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Talk:Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura

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Mark Antony’s Stepfather

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I think it's worth mentioning that he was Mark Antony's stepfather at the time of his execution. Sally quasa 19:28, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Was he praetor when he was killed in 63 BC?

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The traditional story is based on the Third Catilinarian, where Cicero says that Lentulus' praetorship and citizenship were stripped (3.14 and 3.15). Berry Catilinarians (2020) pp 72–73, citing Barlow 1994, however contests this:

This cannot be correct, because, as Jonathan Barlow points out, in the senatorial debate of 5 December the conspirators' status as citizens was still an open question. Moreover, Cicero's claim that Lentulus was no longer a magistrate is contradicted by Cicero's own behaviour on the fifth [December]. Sallust relates that Cicero personally escorted Lentulus to his execution... this was a clear sign that he was still a praetor (as Sallust explains at 46.5) and that Cicero considered him to be one. As Barlow argues, what is likely to have happened is that Cicero was afterwards accused of sacrilege for executing a serving magistrates, and so added this passage in retrospective self-justification.

The open question of whether the Third Catilinarian can be wholly trusted should not be assumed away. Anyway, this is why I removed the (unsourced) portions of this article which asserted that he was stripped of his praetorship before execution. Ifly6 (talk) 05:53, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]