Va'tia
2. P.
Servilius Vatia Isauricus, the son of the preceding, made Cato his model in younger life, and was reckoned by Cicero among the
boni or the supporters of the aristocratical party. (
Cic. Att. 2.1.10,
ad Q. Fr. 2.3.2.) In B. C. 54 he was praetor, when he opposed C. Pomptinus in his endeavour to obtain a triumph. [POMPTINUS.] On the breaking out of the civil war he deserted the aristocratical party, and in the following year (B. C. 48) was chosen consul along with Julius Caesar.
He was left behind at Rome, while Caesar crossed over to Greece to prosecute the war against Pompey, and in the course of this year he put down with a strong arm the revolutionary attempts of the praetor M. Caelius Rufus, a history of which is given elsewhere [Vol. III. p. 672b.]. In B. C. 46 he governed the province of Asia as proconsul, during which time Cicero wrote to him several letters (
ad Fam. 13.66-72).
After the death of Caesar in B. C. 44, he supported Cicero and the rest of the aristocratical party, in opposition to Antonius, and took a leading part in the debates in the senate during the war at Mutina. (
D. C. 41.43,
42.17,
23; Appian,
App. BC 2.48;
Caes. Civ. 3.21;
Cic. Fam. 12.2,
Phil. 7.8, 9.6, 11.8, 12.2, 7, 14.3, 4.)
But he soon changed sides again, though the particulars are not recorded : it was probably when Octavian, who was betrothed to his daughter Servilia (Suet.
Octav. 62), deserted the cause of the senate, which he had never seriously espoused. Servilius became reconciled to Antonius, probably through the influence of Octavian : accordingly his name did not appear in the proscription lists, and he is called in the letters to Brutus which go under the name of Cicero, " homo furiosus et insolens." On the formation of the triumvirate in B. C. 43, Octavian broke his engagement with Servilia in order to marry Claudia, the daughter of Fulvia, the wife of Antonius; and it was probably as a compensation for this injury that Servilius was promised the consulship in B. C. 41 with L. Antonius as his colleague.
He was at Rome in B. C. 41, when L. Antonius took possession of the city in the war against Octavian, usually called the Perusinian. Servilius does not appear to have espoused the cause of his colleague, but owing to his want of energy lie offered no opposition to him. (Pseudo-
Cic. ad Brut. 2.2;
D. C. 48.4,
13;
Suet. Tib. 5.)
