designate (COS. DESIG.) to the consuls (COS.), praetor (PR.), tribunes of the plebs (TR. PL.), Senate, and Roman people --- the full constitutional address for a public letter read aloud in the Senate house.

• Ad Familiares 10.8 §6 I have five legions under the standards

  Transalpine Gaul's garrison of five legions made Plancus one of the most powerful military actors outside Italy in early 43; this force was what Cicero and the Senate were urgently trying to commit to the anti-Antony cause.

• Ad Familiares 10.9 §1 PLANCUS CICERONI S.

  Lucius Munatius Plancus, governor of Transalpine Gaul in 43 BC; the letter is from him to Cicero, the salutation following the Roman epistolary convention of naming sender before recipient.

• Ad Familiares 10.9 §3 I crossed the Rhone with the army by forced marches

  Plancus was marching from Transalpine Gaul toward northern Italy to support the Senatorial forces against Antony; the Rhone crossing was a critical logistical milestone demonstrating his commitment to the Republic.

• Ad Familiares 10.13 §1 I omitted nothing in your honour that could be set down either as a reward of valour or as a tribute in words

  Cicero is reporting the outcome of the senatorial debate narrated in Fam. 10.12: his motion to award Plancus a public thanksgiving (supplicatio) and other honors passed after he defeated the opposition of Servilius and the veto of P. Titius.

• Ad Familiares 10.24 §2 honoured by the Senate

  Plancus had asked Cicero to obtain senatorial honours for his soldiers; rewarding the rank and file (commoda militum) bound them to the republican cause and was a normal instrument of a commander's patronage.

• Ad Familiares 10.25 §2 with Plancus as consul

  Plancus was consul-designate for 42 BC; a candidate's prospects were brighter when a friendly consul presided over the elections and could lend support.

• Ad Familiares 11.15 §1 you charged your colleague Plancus to excuse you to me by letter

  Plancus (governor of Transalpine Gaul) and Decimus Brutus were the two consuls designate for 42 BC, hence "colleagues"; in mid-43 BC they had joined their armies against Antony and Lepidus. Cicero is pleased that the busy Brutus had Plancus send his apologies for not writing.

• Ad Familiares 11.25 §1 in you and in your colleague rests all our hope

  Decimus Brutus's "colleague" is L. Munatius Plancus, his fellow consul-designate for 42 BC and governor of Transalpine Gaul; the two were jointly charged with finishing the war against Antony.

• Ad Familiares 13.29 §1 M. CICERO L. PLANCO S.

  Heading: Marcus Cicero to Lucius Plancus, greetings. The recipient is L. Munatius Plancus, then serving Caesar in Gaul or on his way to a magistracy; he is distinct from his brother T. Munatius Plancus Bursa (person:t-munatius-plancus-bursa). The connection through Plancus's father is repeatedly stressed.

• Fifth Philippic §5 that further Gaul which Plancus now holds

  L. Munatius Plancus governed Transalpine ("further") Gaul; Cicero warns against any proposal to transfer that province to Antony, which would give him money, cavalry, and barbarian allies.