LENTO, OiESENNIUS.
 

LENTO LUS, CORNELIUS.
 

iwtiniis (now Lake of Constance), in the modern

I/inzgau.

  Lento, C-esennius, a follower of  M. Antony.

He was one of Antony's seven agrarian commis¬

sioners (septemviratus) m B.C. 44, for apportion¬

ing the Campaman and Leontine lands, whence

Oieero terms Mm divisor Italias.

  Lentulus, Cornelius, one of the haughtiest

| atneian families at Rome; so that  Cieero coins

the words Appietas and Lentulitas to express the

qualities of the high aristocratic party (ad Fain,

iii, 7). The name was derived from lens, like

Cicero from cicer.   1. L,  consul B.C. 327, le¬

gate in the Caudine campaign 321,  and dictator

hzO,  when he  avenged the  disgrace of the Fur-

culaa Caudinaa.   TMs was indeed disputed (Liv,

ix, 15); but  Ms descendants  at least claimed

the honor  for him, by assuming the  agnomen of

Oaudinus.—2.  L,  surnamed Caudinus, pontifex

maximus,  and consul  237,  when he triumphed

over the Ligurians.   He died  213.-1-8. P, sur¬

named Oaumnus, served with P. Scipio in Spain

210, praetor 204,  one of the  ten  ambassadors

sent  to Philip of  Macedon 196.—4. P, praator

in Sicily 214, and continued in his  province for

the two following  years.  In  189  he was one

of ten ambassadors sent into Asia  after the

submission of  Antiochus.—5. Cn, quaestor  212,

curule aedile  204,  consul 201,  and  proconsul  in

Hither Spam 199.—6. L, praetor m  Sardinia 211,

succeeded Scipio  as proconsul in Spain, where

he remained for eleven years,  and on Ms  return

was only allowed  an  ovation,  because he  only

held proconsular rank.  He was consul 199, and

the  next  year proconsul  in Gaul—7. L, curule

wdile 163, consul 156, censor 147.—8. P, curule

aadile with Scipio Nasica 169, consul suffeetus

with 0. Domitius 162, the election of the  former

consuls being  declared informal   He became

prineeps senatus, and must have lived to  a good

old  age, since he  was wounded in the  contest

with  C.  Gracchus   in 121.—9.  P,  surnamed

Sura, the  man of chief note  in Catiline's crew.

He was quaestor to Sulla in 81: before Mm and

L. Triarius, Verres had to give an account  of

the moneys he had received as quaestor in Cisal¬

pine Gaul  He was  soon  after  Mmself called

to  aceount for  the same matter,  but was  ac¬

quitted.   It is said that he got Ms cognomen of

Suva  from Ms conduct  on tMs  occasion;  for

when Sulla called Mm  to aceount, he answer¬

 ed by scornfully putting out his leg, " like boys,"

 says Plutarch,  "when they make  a  blunder m

 playmg at ball."  Other  persons,  however, had

borne the name before, one perhaps of the Len¬

 tulus family.  In 75  he was  praator; and Hor¬

 tensius, pleading  before  such a judge,  had no

difficulty in procuring the acquittal of Terentius

 Varro when  accused of  extortion.   In 71  he

 was consul.  But  m the next  year  he was eject

ed from  the senate, with sixty-three  others,  for

infamous  life  and manners.   It was tMs, prob¬

 ably, that led Mm to join Catiline  and his crew.

 From his  distinguished birth and  high rank he

 calculated on  becoming chief of the  conspiracy;

 and a prophecy of the Sibylline books was ap¬

 plied by  flattering haruspices to  him.   Three

 Cornehi  were to  rule Rome, and he was the

 third after Sulla and Cinna; the twentieth year

 after the burmng  of the  Capitol, <tc, was to be

 fatal to  the eity.  To gain  power,  and reeover
 

place in  the  senate, he  became praator again

in 63.  When Catiline quitted the city for Etru

ria, Lentulus was left as chief of the home eon

spirators,  and Ms irresolution  probably saved

the eity  from being fired, for it was by Ms

over-caution that the negotiation with  the  am¬

bassadors of the Allobroges was entered mto

these unstable allies revealed the secret to the

consul Cicero, who directed them to feign com¬

pliance with the conspirators' wishes,  and  thus

to obtain written documents whieh might b«

brought  in  evidence against  them. The  well-

known sequel will be found undtr the life of

Catiline.   Lentulus was deposed from the prae-

torship, and  was  strangled in  the  Oapitolme

prison on the 5th of  December  His step-son

Antony pretended that Cicero refused to deliver

up Ms corpse for burial.—10. P, surnamed Spin-

ther.  He received  tMs nickname from  his re¬

semblance to the actor Spmther.  Caasar com¬

monly calls him  by Ibis  name: not so Cieero;

but there could  be no harm in  it, for he used it

on his coins when propraetor in  Spain, simply to

distinguish Mmself from  the many of the same

family; and his  son  bore  it after Mm.  He was

curule aadile in 63, the year of Cicero's consul¬

ship,  and was intrusted  with  the care of the

apprehended conspirator,  P. Sura  (vid. No. 9).

His  games were long  remembered  for their

splendor; but his toga, edged with Tyrian  pur¬

ple, gave offence.  He was praator in 60, and by

Caasar's interests he  obtam'ed Hither  Spain for

his next  year's  province,  where he  remained

into part of 58.   In. 57  he was consul, wMch

dignity he also obtained by Caesar's support.  In

Ms consulsMp he moved  for the immediate re¬

call of Cicero, brought over his colleague Me¬

tellus Nepos  to  the same views, and  his serv¬

ices were gratefully acknowledged by  Cicero

Now, therefore, notwithstanding Ms obligations

to Caasar, he  had openly taken part  with the

aristocracy.   He  received Cilieia  as  hia prov¬

ince, but  he attempted in vain to obtain a de

cree of the senate charging him with  the office

of  restoring  Ptolemy  Auletes, the exiled Mng

of Egypt.  He  remained as proconsul  in Cilieia

from 56  till July, 53, and obtained a triumph,

though not till  51.  On the breaking out of tha

civil war in 49  he joined  the  Pompeian party.

He  fell  into  Caasar's hands  at Corfinium,  but

was dismissed by the latter uninjured.  He then

joined Pompey in Greece; and after the battle

 of Pharsalia, he followed Pompey to Egypt, and

got safe to Rhodes.—11. P,  surnamed Spin

ther, son of No. 10, followed Pompey's' for¬

tunes with Ms  father.  He  was  pardoned by

 Caasar, and  returned  to  Italy.  In 45  he was

divorced  from  Ms  abandoned wife,   Metella.

(Oomp. Hor, Serin, ii, 3, 239.)   After the mur¬

der of Caesar (44) he joined  the conspirators.

He served with  Cassius  against Rhodes ;  with

Brutus in Lycia.—12.   Cn, surnamed  Clodi-

aktjs, a Claudius adopted into the Lentulus fam

ily.   He was consul in 72 with  L. Gellius Publi

cola.  In the war with   Spartacus both he and

Ms colleague were defeated, but after their, con-

gnlsMp.   With the same  colleague he held the

censorsMp- in 70, and  ejected  sixty-three mem¬

bers from the senate for infamous fife, among

whom were  Lentulus Sura (vid. No. 9)  and O.

Antonius, afterward Cicero's  colleague in th«

                              429