Opimius
1.
Quintus, consul B.C. 154, when he subdued some of
the Ligurian tribes north of the Alps, who had attacked Massilia. He was
notorious in his youth for his riotous living.
2.
Lucius, son of the preceding, was praetor in B.C. 125, in which
year he took Fregellae, which had revolted against the Romans. He belonged to the high
aristocratic party, and was a violent opponent of C. Gracchus. He was consul in 121, and took
the leading part in the proceedings which ended in the murder of Gracchus. Opimius and his
party abused their victory most savagely, and are said to have killed more than 300 persons.
(For details, see
Gracchus.) In the following year
(120 B.C.) he was accused of having put Roman citizens to death without trial; but he was
defended by the consul C. Papirius Carbo, and was acquitted. In 112 he was at the head of the
commission which was sent into Africa in order to divide the dominions of Micipsa between
Iugurtha and Adherbal, and was bribed by Iugurtha, to assign to him the better part of the
country (Sall.
Iug. 16, 40). Three years after he was condemned under the law
of the tribune C. Mamilius Limetanus, by which an inquiry was made into the conduct of all
those who had received bribes from Iugurtha. Opimius went into exile to Dyrrhachium in
Epirus, where he lived for some years, hated and insulted by the people, and where he
eventually died in great poverty. He richly deserved his punishment, and met with a due
recompense for his cruel and ferocious conduct towards C. Gracchus and his party. Cicero, on
the contrary, who, after his consulship, had identified himself with the aristocratic party,
frequently laments the fate of Opimius. The year in which Opimius was consul (121 B.C.) was
remarkable for the extraordinary heat of the autumn, and thus the vintage of this year was of
an unprecedented quality. This wine long remained celebrated as the
vinum
Opimianum (
Cic. Brut. 83, 287).
