Me'mmius
8. C.
Memmius Gemellus, L. F., son of No. 6, was tribune of the plebs in . 100.66, when he opposed the demand of L. Lucullus for a triumph, on his return from the Mithridatic war. (
Plut. Luc. 37.) Memmius was a man of profligate character.
He wrote indecent poems (
Plin. Ep. 5.3; Ovid.
Trist. 2.433;
Gel. 19.9), made overtures to Cn. Pompey's wife (Suet.
Ill. Gr. 14), and, when curule aedile, in B. C. 60, seduced the wife of M. Lucullus, whence Cicero, combining this intrigue with Memmius's previous hostility to I,. Lucullus, calls him a Paris, who insulted not only Menelaus (M. Lucullus), but Agamemnon also (L. Lucullus). (Cic.
ad Att.1.18.3; comp.
V. Max. 6.1.13.) Memmius was praetor in B. C. 58. (Cic.
ad Quint. Fr. 1.2, 5, 15.)
He belonged at that time to the Senatorian party, since he impeached P. Vatinius, consul in B. C. 47 (Cic.
in Vatin. 14); opposed P. Clodius (id.
ad Att. 2.12); and was vehement in his invectives against Julius Caesar (
Suet. Jul. 23,
49,
73; Schol. Bob.
in Cic. pro Sest. p. 297,
in Cic. Vatinian. p. 317, 323, Orelli); and attempted to bring in a bill to rescind the acts of his consulate.
Before, however, Memmius himself competed for the consulship, B. C. 54, he had been reconciled to Caesar, who supported him with all his interest. (
Cic. Att. 4.15,
17;
Suet. Jul. 73.) But Memmius soon again offended Caesar by revealing a certain coalition with his opponents at the comitia. (Cic.
ad Quint. Fr. 2.15,
ad 4Att. 4.16,18.) Memmius was impeached for ambitus, and, receiving no aid from Caesar, withdrew from Rome to Mytilene, where he was living in the year of Cicero's proconsulate. (Cic.
ad Quint. Fr. 3.2, 8,
ad Fam. 13.19,
ad Att. 5.11, 6.1.) Memmius married Fausta, a daughter of the dictator Sulla, whom he divorced after having by her at least one son C. Memmius [No. 9]. (Ascon.
in Cic. pro Ar. Aemil. Scaur. p. 29, Orelli; Cic.
pro Sull. 19.)
He was eminent both in literature and in eloquence, although in the latter his indolence, his fastidious taste, and exclusive preference of Greek to Roman models rendered him less effective in the forum. (
Cic. Brut. 70.) Lucretius dedicated his poem,
De Rerum Natura, to this Memmius and Cicero addressed three letters to him (
ad Fam. 13.1-3).
