Attidius (senator)

Attidius or Atilius?

The friend of Mithridates is the only senator known to have the nomen Attidius during the Republic, and since other names in Appian are problematic, his Ἀττίδιος has been read also as Attilius. It has been argued that "Attidius" could in fact be Marcus Atilius Bulbus, a corrupt juryman who, according to Cicero, accepted bribes in the trial of Statius Albius Oppianicus in 74 BC. Atilius Bulbus was himself put on trial sometime between 74 and 70 BC and charged under the Lex Cornelia de maiestate, a capital crime, for attempting to incite the legion commanded by Gaius Cosconius in Illyria. Except during proscriptions and civil wars, the Romans of the Republic preferred the punishment of exile to execution for men of rank.

It has been conjectured that the military efforts of Atilius in Illyria were on behalf of either Aemilius Lepidus, who along with Marcus Brutus (consul 77 BC) attempted to resist the senatorial oligarchy, or Quintus Sertorius and his Hispanian government in exile. If Atilius is to be identified with Attidius, a Sertorian connection could explain how the exile ended up in the court of Mithridates, but this reconstruction of events is "highly speculative".

Atilius Bulbus came from "one of the most famous houses of the plebeian nobility, now in decay and showing no more consuls." Ronald Syme suggested that he might be a descendant of the M. Atilius Bulbus who was consul in 245 and 235 BC. Cato, the brother-in-law of Marcus Brutus, married an Atilia, indicating ties between the Bruti and Atilii that might point toward Bulbus's motives in Illyria.

Selected bibliography

Primary source

• Appian, Mithridatic Wars 90.

Secondary sources

• Alexander, Michael C. Trials in the Late Roman Republic, 149 BC to 50 BC. University of Toronto Press, 1990.
• Gruen, Erich S. The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. University of California Press, 1974, 1995.
• Kelly, Gordon P. A History of Exile in the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 187–188 online.
• Syme, Ronald. "Rome and the Balkans, 80 BC–AD 14." In The Provincial at Rome. University of Exeter Press, 1999.

References

References

1. [[Erich S. Gruen]], ''The Last Generation of the Roman Republic'' (University of California Press, 1974, 1995), p. 525 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ShG4ax577ncC&pg=PA525 online], noting that "one can do no more than guess" at the date.
2. Michael C. Alexander, ''Trials in the Late Roman Republic, 149 BC to 50 BC'' (University of Toronto Press, 1990), p. 176.
3. [[Appian]], ''Mithridatic Wars'' [https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_18.html#%A790 90.]
4. Gordon P. Kelly, ''A History of Exile in the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 188.
5. [[George Long (scholar). George Long]], ''Decline of the Roman Republic'' (London, 1869), vol. 3, p. 100.
6. Kelly, ''History of Exile'', p. 188.
7. [[Cicero]], ''[[Pro Cluentio]]'' 97 and 103, ''In Verrem'' 39.
8. Gruen, ''Last Generation'', p. 525.
9. Cicero, 1 ''In Verrem'' 39, 2 ''In Verrem'' 2.79, ''Pro Cluentio'' 71. 72, 75, 97; Alexander, ''Trials'', p. 80.
10. "There are relatively few recorded instances of death sentences actually being carried out against Roman citizens during the Republican period," notes Kelly, ''History of Exile'', p. 1 [https://books.google.com/books?id=xVcg88VRu28C&pg=PA1 online.]
11. [[Ronald Syme]], "Rome and the Balkans, 80 BC–AD 14," in ''The Provincial at Rome'' (University of Exeter Press, 1999), p. 168 [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5IxWxCgFFwC&pg=PA168 online.]
12. For further discussion of Sertorians at the Pontic court, see [[Marcus Marius (quaestor 76 BC)]].
13. As its author himself acknowledges; see Kelly, ''History of Exile'', p. 188.
14. Syme, ''Rome and the Balkans'', p. 168.