*** Welcome to piglix ***

Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (consul 23 BC)


Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman Senator who was appointed the replacement consul in 23 BC.

Calpurnius Piso was the son of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, one of the participants in the Catiline Conspiracy. A defender of the traditional senatorial elite and an opponent of the First Triumvirate, he first came to notice sometime during the 50 BCs when he prosecuted Gaius Manilius Crispus, a Plebeian Tribune who was in the employ of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Although Crispus was obviously guilty, the influence of Pompeius was making an acquittal look increasingly likely. Calpurnius Piso, in frustration, began to accuse Pompeius of a number of serious charges during the course of the trial. When Pompeius asked Calpurnius Piso why Piso did not prosecute him as well, Piso retorted:

”Give me a guarantee that you will not wage a civil war against the Republic if you are prosecuted, and I shall at once send the jurymen to convict you and send you into exile rather than Manilius.”

With Pompeius joining the conservative senators and the outbreak of the civil war against Julius Caesar, Calpurnius Piso was sent to Hispania Ulterior in 49 BC, where he served as a Proquaestor under Pompeius’ legates. The defeat of the Pompeian forces saw Calpurnius Piso cross over to North Africa. In 46 BC he served under Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica and was given command of the Moorish cavalry. With the republican defeat at the Battle of Thapsus he seemed to come to terms with Caesar’s victory, but with the dictator’s assassination in 44 BC, he aligned himself with the Liberatores, joining the armies of Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. With their defeat at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, Piso was eventually pardoned. However, on his return to Rome he refused to participate in the political arena under the domination of Caesar’s heir, Caesar Octavianus (the future Augustus). He therefore withdrew from active political life.


...
Wikipedia

...