C. Licinius Murena 119

vol. XIII p.444

119) C. Licinius Murena

He was both the younger brother of nr. 123, and his legate in Gallia Transalpina. Near the end of 691 = 63 [corrected from 692 = 62], when his brother was travelling back to Rome to campaign for the consulship, he was tasked with acting as his replacement in his province. <10> There, he had many of Catiline’s messengers captured as agitators (Cic. Mur. 89. Sall. Cat. 42, 3, where in citeriore Gallia is likely a mistake; cf. also Cic. Cat. II 5 on the Gallicanae legiones). He is presumably also the Murena who had mosaic art framed in wood brought to Rome from Sparta to decorate the comitium during his aedileship together with somebody called Varro (Vitruv. II 8, 9, from which Plin. n. h. XXXV 173); <20> his colleague could have been C. Visellius Varro, and the aedileship in 695 = 59 (cf. Seidel Fasti aedilicii [Diss. Breslau 1908] 62). Murena’s father (nr. 122) had ties to Messenia, which could perhaps have come in handy, if indeed it was this Murena who was taking artwork out of Laconia. Perhaps he also had the freedwoman Licinia O. l. Erot[is] spaltria (l.: psaltria) Muren[ae] et ministra in f[amilia?] (CIL VI 10138 = Dessau 5248). <30>

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