vol. III p.1208-1210
He was, according to him and others, a brother of Q. Metellus Nepos (nr. 96), so he was probably also the son of nr. 95, <page break 1208/1209> but he was adopted by nr. 85, cf. Drumann G. R. II 25. In the year 674 = 80, together with Nepos he charged M. Aemilius Lepidus on account of his awful management of Sicilia, but he took the charge back (Ps.-Ascon. Verr. p. 100. 206 Or., cf. vol. I p.554). [from suppl. I p.267: On an unknown date, Celer (or his father) also charged a Cn. Sergius Silus because of attempted adultery, and successfully had him sentenced (Val. Max. VI 1, 8; cf. Mommsen St.-F. II 493, 4). <60> (Münzer.)]. Maurenbrecher links Sall. hist. frg. I 135 to him taking part in some kind of military campaign. In 683 = 71, he may have become tribune of the plebs (cf. nr. 22). <10> In 688 = 66, Celer was a legate of Pompey in Asia, and he was suddenly stormed by the Albani where he was staying the winter on the Armenian border; however, he fought them back bravely and successfully (Dio XXXVI 54, 2f.). He held the city praetorship in the eventful year 691 = 63 (Cic. Sull. 65, perhaps also Val. Max. VII 7, 7). He prevented C. Rabirius being sentenced, by having the red standard taken away from the Ianiculum which meant he also disbanded the popular assembly which would have made the decision (Dio XXXVII 27, 3). <20> When Catiline wanted to put himself under his supervision, he turned him away (Cic. Cat. I 19; on the opposing account in Dio XXXVII 32, 2, cf. nr. 80). At the end of October, he was sent to Picenum and Gaul, where one of the conspirators, Septimius, was gathering troops (Cic. Cat. II 5. 26; ad fam. V 2, 1. Sall. Cat. 30, 5. Plut. Cic. 16, 1); at first, Celer was energetic in opposing them (Sall. 42, 3), <30> and then moved to block Catiline’s path to Gaul with three legions at Faesulae; there he was soon also met with the main troops under the consul Antony, and the rebels were forced to enter into a deciding battle (Sall. 57, 2f. Dio XXXVII 33, 4. 39, 2). Cicero (Sest. 131) praises Celer as his socius laborum, periculorum, consiliorum, and it sometimes ended up
being to his advantage that he didn’t have a province himself. <40> Celer received Gallia Cisalpina with the title of proconsul (title in Cic. ad fam. V 1. 2. 2, 3. Corn. Nepos in Plin. n. h. II 170 and Mela III 45). With Pompey’s support, he was elected consul for 694 = 60 alongside L. Afranius (f. Cap. Tessera CIL I 727. 728. Chronogr. Idat. Chron. pasch. Cassiod. Flor. II 13, 8. Obsequ. 62. Plin. n. h. II 170. Hor. carm. II 1, 1. Dio XXXVII ind.). Still as consul elect, he delayed the festivals of the Compitalia with his simple reputation alone. The senate had forbidden the Compitalia, <50> but one of the tribunes had allowed it (Cic. Pis. 8. Ascon. ad loc. p. 7), and spoke against the knight’s request to reduce the amount of money they put into tax farming (Cic. ad Att. I 17, 9). During his actual year in office, he managed to gain the approval of the optimates and of Cicero (ad Att. I 18, 5. 19, 4), since he joined with Lucullus and Cato to oppose Pompey again (Dio XXXVII 49, 3. 5). His reasons for doing so were political as well as personal, <60> and they lay in the fact that Pompey had divorced his wife Mucia, who was Celer’s half-sister. It was the agricultural law, which the tribune of the plebs L. Flavius had introduced in the interests of Pompey, that Celer opposed so bitterly that the tribune had him thrown into prison, and when his own resilience and determination still wasn’t shaken by that, it forced his opponents to let the whole thing go (Dio XXXVII 50, 1-5). <page break 1209/1210> He showed the same decisiveness against Clodius, who he was related to both as a cousin and a brother in law; at the beginning he concentrated less on Clodius’s plan to build himself a path to becoming tribune by transferring into the plebs (Cic. ad Att. I 18, 5), but as soon as he realised the danger at hand, he tried to prevent it by all means possible (Cic. ad Att. II 1, 4; har. resp. 45; Cael. 60. Dio XXXVII 51, 2; cf. Mommsen R. Forsch. I 399ff.). <10> Since a war in Gaul was on the horizon, the consuls had to draw lots for the two Gallic provinces (Cic. ad Att. I 19, 2), but Celer didn’t go into his province in this year (Cic. ad Att. I 20, 5. Dio XXXVII 51, 2), nor the next. At the beginning of that next year, he opposed Caesar’s agrarian law and refused to let it be passed, but in the end he was forced to allow it (Dio XXXVIII 7, 1). <20> Shortly afterwards, he died. He had lived in an unhappy marriage with the infamous Clodia (Cic. ad Att. II 1, 5. Plut. Cic. 29, 2), and since he had died so surprisingly suddenly, people suspected that she had poisoned him. Cicero, who was present during his last hours, spoke publicly about this accusation (Cael. 59f.; cf. Schol. Bob. Sest. p. 508). Celer had been augur in the year 691 = 63 (Cic. Vat. 19. Schol. Bob. ad loc. p. 318. Dio XXXVII 27, 3). One letter from him to Cicero is extant (ad fam. V 1). <30> According to his legacy (Brut. 247), he was an average orator; one of his wife’s lovers leaves somewhat uncomplimentary image of his whole personality (Catull. 83, 1ff.).
([Münzer.])
This article is referenced by: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos (96),Tertia Mucia (28)
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