Lucius Manlius Torquatus (cos. 65) edit

Career

1. 68 BCE
   Praetor edit

   See 67, Promagistrates; The latest date possible under the Cornelian law. The precise order of the governors of Asia between the decision to end the command of Lucullus in 69 and the arrival of P. Orbius in 64 remains uncertain. Dolabella was the Praetor in charge of the trial of Caecina in 69 or 68 (see 69, Praetors), and was therefore Proconsul of Asia in 68 or 67. L. Manlius Torquatus, whose title, though not his province, is attested by an inscription of Miletus (a), held the consulship in 65, and his praetorship may tentatively be dated in 68, and his proconsulship (almost certainly in Asia) in 67, since he was not likely to be delayed in his career. Dolabella may then be placed in Asia in 68. For the remaining two years we have T. Aufidius and P. Varinius. Their dates are not independently attested but they did follow immediately in this order (b). If Aufidius is the possible candidate named by Cicero (Att. 1.1.1) for the consulship of 63, his praetorship should be dated in 66 and his command in Asia in 65. Lange (3.185, and 206) held that Varinius proceeded to Asia in 72 after his praetorship and defeat at the hands of Spartacus and that Lucullus became governor of Asia only in 71. It seems more probable that Lucullus held Asia from the beginning of 73 at the latest (see 74, Promagistrates, on Lucullus; and Addendum). Reasons for the interval in the case of Varinius are not given, but the career of C. Antonius after his expulsion from the Senate in 70 affords a possible parallel, and suggests that Varinius repeated his career to the praetorship in 66 . There is no evidence that Q. Voconius Naso (Iudex Quaestionis in 66, and Praetor sometime before 60) was ever a governor of Asia at all. See Broughton, TAPhA 79 (1948) 67-72, with criticism of the lists of Chapot and Waddington; Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor 2.1127f., note 47.

2. 65 BCE
   Consul edit

   These Consuls were elected after securing the conviction of the Consuls Designate for bribery (see below, Consules Designati), and were the intended victims of the so-called first Catilinarian conspiracy (a).

Family