Quintus Catius was an officer (legatus) of the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.
Catius was plebeian aedile with Lucius Porcius Licinius in 210 BC. Using money collected through fines, they dedicated bronze statues at the Temple of Ceres and presented games (ludi) that the Augustan historian Livy says were quite magnificent for their time.[1]
In 207 BC, Catius was left in charge of the Roman camp at Canusium when his commanding officer Gaius Claudius Tiberius Nero joined consular colleague Marcus Livius Salinator to fight against Hasdrubal.[2] Nero's move was virtually unprecedented; a consul was to fight only within his own provincia with the troops assigned to him by the senate, but Nero thought the circumstances justified extreme measures which also gave him an element of surprise.[3] Catius was left to face off against Hannibal, who decided to stay put. This delegation of authority anticipated a highly controversial case two years later concerning an egregious exercise of imperium under Scipio Africanus[4] by his legate Quintus Pleminius; Catius, by contrast, had benefitted from the nearby support of the experienced and respected Fulvius Flaccus, a four-time consul.[5]
Ruin of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
In 205, Catius and Marcus Pomponius Matho, who would later become the praetor in charge of the investigation against Pleminius, were sent as Rome's ambassadors to Delphi with gifts to dedicate at the temple. These included a 200-pound gold crown and images (simulacra) of the spoils seized from Hasdrubal, amounting to 1,000 pounds of silver.[6] This embassy occurred in the context of what Livy characterizes as a sudden attack of religiosity at Rome,[7] which in addition to a consultation with the Sibylline books resulted most famously in the importation of the cult of Cybele to Rome.
Catius and Matho received favorable omens when they sacrificed to Pythian Apollo at Delphi. The question posed by the Roman ambassadors goes unrecorded, but the oracle responded with what was probably already a safe prediction: "The Roman people will soon have a victory much greater than that from whose spoils you have brought gifts." This was taken as confirmation of Scipio's desire to operate in Africa.[8]
The Catii were an obscure family; the only other member to attain prominence during the Republic was Gaius Catius Vestinus, a military tribune in 43 BC under Marcus Antonius.
^Livy 27.6.19: ex multaticio argento signa aenea ad Cereris dedere et ludos pro temporis eius copia magnifici apparatus fecerunt. Unless otherwise noted, dates, offices, and citations of ancient sources from T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 279, 297 and 304.
^Livy 27.43.12.
^English translation by Aubrey de Sélincourt, Livy: The War With Hannibal (Penguin Books, 1965, 1972), p. 486 online.
^Scipio had not earned his cognomen Africanus yet, but this is the name by which he is best known to history.
^Serge Lancel, Hannibal (Blackwell, 1999, from the French edition of 1995), p. 147.
^Livy 28.45.12: Tulerunt coronam aureaum ducentum pondo et simulacra spoliorum ex mille pondo argenti facta.
^Livy 29.10: ciuitatem eo tempore repens religio inuaserat ("A sudden religiosity invaded the citizenry at that time").
^Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, The Delphic Oracle, Its Responses and Operations, with a Catalogue of Responses (University of California Press, 1978), p. 345, noting that Livy's source may be the historian Fabius Pictor.
QuintusCatius was an officer (legatus) of the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Catius was plebeian aedile with Lucius Porcius Licinius in...
Rome by the time of the Second Punic War, when QuintusCatius was plebeian aedile. The philosopher Catius was an Insuber, a native of Gallia Transpadana...
their own protection. Leaving his camp under the command of his legate QuintusCatius, he then marched quickly to the North with 7,000 selected men, 1,000...
M[...]ius—c. 199 Claudius Hieronymianus—c. 212 Quintus Atrius Clonius—between 211 and 222 Gaius Catius Clemens—217-218 Marcus Munatius Sulla Cerialis—218...
Statilius Barbarus c. 203 Quintus Aiacius Modestus Crescentianus c. 206 – 209 [...] Avitius Attested 28 March 213 Quintus Junius [...] Quintianus Attested...
the filiations given in the Fasti link Quintus Marcius Tremulus, consul in 306, and his probable son Quintus Marcius Philippus, consul in 281. Philippus...
first-century tomb dedicated by Quintus Vibius Kanio, one of the Seviri Augustales, and his brother, Publius Vibius. Quintus Urvinius, the former master of...
Juventius Surus Proculus (200/201) Pollienus Sebennus (205/206) Publius Catius Sabinus (206 to 208) Marcus Munatius Sulla Cerialis (before 215) Marcus...
BC) Quintus Lucilius Balbus (125 BC) Antipater of Tyre (100–45BC) Cato the Younger (95–46 BC) Porcia Catonis (70–43 BC) Apollonides (46 BC) Quintus Sextius...
VIII, 2582 = ILS 1111 Quintus Hedius Lollianus Plautius Avitus military tribune c. 192 Dacia CIL V, 4347 = ILS 1149 Publius Catius Sabinus military tribune...
Arulenus Caelius Sabinus, and Titus Flavius Sabinus Preceded by Tiberius Catius Caesius Fronto, and Marcus Calpurnius [...]icus as suffect consuls Consul...
Britain, possible basis for King Arthur Quintus Junius Arulenus Rusticus - Stoic Arusianus Messius - grammarian Quintus Asconius Pedianus - writer Sempronius...
Galerius Asper 197 CE Lucius Plotius Sabinus Reign of Caracalla Publius Catius Sabinus 210 CE Clodius Pompeianus 244 CE Cethegius Pelagius 280–340 CE Furius...
Publius Catius Sabinus (fl. 3rd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed consul twice. Catius Sabinus was a member of the...
Quintus Fabius Postuminus was a Roman senator who was suffect consul in the nundinum of May to August 96 with Titus Prifernius (possibly surnamed Paetus)...
agriculturalist Quintus Asconius Pedianus (9 BC – 76 AD), historian, Latinist Gaius Musonius Rufus (AD 20 – 101), stoic philosopher Quintus Marcius Barea...
with Gaius and Quintus Septicius. Quintus Septicius, a manufacturer of small pottery at Rome, along with Gaius and Publius Septicius. Quintus Septicius, buried...
Quintus Maecius Laetus was a Roman eques who flourished during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons. He was appointed to a series of...
Poseidonios FGr Hist 87 F 116; see also below. Quintus Ennius, Annals 530; Silius Italicus, Punica 13.146; Quintus Horatius Flaccus Carmina 1.1.23; Publius...
202 Quintus Sicinius Clarus Po[ntianus?] between 198 and 213 Fl(avius) Claudianus between 198 and 217 [...]ius Pudens between 198 and 217 Quintus Atrius...
Tiberius Catius Caesius Fronto was a Roman senator who was suffect consul in the nundinium of September to December 96 AD with Marcus Calpurnius [...]icus...
dated to around 210/212. He was consul in the year 215 as the colleague of Quintus Maecius Laetus. Where the family of Cerialis originated is a mystery; Paul...
Titus Flavius Longinus Quintus Marcius Turbo suffectus Between 149 and 151 Gnaeus Julius Verus suffectus Mid 2nd-century Quintus Antonius Cassius Cassianus...
202-205 Quintus Anicius Faustus Between 211 and 214 Lucius Marius Perpetuus Between 230 and 242 Egnatius Victor Marinianus c. 242 Lucius Catius Celer...
Saturnina, dedicated a tomb at Comum in Cisalpine Gaul to her husband, Gaius Catius Secundus. Sentia Saturnina, buried at Naraggara in Africa Proconsularis...
of animals and everyday objects. It seems to be cognate with the nomen Catius, and the surname Cato, famous from the Porcii Catones. The main praenomina...
(not abbreviated) L. = Lucius M. = Marcus M'. = Manius P. = Publius Q. = Quintus Ser. = Servius Sex. = Sextus T. = Titus Ti. = Tiberius List of Roman consuls...