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Gaius Lucretius Gallus was general of ancient Rome who served in the Third Macedonian War during the 2nd century BCE.

Military career

He was appointed duumvir navalis, with Gaius Matienus, by the Roman senate in 181 BCE, in order to equip a fleet against the Ligurians. The historian Livy calls him simply Gaius Lucretius, but most scholars assume this is the same as Gaius Lucretius Gallus.

He was praetor in 171 BCE, and received the command of the Roman fleet, consisting of 40 quinqueremes, in the war against Perseus of Macedon. He made his base at Cephalonia. Even in the eyes of ancient writers, he, along with the consul Publius Licinius Crassus, behaved appallingly during the campaign, and was noted for his cruelty. With his brother, Marcus Lucretius, he laid siege to the Boeotian city of Haliartus (which had sided with Perseus). After his force was victorious, they razed the city to the ground, plundered everything valuable in it, sold its citizens into slavery, and, even after its citizens had surrendered, conducted mass executions. Shortly afterward he took Thisbe without a fight, and later, Coroneia by force.

His cruelties extended even beyond the war. After the campaign had completed, the fleet stayed idle at the Euboean city of Chalcis, where, according to later accusations by the Chalcidians, he looted the city's temples and sold free citizens into slavery.

Public works

With the money he amassed from these activities, he continued a tradition of using plundered wealth to build public works (ex manubiis), and constructed an aqueduct at Antium, in the neighborhood of which Gallus had a private estate, and also adorned the shrine of Aesculapius with votive pictures.

Accusation

On his return to Rome in 170 BCE, the Athenians and Chalcidians brought bitter complaints against him, in consequence of which he was accused by Gnaeus Aufidius and another tribune of the plebs before the people, and condemned to pay a heavy fine of one million asses.

References

1. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Libri 40.26
2. Pryor, John; Jeffreys, Elizabeth M. (2006). The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy Ca 500-1204. Brill Publishers. p. 350. ISBN 9789047409939. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
3. Waterfield, Robin (2014). Taken at the Flood: The Roman Conquest of Greece. Oxford University Press. p. 179. ISBN 9780199656462. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
4. Southern, Patricia (2023). Rome's Empire: How the Romans Acquired and Lost Their Provinces. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 9781445694337. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
5. Worthington, Ian (2023). The Last Kings of Macedonia and the Triumph of Rome. Oxford University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780197520055. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
6. Steinby, Christa (2014). Rome Versus Carthage: The War at Sea. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781473842410. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
7. Patterson, John R. (2003). "Settlement, city and ellite in Samnium and Lycia". In Rich, John; Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew (eds.). City and Country in the Ancient World. Taylor & Francis. p. 153. ISBN 9781134891283. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
8. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Libri 42.28, 31, 35, 48, 56, 63, 43.4, 6, 7, 8
9. Plb. 27.6

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Lucretius (4)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 418.

• 2nd-century BC Roman praetors
• Lucretii
• Third Macedonian War