Perperna
2. M.
Perperna, consul in B. C. 130, is said to have been a consul before he was a citizen; for Valerius Maximus relates (3.3.5), that the father of this Perperna was condemned under the Papia lex after the death of his son, because he had falsely usurped the rights of a Roman citizen.
1
M. Perperna was praetor in B. C. 135, in which year he had the conduct of the war against the slaves in Sicily, and in consequence of the advantages which he obtained over them received the honour of an ovation on his return to Rome. (
Flor. 3.19; Fasti Capit.)
He was consul in B. C. 130 with C. Claudius Pulcher Lentulus, and was sent into Asia against Aristonicus, who had defeated one of the consuls of the previous year, P. Licinius Crassus. Perperna, however, soon brought the war to a close.
He defeated Aristonicus in the first engagement, and followed up his victory by laying siege to Stratoniceia, whither Aristonicus had fled.
The town was compelled by famine to surrender, and the king accordingly fell into the consul's hands. Perperna did not however live to enjoy the triumph, which he would undoubtedly have obtained, but died in the neighbourhoood of Pergamum on his return to Rome in B. C. 129. (
Liv. Epit. 59;
Just. 36.4; Veil. Pat. 2.4; Flor 2.20;
Oros. 5.10.) [ARISTONICUS, No. 2.] It was the above-mentioned Perperna who granted the right of asylum to the temple of Diana in the town of Hierocaesareia in Lydia. (
Tac. Ann. 3.62.)
