Marcellus
The name of an illustrious plebeian family of the Claudia gens.
1.
M. Claudius Marcellus, celebrated as having been five times
consul and commander of Syracuse. In his first consulship, B.C. 222, Marcellus distinguished
himself by slaying in battle with his own hand Britomartius or Virdomarus, the king of the
Insubrian Gauls, whose spoils he afterwards dedicated as
spolia opima in
the temple of Iupiter Feretrius. This was the third and last instance in Roman history in
which such an offering was made. Marcellus was one of the chief Roman generals in the Second
Punic War. He took Syracuse in B.C. 212, after a siege of more than two years, in which all
his powerful military engines were rendered wholly unavailing by the superior skill and
science of Archimedes, who directed those of the besieged. On the capture of the city
Archimedes was one of the inhabitants slain by the Roman soldiers. Marcellus fell in battle
against Hannibal in 208, and was buried by the enemy with military honours.
2.
M. Claudius Marcellus, consul B.C. 51 and a bitter enemy of
Caesar. In B.C. 46 he was pardoned by Caesar on the intercession of the Senate; whereupon
Cicero returned thanks to Caesar in the oration
Pro Marcello, which has come
down to us. Marcellus, who was then living at Mitylené, set out on his return; but
he was murdered at the Piraeus by one of his own attendants, P. Magius Chilo.
3.
C. Claudius Marcellus, brother of the preceding and also an enemy
of Caesar. He was consul in 49, when the Civil War broke out.
4.
C. Claudius Marcellus, first cousin of the two preceding and,
like them, an enemy of Caesar. He was consul in 50, but he did not join Pompey in Greece, and
was therefore readily pardoned by Caesar.
5.
M. Claudius Marcellus, son of the preceding and of Octavia, the
daughter of C. Octavius and sister of Augustus. He was born B.C. 43. Augustus, who had
probably destined him for his successor, adopted him as his son, and gave him his daughter
Iulia in marriage (B.C. 25). In 23 he was curule ædile, but died in the same year,
to the great grief of Augustus as well as of his mother Octavia. The memory of Marcellus is
immortalized by the well-known passage of Vergil (
Aen. vi. 860-886), which was recited by the poet to Augustus and
Octavia. In his honour, Augustus built the great theatre near the Forum Olitorium, remains of
which still exist. See
Vergilius.
