Lucius Domitius

Also known as: Domitius / Domitius Aenobarbus · Family: Roman · Role: consul · First appears: The Gallic War, Book V, 1–6

In the Gallic War, Caesar records Lucius Domitius as consul alongside Appius Claudius. In the Civil War, Domitius opposed Caesar at Corfinium: after his men were beaten back at the bridge, he asked Pompey for aid and promised his soldiers land from his estate. Pompey refused to risk everything to rescue him, and Domitius’s soldiers, discovering his plan to escape, brought him before Caesar and offered to surrender him. When day appeared, Caesar released the captives safely, returned Domitius’s money, and had his soldiers swear allegiance to himself.

While events were unfolding at Ilerda, Domitius advised the Massilians to prepare a fleet and furnished ships for his own use. Their fleet was defeated by Decimus Brutus, whose ships later pursued Domitius when he escaped Massilia by sea. Lucius Nasidius came to aid him and the Massilians, and Caius Gallonius was his friend; Sextus Quintilius Varus’s soldiers recalled swearing an oath to Domitius and their quaestor. In the later quarrels over Caesar’s priesthood, Domitius openly abused Scipio and Lentulus Spinther.