Lucius Caesennius Lento (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman playwright and politician who was a supporter of Marc Antony.
Of Etruscan descent, [1] and a member of the gens Caesennia , Caesennius Lento was, according to Cicero, an actor who specialised in writing and performing tragedies. [2]
Choosing to side with Julius Caesar during the civil wars of the late Republic, Caesennius Lento was appointed a Legatus under Caesar during Caesar's campaigns in Hispania in 45 BC. It was Lento who was the officer who killed Gnaeus Pompeius during the Battle of Lauro, some weeks after the Battle of Munda. [3]
In June 44 BC, Caesennius Lento was one of the seven agrarian commissioners established under the Lex Antonia and appointed by Mark Antony to divide the available Ager publicus in Campania and Lentini among veteran soldiers and needy citizens. [4] As a supporter of Mark Antony, he was criticized by Cicero in his Philippicae in 43 BC.
Lento was probably the great-grandfather of Lucius Caesennius Paetus, who was Roman consul in AD 61.
This article concerns the period 49 BC – 40 BC.
The Second Triumvirate was a political alliance formed after the Roman dictator Julius Caesar's assassination, comprising Caesar's adopted son Octavian and the dictator's two most important supporters, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. The triumvirate for organizing the republic, as it was formally known, ruled the Roman Republic essentially as a military dictatorship, with each of the triumvirs assuming charge of an individual set of provinces. Unlike the earlier First Triumvirate, the Second was an official, legally established institution, whose overwhelming power in the Roman state was given full legal sanction and whose authority outranked that of all other magistrates, including the consuls.
Gaius Volusenus Quadratus was a distinguished military officer of the Roman Republic. He served under Julius Caesar for ten years, during the Gallic Wars and the civil war of the 40s. Caesar praised him for his strategic sense and courageous integrity.
Gaius Trebonius was a military commander and politician of the late Roman Republic, who became suffect consul in 45 BC. He was an associate of Julius Caesar, having served as his legate and having fought on his side during the civil war, and was among the tyrannicides who killed the dictator.
The Battle of Forum Gallorum was fought on 14 April 43 BC between the forces of Mark Antony, and legions loyal to the Roman Senate under the overall command of consul Gaius Pansa, aided by his fellow consul Aulus Hirtius. The untested Caesar Octavian guarded the Senate's camp. The battle occurred on the Via Aemilia near a village in northern Italy, perhaps near modern-day Castelfranco Emilia.
Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus was consul of the Roman Republic in 43 BC. Although supporting Gaius Julius Caesar during the Civil War, he pushed for the restoration of the Republic upon Caesar’s death. He died of injuries sustained at the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.
Lucius Gellius was a Roman politician and general who was one of two Consuls of the Republic in 72 BC along with Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus. A supporter of Pompey, he is noted for being one of the consular generals who led Roman legions against the slave armies of Spartacus in the Third Servile War.
Lucius Julius Caesar was a Roman politician and senator who was elected consul of the Roman Republic in 64 BC. A supporter of his cousin, the Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, Lucius was a key member of the senatorial coalition which strove to avoid civil war between the Roman Senate and his nephew Marcus Antonius in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination in 44.
Gaius Norbanus Flaccus was a Roman politician and general during the 1st century BC.
The gens Octavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which was raised to patrician status by Caesar during the first century BC. The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, quaestor circa 230 BC. Over the following two centuries, the Octavii held many of the highest offices of the state; but the most celebrated of the family was Gaius Octavius, the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, who was proclaimed Augustus by the senate in 27 BC.
Lucius Sempronius Atratinus was a Roman politician who was elected suffect consul in 34 BC. He is mentioned in Pro Caelio, a famous speech in defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The Philippics are a series of 14 speeches composed by Cicero in 44 and 43 BC, condemning Mark Antony. Cicero likened these speeches to those of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon; both Demosthenes’s and Cicero's speeches became known as Philippics. Cicero's Second Philippic is styled after Demosthenes' De Corona.
The gens Caesennia was an Etruscan family from Tarquinii during the late Roman Republic and in imperial times. Two of its members were mentioned by Cicero, and the name is found in sepulchral inscriptions.
The gens Caesetia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. It is known from a small number of individuals living during the late Republic.
The gens Hostilia was an ancient family at Rome, which traced its origin to the time of Romulus. The most famous member of the gens was Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome; however, all of the Hostilii known from the time of the Republic were plebeians. Several of the Hostilii were distinguished during the Punic Wars. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Aulus Hostilius Mancinus in 170 BC.
Lucius Manlius Torquatus was a Roman politician and military commander. He was active during the Crisis of the Roman Republic and Caesar's Civil War. He commanded troops at the battles of Oricum, Dyrrhachium and Thapsus. The last of these ended the war, in a defeat for the faction Torquatus supported; he escaped the field, but was captured and killed shortly after. He is portrayed by Cicero in De Finibus as a spokesman advocating Epicurean ethics.
The gens Fufia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The gens does not appear to have been of great antiquity, and only appears in history toward the beginning of the first century BC.
The gens Gratidia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Originally coming from Arpinum, members of this gens are known from the final century of the Republic.
The gens Tarquitia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens appear in history, of whom the most illustrious was Lucius Tarquitius Fiaccus, who was magister equitum in 458 BC. Other Tarquitii are mentioned toward the end of the Republic, but were probably plebeians, rather than descendants of the patrician Tarquitii.