Labienus

And Labienus is a most unpleasant character, for second; he’s a disaffected [...] [Read more →]

2005 November 2005

Labienus is going around openly saying that the cross is for Rabirius, and that the old man will be hanging from it by the end of the month.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Labienus also got hold of a bust of Saturninus and set it up on the rostra, garlanded with laurel.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Despite the pleas of Labienus and his fellow tribunes, voting had to be abandoned.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

As the presiding magistrate, Labienus both controlled proceedings and acted as prosecutor, and this gave him a tremendous advantage.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Labienus called on him to address the assembly, but such was the volume of noise he did not rise at first.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Labienus, you summon this assembly as a great populist.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Labienus was already in place on the platform when we reached the Field of Mars, alongside his precious stage prop, the bust of Saturninus.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Labienus waved his hand at Cicero, as if he were a horsefly to be swiped away, but there was petulance in the gesture: like all bullies, he was better at handing out injuries than absorbing them.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

Cicero finished, as he always did, by standing with his hand on the shoulder of his client and appealing for the mercy of the court—“he does not ask you to grant him a happy life but only an honorable death”—and then it was all over and Labienus gave orders for the voting to begin.

CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010