Manius Manilius

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Manius Manilius (fl. 148 BC) was a Roman Republican orator and distinguished jurist who also had a long military career. It is unclear if he was related to the Manius Manilius who was degraded by Cato the Censor for embracing his wife in broad daylight in Cato's censorship from 184 BC to 182 BC.

Manilius was proconsul of Spain in 155 BC when he led an unsuccessful campaign against the Lusitani. He became consul in 149 BC with a Marcius Censorius. He unsuccessfully besieged Carthage during the Third Punic War around 148 BC, and was relieved by the young general Scipio Aemilianus, who became the succeeding consul in 147 BC. Manilius claimed that he would have won the siege if he had more time or more support.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Manilius as a jurist

It was apparently the same ex-consul Manius Manilius (or possibly the elder man living some thirty years earlier), who was the author of a collection of formulae for contracts of sale. His works were still read in the classical period, and he was cited by such authors as Varro, Cicero, and Brutus. [1]