Anto'nius
9. M.
Antonius Creticus, M. F. C. N., son of the preceding and father of the Triumvir, was praetor in B. C. 75, and obtained in 74, through the influence of P. Cethegus and the consul Cotta, the command of the fleet and all the coasts of the Mediterranean, in order to clear the sea of pirates. But Antonius was avaricious and greedy, and misused his power to plunder the provinces, and especially Sicily.
He did not succeed either in the object for which he had been appointed.
An attack which he made upon Crete, although he was assisted by the Byzantines and the other allies, entirely failed; the greater part of his fleet was destroyed; and he probably saved himself only by an ignominious treaty.
He shortly after died in Crete, and was called Creticus in derision. Sallust (
Hist. lib. iii.) described him as "perdundae pecuniae genitus, et vacuus a curis nisi instantibus."
He was married twice; first, to Numitoria, who had no children (Cic.
Philipp. 3.6), and afterwards to Julia. (
Plut. Ant. 1.2; Cic.
Div. in Caecil. 17,
in Verr. 2.3, 3.91; Pseudo-Ascon.
in Div. p. 122,
in Verr. pp. 176, 206, ed. Orelli ;
Vell. 2.31; Appian,
App. Sic. 6; Lactant.
Inst. 1.11.32;
Tac. Ann. 12.62.)
