Lucius Tillius Cimber (died 42 BC) was a Roman senator. He was one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, creating the diversion that enabled the conspirators to attack.
Assassin
editCimber was initially one of Caesar's strongest supporters. He may have been praetor in 45 BC and, prior to Caesar's death, was made governor, probably proconsular, of Bithynia and Pontus for 44 BC.[1] Cicero once used Cimber's influence on Caesar to help a friend.[2]
It is not known why he joined the assassination, but Seneca states that he was motivated by ambition. His role was to set the stage for the attack by presenting to Caesar a petition to recall Cimber's exiled brother.[3] Plutarch states that other assassins then pretended to add their own petitions to Cimber's. According to Suetonius, Caesar gestured him away, but Cimber grabbed hold of him by the shoulders and pulled down Caesar's tunic. Caesar then cried to Cimber "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!").[4] At the same time, Servilius Casca produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's neck but instead hit his shoulder. The other assassins then joined in.
After Caesar's death, Cimber left for Bithynia to raise a fleet in support of the leaders of the assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. According to the pseudo-Brutus letters (purporting to be letters between Brutus and Cicero), he defeated Publius Cornelius Dolabella and provided naval support to Brutus and Cassius's invasion of Macedonia. He is last heard of shortly before the Battle of Philippi and is assumed to have been killed during the campaign.
According to Seneca, Cimber was a bold, active man but was a heavy drinker and prone to violence.[5]
In literature
editCimber may have been the inspiration for the character Tillius in Horace's Satires, who epitomises raw ambition.[6] He appears as a minor character in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar (1599), in which his name is given as "Metellus Cimber." In the 1953 version, Cimber was played by veteran character actor Tom Powers, and in the 1970 version, he was played by British veteran character actor Michael Gough.
References
edit- ^ Broughton 1952, pp. 307, 330.
- ^ Cic. Phil., 2.11; Cic. Fam., 6.12.
- ^ Toher 2005, p. 183. The identity of the brother is not known; it may have been the Quintus Tillius mentioned at Caes. BCiv., 3.42.3, but there is no confirmation thereof.
- ^ Suet. Iul., 82.1.
- ^ Toher 2005; Sen. Ep., 83.11.
- ^ Toher 2005, p. 183.
Bibliography
edit- Broughton, Thomas Robert Shannon (1952). The magistrates of the Roman republic. Vol. 2. New York: American Philological Association.
- Toher, Mark (2005). "Tillius and Horace". Classical Quarterly. 55 (1): 183–189. doi:10.1093/cq/bmi013. ISSN 1471-6844.
Further reading
edit- Münzer, Fredrich (1936). "Tillius 5". Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (in German). Vol. VI A, 1. Stuttgart: Butcher. cols. 1038–40.