Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (fl. 1st century BC – 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator who was elected Roman consul in 18 BC.

Biography

Much about the ancestry and career of Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus is uncertain and is based on a great deal of supposition. It is postulated that he may have been the son of Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, who was elected Quaestor in 75 BC. It is believed that he may have been a Triumvir monetalis in 50 BC. This was followed by his election as quaestor in 48 BC; during this time he commanded a portion of Julius Caesar’s defences at Dyrrachium which was attacked by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and in the process Marcellinus sustained heavy losses.^[1][2]

It is postulated that Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was elected Praetor in 29 BC, although there is some doubt about this as the gap between this praetorship and his consulship was unusually long.^[3] He was elected consul in 18 BC, alongside Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus. During his consulship, the Senate and the Roman assembly again conferred upon the Roman emperor Augustus his extraordinary promagisterial authority and his Tribunician power.

It is possible that Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was later appointed Legatus Augusti pro praetore in Pannonia in the first years of the 1st century AD.^[4]

Sources

• Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II (1952)
• Syme, Ronald, "The Augustan Aristocracy" (1986). Clarendon Press. Retrieved 2012-12-05  – via Questia (subscription required)

References

1. Broughton, pg. 273
2. Note that Ronald Syme argues that Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was more likely the son of the quaestor of 48 BC, and the grandson of the consul of 56 BC, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus.
3. Syme, pg. 250
4. Parkin, Tim G., Old Age in the Roman World: A Cultural and Social History (2003), pg. 363