Q. Caecilius Metellus Baliaricus 82
vol. III p.1207-1208
82) Q. Caecilius Metellus Baliaricus
He was the eldest son of Macedonicus nr. 94 (Plin. n. h. VII 144. Plut. fort. Rom. 4). <50> As a consul in 631 = 123 (f. augur. CIL I2 p. 60. Chronogr. Idat. Chron. pasch. Cassiod. Cic. Brut. 259; de domo 136, incorrectly naming him L. Metellus; Eutrop. IV 21. Oros. V 12, 1) , he subjugated the Balearic islands over the course of two years, whose inhabitants had been making the seas unsafe with their piracy (Liv. ep. LX. Flor. I 43, 1. Oros. V 13, 1. Strab. III 167), and founded cities there (Strabo). After he returned home in 633 = 121, he received both a triumph and the honorary cognomen Baliaricus (Acta tr.); in 634 = 120 he became censor. <60> All these honours he received while his father was still alive (Cic. fin. V 82. Val. Max. VII 1, 1. Vell. I 11, 7. Plin. n. h. VII 142. Auct. de vir. ill. 61, 6). Perhaps he is the Metellus whom C. Marius helped to become tribune of the plebs (Plut. Mar. 4, 1), but then, when he achieved it in 635 = 119, got into such a great conflict with him that he was dragged off into prison (loc. cit. 4, 4f.). <page break 1207/1208> Wende De Caec. Met. 73 thinks this may have been the consul for that year, L. Metellus Delmaticus (nr. 91), but if that were the case, then his position as consul would hardly have been missed out in this account. Of course, any conjectures of this kind remain inconclusive. It is even less possible to prove that this Metellus was the senator who was brought forward as the first witness in the SC. de Adramyttenis (Viereck Sermo graecus 23 nr. 15, 9), because this could equally have been Q. Metellus Nepos nr. 95 (cf. Mommsen St.-R. III 968 Anm.). <10>
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[from suppl. III p.222]
Cf. Cichorius Untersuch. zu Licilius 3 for the dating of the SC. de Adramytt. to roughly 644 = 110, and for the identification of the senator with this particular Q. Metellus.
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This article is referenced by: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos (95) , Caecilia Metella (135)