L. Sempronius Atratinus 26

vol. II A p.1366-1368

26) L. Sempronius Atratinus

He was born in 681 = 73 (Hieron. on Euseb. chron. II 143 g Schöne) as the biological son of L. Calpurnius Bestia (inscription from Hypata IG IX 2, 39 = Dessau 9461), and was adopted as a boy by one of the last Sempronii to try to prevent their famous gens from disappearing. <60> His adoptive father was called L. Sempronius L. f. (Acta triumph., also Fasti augur.) and had probably taken up for himself the cognomen Atratinus, which was previously used by some patrician Sempronii who had died centuries earlier (see below Sempronia nr. 108, and cf. the revival of the old praenomen Mamercus by a plebeian who transferred into the gens Aemilia, Röm. Adelsparteien 157. 311f.). <page break 1366/1367> After his biological father was taken to court de ambitu by M. Caelius in 698 = 56, the seventeen year old (cf. Hieron.) took his revenge by charging Caelius two months later: Caelius mocked him for having his tutor L. Plotius Gallus draft his defence speech (Suet. gramm. 26; a fragment in Chir. Fortunat. III 7 in Halm Rhet. Lat. min. 124, 26), <10> but his lawyer Cicero, in his own defence speech, treated him with deliberate kindness and friendly respect for his talent and his love for his father (Cic. Cael. 1f. 7f. 15f. 76. Quintil. XI 1, 68; cf. Herm. XLIV 135ff.). We do not know what happened in the following decade and a half of Sempronius’s life. After the conclusive battle at Philippi, he was one of M. Antony’s loyal supporters. <20> In 714 = 40, he was initiated as an augur (Fragm. of the Fasti augurum CIL I² p. 60 = Dessau 9398, 3. Called an augur on his coins), and indeed as the successor of L. Iulius Caesar, Antony’s uncle (cf. Herm. LII 152ff.); in the senate, he acted in support of Herodes, who had been driven out by the Jews (Joseph. bell. Iud. I 284), so he’d probably had the opportunity under Caesar or Antony to build a relationship with him. <30> Around this time, he was active in Greece under Antony’s command: in Hypata in Thessaly, a statue was set up in his honour, whose inscription calls him πρεσβευτὰν καὶ ἀντιστράτηγον (IG IX 2, 39 = Dessau 9461), and coins were minted in Sparta with his image on them (labelled Ἀτρατῖνος Catal. of greek coins in the Brit. Mus. Peloponnesus 128, 69). In the Sicilian war against Sex. Pompey, he lead part of the fleet, which Antony had sent over to Caesar Octavianus as reinforcements, <40> and acted primarily in the western part of Sicily (coins from Entella and Lilybaeum with the label Ἀτρατίνου Catal. of gr. c. Sicily 61, 8. 95, 4-6. Holm. Gesch. Siciliens III 460. 713 nr. 607f.; 721 nf. 684; cf. Cuntz Klio VI 472f.). Out of the copper coins which he minted for Antony, one of them, an as, which labels Antony as imp. and Atratinus himself as augur, dates to before the Pact of Misenum was agreed upon in 715 = 39: <50> there is also a series of various coins which name Antony imp. ter cos. des. iter. et ter and Atratinus augur cos. desig. which are from 716 = 38 at the earliest, but perhaps date from the Sicilian War 718 = 46 or 719 = 35 (Babelon Monn. de la rép. rom. I 181f. 184-187. II 434. Bahrfeldt Wiener numism. Ztschr. XXXVII 14-18. 28f. XLII 84f. Grueber Coins of the roman rep. in the Brit. Mus. II 501. 515f. Willers Gesch. d. röm. Kupferprägung 111-113. 115f. 120). <60> Sempronius was clearly designated consul once the Pact of Misenum was completed, but he was only able to enter the role in 720 = 34 alongside L. Scribonius Libo, after Antony had taken on the title on 1st Jan. and didn’t step down until it suited him (Dio XLIX 39, 1; cf. Appian. bell. civ. V 313. Chronogr. Cassiod. [in contrast, Antonius Hydat. Chron. Pasch.]. Fasti Venus. CIL I² p.66. Painted writings on amphorae from Rome ibid. XV 4606 and from Carthage ibid. VIII Suppl. 22640, 2). <page break 1367/1368> He later switched sides from Antony to Caesar, received the province Africa as proconsul, and returned from there in a triumph in 733 = 21 (Acta triumph. and Tabula triumph. Barber. CIL I² p. 50 77). During the same year 733 = 21, which marked the peak of his political career, he was named as one of the literary greats: clarus inter oratores habetur (Hieron.). <10> The source which tells us his year of birth and the beginnings of his career, Suetonius, also gives us an account of his end: ad extremum morborum taedio in balneo voluntate exanimatus heredem reliquid Augustum (Hieron.); his year of death was 760 = 7 AD, according to Fast. augur., meaning that Sempronius almost reached 80 years old. For Sempronius’s freedmen and perhaps also family members on inscriptions, cf. CIL VI 6832-6850. Prosop. imp. Rom. III 194f. <20>

[Münzer.]

This article is referenced by: L. Sempronius Atratinus (27), Sempronia Atratina (108)