Marcus Antonius Orator
Marcus Antonius Orator (died
87 BC) was a Roman politician of the
Antonius family and one of the most distinguished Roman orators of his time. He started his
cursus honorum as
quaestor in
113 BC, and in
102 BC he was elected
praetor with
proconsular powers for the
province of
Cilicia. During his term, Antonius fought the pirates with such a success that the
Senate voted a
naval triumph in his honor. He was then elected
consul in
99 BC, together with
Aulus Postumius Albinus, and in
97 BC, he was elected
censor. He held a command in the
Social War in
90 BC. During the
civil war between
Gaius Marius and
Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Antonius supported the latter. This cost him his life; Marius and
Lucius Cornelius Cinna executed him when they obtained possession of Rome in 87 BC.
Throughout his political career he continued to appear as a mediative defender or an accuser in Roman courts of law. Antonius' modern reputation for eloquence derives from the authority of
Marcus Tullius Cicero, since none of his speeches survive. He is one of the chief speakers in Cicero's
De Oratore. He had two sons,
Marcus Antonius Creticus and
Gaius Antonius Hybrida, who would not live up to his reputation of excellence. The former was the father of the famous general and triumvir,
Mark Antony.
*
Velleius Paterculus ii. 22
* Appian,
Bell. Civ. i. 72
* Dio Cassius xlv. 47
* Plutarch,
Marius, 44
* Cicero,
Orator, 5,
Brutus, 37
* Quintilian,
Instit. iii. 1, 19
* O. Enderlein,
De M. Antonio oratore (Leipzig, 1882)
