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Portrait of Aulus Hirtius

Aulus Hirtius

Consul in 43 BCE.

🏛️ Career

  1. 48 BCE
    (aged 42)
    Tribune of the Plebs

    Broughton: Hirtius was the author of a bill affecting supporters of Pompey (a), such as the one noted by Dio (42.20.1) under this year. See CIL 12.2.604. Mommsen (CIL 12.2.604) and Lange (RA 2.687; 4.455) assign this bill to the praetorship of Hirtius in 46, perhaps correctly, since no other text implies that Hirtius held the tribunate, but Niccolini (FTP 335ff.) uses the passage of Dio to date it in 48, and points out that the presence of Hirtius in Spain in 49 (Cic. Att. 10.4.6 and 11), and at Antiocheia in 47 (11.14.3, and 20. 1) does not preclude him from being a Tribune of the Plebs in Rome in 48.

    Sources (4)
    • Broughton, MRR2
      • (a) Cic. Phil. 13.32
      • Dio 42.20.1
      • CIL 12.2.604
      • Cic. Att. 10.4.6 and 11
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Carrinas (2 years; raw 7.00, base 1.167, final 1.167): 46 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vibius Pansa Caetronianus (cos. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    Q. Pedius (cos. suff. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Julius Caesar Octavius (1 year; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Sallustius Crispus (2 years; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 48 BCE (Quaestor) , 46 BCE (Praetor)

  2. 46 BCE
    (aged 44)
    Praetor

    Broughton: Grueber, (a), where PR is wrongly interpreted as Praefectus; (b).

    Sources (2)
    • Broughton, MRR2
      • (a) Grueber, CRRBM 1.525f.
      • (b) cf. Cic. Att. 12.2.2; and 48, Tribunes of the Plebs. See 45, Promagistrates
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Carrinas (2 years; raw 7.00, base 1.167, final 1.167): 46 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vibius Pansa Caetronianus (cos. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    Q. Pedius (cos. suff. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Julius Caesar Octavius (1 year; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Sallustius Crispus (2 years; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 48 BCE (Quaestor) , 46 BCE (Praetor)

  3. 43 BCE
    (aged 47)
    Consul · Co-consuls: C. Carrinas, C. Vibius Pansa Caetronianus (cos. 43), P. Ventidius Bassus, Q. Pedius (cos. suff. 43), C. Julius Caesar Octavius

    Broughton: After much debate in January the Senate charged both Consuls with the task of raising levies and of preparing for military operations against Antony in order to relieve Decimus Brutus at Mutina (a). In that month Hirtius began a slow advance toward Cisalpine Gaul, uniting with and in general taking superior command over the forces of Octavian, yet still attempting to leave some opening for a settlement with Antony (b).

    Meantime Pansa was active in raising levies, and continued in charge of business in Rome. Upon the abrogation of much of the Antonian legislation (c), Pansa carried fresh measures to confirm the veteran colonies (d), and probably also measures to confirm Caesar's acts and to abolish the office of Dictator (e). He presided over the various debates regarding Antony's status, the legitimizing of the command of Brutus in Macedonia, the recognition of Sextus Pompey, and the command against Dolabella in Asia and Syria (in the latter case his own expectation of a province brought him into conflict with Cicero's proposal of a maius imperium for Cassius) (f).

    Pansa left Rome about March 19, intending to join Hirtius in Cisalpine Gaul, but Antony's attempt to surprise him led first to a defeat for Pansa's army of recruits, and then to a serious reverse at Forum Gallorum for Antony himself at the hands of Hirtius and Octavian (g). All three commanders were acclaimed Imperatores, and in Rome the Senate voted a supplicatio, and a memorial to the fallen (h). In a second battle at Mutina on April 21 Hirtius and Octavian again defeated Antony, who raised the siege of Mutina and retreated hastily to the west, but Hirtius fell in the battle, and Pansa died shortly afterwards (April 23) of wounds received at Forum Gallorum (i). The two Consuls received public burial in Rome in the Campus Martius (j).

    Sources (11)
    • Broughton, MRR2
      • CIL 5.5832-ILS 2338; CIL 8.22640, 1; 10.8093-ILS 5539; Fast. Cap., Degrassi 58f., 134, 502f.; Fast. Amit., ibid. 170f.; Fast. Amer., ibid. 242; Fast. Colot., ibid. 274f.; Kal. Praenest., Jan. 7, CIL 12.1, p. 231; Varro De Gent. Pop. Rom. fr. 9 Peter; Res Gest. D. Aug. 1; Nic. Dam. Vit. Caes. 22, FGrH 2A.406; Suet. Tib. 5; Tac. Dial. 17; Plut. Aem. 38.1; App. BC 3.50; Dio 45.17.1; 46, Index, with # as Pansa's cognomen; 47, Index; Obseq. 69; Eutrop. 7.1; Chr. 354. Fast. Hyd.; Chr. Pasc.; Oros. 6.18.3; Cassiod.; Solin. 1.32, p. 9 M; on Pansa, CIL 6.37077, C. Vibio C. f. Pasae Caetronian. Cos.; and on Hirtius, Bull. Com. 66 (1938) 269, cf. Van Buren, AJA 44 (1940) 377; Ann. Epig. 1940, no. 41; 1941, no. 102; 1945, no. 140.
      • (a) Cic. Phil. 5.1 and 31-34; 6.1; 7.2 and 13 and 23-24; 8.4; 10.21; 11.24; 13.5 and 23; 14.5; Fam. 11.8.2; 12.5.2; Ad Brut. 2.4.4; App. BC 3.50, and 65; Dio 45.17.1; 46.29
      • (b) Cic. Phil. 5.32 and 53; 7.11-12; 8.5-6; 10.16 and 21; 13.22ff., esp. 46-48; 14.4; Cic. Ad Caes. Iun. fr. 13 Tyrrell and Purser; Ad Brut. 2.1.1; Fam. 12.4.1, and 5.2; Ad Brut. 1.10.2; Plut. Cic. 45.3; Ant. 17.1; App. BC 3.65, cf. 76; Dio 46.33-36, esp. 35.5-6; see Promagistrates, on Caesar, and on Decimus Brutus
      • (c) Cic. Phil. 5. 10; 10. 17, and on the Lex Antonia Agraria, see Phil. 6.14; 11.13
      • (d) Cic. Phil. 13.31
      • (e) Phil. 5.10; 10.17
      • (f) Cic. Phil. 5.53; 7.1 and 5-9; 12.2 and 15 and 18; Fam. 12.7. 1, and 25.1; Ad Brut. 1.10; 2.4, and 5.2; Dio 46.36.2; see Promagistrates, on M. Brutus, Cassius, Sex. Pompey, Dolabella, and M. Antonius
      • (g) Cic. Fam. 10.30, and 33.3-4; Ad Brut. 1.3a; Phil. 14.26-27 and 36-37; Liv. Per. 119; Frontin. Str. 2.5.39; Suet. Aug. 10.3; Plut. Cic. 45.3; Ant. 17.1; App. BC 3.66-70; Dio 46.37.4-7; Oros. 6.18.3-4; Zonar. 10. 14; cf. Flor. 2.15; and on the date of the battle, Fer. Cum., ILS 108; Ovid Fast. 4.625-628
      • (h) Cic. Phil. 14.6 and 11-12 and 22-29 and 36-38; Ovid Fast. 4.675-676; Dio 46.38.1-2; cf. Fer. Cum., ILS 108, on Caesar
      • (i) Cic. Fam. 10.17.2, and 33.4; 11.9.1, and 10.2, and 13.1; 12.25a; Ad Brut. 1.2.2, and 3a, and 4. 1; Ad Caes. Iun. fr. 22 Tyrrell and Purser; Liv. Per. 119; Res Gest. D. Aug. 1; Ovid Trist. 4.10.6; Tibull. 3.5.18; Vell. 2.61.4; Suet. Aug. 11, and cf. on the suspicions against Octavian, Brutus in Cic. Ad Brut. 1.6.2, and Tac. Ann. 1.10, and Dio 46.39.1; Tac. Dial. 17; 7; Plut. Cic. 45.3; Ant. 17.1; App. BC 3.71-76; Dio 46.33.5, and 38.5-7, and 39.1; Eutrop. 7.1; Oros. 6.18.5; Zonar. 10.14-15
      • (j) Cic. Ad Brut. 1.15.8; Liv. Per. 119; Val. Max. 5.2.10; Vell. 2.62.4; cf. CIL 6.37077; Bull. Com. 66 [1938] 269
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Carrinas (2 years; raw 7.00, base 1.167, final 1.167): 46 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vibius Pansa Caetronianus (cos. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    Q. Pedius (cos. suff. 43) (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 48 BCE (Praetor) , 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Julius Caesar Octavius (1 year; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 43 BCE (Consul)

    C. Sallustius Crispus (2 years; raw 4.00, base 0.667, final 0.667): 48 BCE (Quaestor) , 46 BCE (Praetor)

🏺 Family

No family relations recorded.