Lucius Licinius Murena
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Lucius Licinius Murena, Roman consul, was the son of Lucius Licinius Murena.
At the end of the First Mithridatic War, he was left in Asia by Sulla in command of the two legions formerly controlled by Gaius Flavius Fimbria. Sulla had left Mithridates in control of his kingdom of Pontus, but Murena made a pre-emptive strike against what he alleged was re-armament by Mithridates, invading Pontus and thus triggering the Second Mithridatic War. When Mithridates defeated him in 81, he decided it would be wise to obey Sulla's order to leave Mithridates alone. In the following third Mithridatic War, he was for several years legate of Lucius Licinius Lucullus.
In 65 BC he was praetor and made himself popular by the magnificence of the games provided by him. As administrator of Transalpine Gaul after his praetorship he gained the goodwill of both provincials and Romans by his impartiality.
In 62 BC he was elected consul, but before entering upon office he was accused of bribery by Servius Sulpicius, an unsuccessful competitor, supported by Marcus Porcius Cato the younger and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, a famous jurist and son of the accuser. Murena was defended by Marcus Licinius Crassus (afterwards triumvir), Quintus Hortensius and Cicero (Pro Murena), and acquitted, although it seems probable that he was guilty.
During his consulship he passed a law (lex Junia Licinia) which enforced more strictly the provision of the lex Caecilia Didia--that laws should be promulgated three nundinae before they were proposed to the comitia, and further enacted that, in order to prevent forgery, a copy of every proposed statute should be deposited before witnesses in the aerarium.
| Preceded by Gaius Antonius Hybrida and Marcus Tullius Cicero |
Consul of the Roman Republic together with Decimus Junius Silanus 62 BC |
Succeeded by Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi Calpurnianus |
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
