Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Carbo
CARBO, the name of a plebeian family of the Papiria gens.
Stemma Carbonum.
| 1. C. Papirius Carbo, Pr. b. c. 168. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2. C. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 120. | 3. Cn. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 113. | 4. M. Papirius Carbo. | 5. P. Papirius Carbo. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6. C. Papirius Carbo Arvina, Trib. Pleb. b. c. 90. | 7. Cn. Papirius Carbo, Cos. b. c. 85, 84, 82. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. C. Papirius Carbo, praetor in b. c. 168, when he obtained the province of Sardinia; but he appears not to have gone into his province, as the senate requested him to remain at Rome and there to exercise jurisdiction in cases between citizens and peregrini. (Liv. xliv. 17, xlv. 12.)
2. C. Papirius Carbo, born about b. c. 164, a son of No. 1, and a contemporary and friend of the Gracchi; but though he apparently followed in the footsteps of Tib. Gracchus, yet his motives widely differed from those of his noble friend, and towards the end of his life he shewed how little he had acted upon conviction or principle, by deserting his former friends and joining the ranks of their enemies. After the death of Tiberius Gracchus he was appointed his successor as triumvir agrorum dividendorum, and shortly after, in b. c. 131, he was elected tribune of the people. During the year of his tribuneship he brought forward two new laws: 1. That a person should be allowed to be re-elected to the tribuneship as often as might be thought advisable: this law, which was strenuously opposed by P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus the younger, was supported by C. Gracchus; and 2. A lex tabellaria, which ordained that the people should in future vote by ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws. In his tribuneship he continued to hold the office of triumvir agrorum dividendorum. The difficulties connected with carrying out the division of land according to the Sempronian agrarian law created many disturbances at Rome, and Scipio Africanus, the champion of the aristocratical party, was found one morning dead in his bed. Among the various suspicions then afloat as to the cause of his death, one was that Carbo had murdered him, or at least had had a hand in the deed; and this report may not have been wholly without foundation, if we consider the character of Carbo. After his tribuneship, Carbo continued to act as the friend and supporter of the Gracchi. Upon the death of C. Gracchus, L. Opimius, his murderer, who was consul in b. c. 121, put to death a great number of the friends of the Gracchi: but at the expiration of his consulship he was accused of high treason by the tribune Q. Decius, and Carbo, who was now raised to the consulship himself (b. c. 120), suddenly turned round, and not only undertook the defence of Opimius, but did not scruple to say, that the murder of C. Gracchus had been an act of perfect justice. This inconsistency drew upon him the contempt of both parties, so that, as Cicero says, even his return to the aristocratical party could not secure him their protection. The aristocracy could not forget that he was suspected of having murdered Scipio, and seem to have been waiting for an opportunity to crush him. In b. c. 119 the young orator L. Licinius Crassus brought a charge against him, the exact nature of which is not known, but as Carbo foresaw his condemnation, he put an end to his life by taking cantharides. Valerius Maximus (iii. 7. § 6) states, that he was sent into exile. Carbo was a man of great talents, and his oratorical powers are mentioned by Cicero with great praise, although he otherwise abominates the man. There can be no doubt that Carbo was a person of no principle, and that he attached himself to the party from which he hoped to derive most advantages. (Liv. Epit. 59, 61; Appian, B. C. i. 18, 20; Vell. Pat. ii. 4; Cic. De Amicit. 25, De Leg. iii. 16, Ad Fam. ix. 21, De Orat. ii. 2, 25, 39, 40, i. 10, iii. 7, 20, Brut. 27, 43, 62, Tuscul. i. 3; Tacit. Orat. 34.)
3. C.n. Papirius Carbo, a son of No. 1, was consul in b. c. 113, together with C. Caecilius Metellus. He was according to Cicero (ad Fam. ix. 21) the father of Cn. Papirius Carbo, who was thrice consul [No. 7], whereas this latter is called by Velleius Paterculus (ii. 26) a brother of No. 6. This difficulty may be solved by supposing that our Cn. Papirius Carbo and C. Papirius Carbo [No. 2] were brothers, so that the word frater in Velleius is equivalent to frater patruelis or cousin. (Perizon. Animadv. Hist. p. 96.) In his consulship the Cimbrians advanced from Gaul into Italy and Illyricum, and Carbo, who was sent against them, was put to flight with his whole army. He was afterwards accused by M. Antonius, we know not for what reason, and put an end to his own life by taking a solution of vitriol (atramentum sutorium, Cic. ad Fam. ix. 21; Liv. Epit. 63).
4. M. Papirius Carbo, a son of No. 1, is mentioned only by Cicero (ad Fam. ix. 21) as having fled from Sicily.
5. P. Papirius Carbo, a son of No. 1, is likewise mentioned only by Cicero (ad Fam. ix. 21) as having been accused by Flaccus and condemned.
6. C. Papirius Carbo, with the surname Arvina, was a son of No. 2 (Cic. Brut. 62), and throughout his life a supporter of the aristocracy, whence Cicero calls him the only good citizen in the whole family. He was tribune of the people in b. c. 90, as we may infer from Cicero (Brut. 89), though some writers place his tribuneship a year earlier, and others a year later. In his tribuneship Carbo and his colleague, M. Plautius Silvanus, carried a law (lex Plautia et Papiria), according to which a citizen of a federate state, who had his domicile in Italy at the time the law was passed, and had sent in his name to the praetor within sixty days after, should have the Roman franchise. Carbo distinguished himself greatly as an orator, and though according to Cicero he was wanting in acuteness, his speeches were always weighty and carried with them a high degree of authority. We still possess a fragment of one of his orations which he delivered in his tribuneship, and which Orelli (Onom. Tull. ii. p. 440) erroneously attributes to his father. [No. 2.] In this fragment (Cic. Orat. 63) he approves of the death of M. Livius Drusus, who had been murdered the year before, b. c. 91. Cicero expressly states, that he was present when the oration was delivered, which shews incontrovertibly, that it cannot belong to C. Papirius Carbo, the father, who died long before Cicero was born. He was murdered in b. c. 82, in the curia Hostilia, by the praetor Brutus Damasippus [Brutus, No. 19], one of the leaders of the Marian party. (Cic. pro Arch. 4, Brut. 62, 90, Ad Fam. ix. 21, De Orat. iii. 3; Schol. Bobiens. p. 353, ed. Orelli; Vell. Pat. ii. 26; Appian, B. C. i. 88.)
7. Cn. Papirius Cn. f. C. n. Carbo, a son of No. 3 and cousin of No. 6, occurs in history for the first time in b. c. 92, when the consul Appius Claudius Pulcher made a report to the senate about his seditious proceedings. (Cic. De Legg. iii. 19.) He was one of the leaders of the Marian party, and in b. c. 87, when C. Marius returned from Africa, he commanded one of the four armies with which Rome was blockaded. In b. c. 86, when L. Valerius Flaccus, the successor of Marius in his seventh consulship, was killed in Asia, Carbo was chosen by Cinna for his colleague for b. c. 85. These two consuls, who felt alarmed at the reports of Sulla's return, sent persons into all parts of Italy to raise money, soldiers, and provisions, for the anticipated war, and they endeavoured to strengthen their party, especially by the new citizens, whose rights, they said, were in danger, and on whose behalf they pretended to exert themselves. The fleet also was restored to guard the coasts of Italy, and in short nothing was neglected to make a vigorous stand against Sulla. When the latter wrote to the senate from Greece, the senate endeavoured to stop the proceedings of the consuls until an answer from Sulla had arrived. The consuls declared themselves ready to obey the commands of the senate, but no sooner had the ambassadors to Sulla quitted Rome, than Cinna and Carbo declared themselves consuls for the year following, that they might not be obliged to go to Rome to hold the comitia for the elections. Legions upon legions were raised and transported across the Adriatic to oppose Sulla; but great numbers of the soldiers began to be discontented and refused fighting against their fellow-citizens. A mutiny broke out, and Cinna was murdered by his own soldiers. Carbo now returned to Italy with the troops which had already been carried across the Adriatic, but he did not venture to go to Rome, although the tribunes urged him to come in order that a successor to Cinna might be elected. At length, however, Carbo returned to Rome, but the attempts at holding the comitia were frustrated by prodigies, and Carbo remained sole consul for the rest of the year.
In b. c. 83, Sulla arrived in Italy. Carbo, who was now proconsul of Gaul, hastened to Rome, and there caused a decree to be made, which declared Metellus and all the senators who supported Sulla, to be enemies of the republic. About the same time the capitol was burnt down, and there was some suspicion of Carbo having set it on fire. While Sulla and his partizans were carrying on the war in various parts of Italy, Carbo was elected consul a third time for the year b. c. 82, together with C. Marius, the younger. Carbo's army was in Cisalpine Gaul, and in the spring of 82 his legate, C. Carrinas, fought a severely contested battle with Metellus, and was put to flight. Carbo himself, however, pursued Metellus, and kept him in a position in which he was unable to do any thing; hearing of the misfortunes of his colleague Marius at Praeneste, he led his troops back to Ariminum, whither he was followed by Pompey. In the mean time Metellus gained another victory over an army of Carbo. Sulla, after entering Rome and making some of the most necessary arrangements, marched out himself against Carbo. In an engagement on the river Glanis, several of the Spaniards, who had joined his army a little while before, deserted to Sulla, and Carbo, either to avenge himself on those who remained with him, or to set a fearful example, ordered all of them to be put to death. At length a great battle was fought at Clusium between Carbo and Sulla: it lasted for a whole day, but the victory was not decided. Pompey and Crassus were engaged against Carrinas in the neighbourhood of Spoletium, and when Carbo sent out an army to his relief, Sulla, who was informed of the route which this army took, attacked it from an ambuscade and killed nearly 2000 men. Carrinas himself however escaped. Marcius, who was sent by Carbo to the relief of Praeneste, was likewise attacked from an ambuscade by Pompey, and lost many of his men. His soldiers, who considered him to be the cause of their defeat, deserted him, with the exception of a few cohorts, with which he returned to Carbo. Shortly after Carbo and Norbanus made an attack upon the camp of Metellus near Faventia, but time and place were unfavourable to them, and they were defeated: about 10,000 of their men were slain, and 6000 deserted to Metellus, so that Carbo was obliged to withdraw to Arretium with about 1000 men.
The desertion and treachery in the party, which had hitherto supported the cause of Marius, increased every day: Norbanus despairing of success fled to Rhodes, where he put an end to his life soon afterwards; and when Carbo found that the relief of Praeneste, whither he had sent two legions under Damasippus, was hopeless, he too resolved to quit Italy, although he had still large forces at his command, and his generals, Carrinas, Marcius, and Damasippus, were continuing the war in Italy. Carbo fled to Africa. After his party in Italy had been completely defeated, Pompey was sent against the remains of it in Sicily, whither Carbo then repaired. From thence he went to the island of Cossyra, where he was taken prisoner by the emissaries of Pompey. His companions were put to death at once, but Carbo himself was brought in chains before Pompey at Lilybaeum, and after a bitter invective against him, Pompey had him executed and sent his head to Sulla, b. c. 82. (Appian, B. C. i. 69—96; Liv. Epit. 79, 83, 88, 89; Plut. Sull. 22, &c., Pomp. 10, &c.; Cic. c. Verr. i. 4, 13; Pseudo-Ascon. in Verr. p. 129, ed. Orelli; Cic. ad Fam. ix. 21; Eutrop. v. 8, 9; Oros. v. 20; Zonar. x. 1.)
8. Papirius Carbo, a son of Rubria, who is mentioned only by Cicero (ad Fam. ix. 21), and is ironically called there a friend of Cicero. Who he was is unknown.