Publius Antistius

Publius Antistius ( – 82 BC) was a Roman orator and senator. As tribune of the plebs in 88 BC, he rose from poorly regarded obscurity to prominence by delivering an exceptionally good speech in opposition to the irregular candidacy of a prominent senator to the consulship. In 86 BC, Antistius presided over a sham court which acquitted Pompey of a charge of embezzlement, and afterwards married his daughter to him. He adopted a careful political stance during the civil wars of the 80s BC, but was murdered by partisans of Marius at a senate meeting for suspected sympathy to the opposing faction of Sulla. Biography Publius Antistius belonged to a generation of Roman orators whose members were all born around 124 BC and flourished during Cicero's youth. A seemingly modest speaker, he started out his public career inauspiciously, spending many years in poorly-regarded obscurity. In 88 BC, Antistius was tribune of the plebs, in which capacity he successfully opposed the irregular candidacy of a senator, Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, to the office of consul. He is said to have argued his case exceptionally well, speaking "at greater length and with greater penetration" than a renowned orator, Publius Sulpicius, a fellow tribune who spoke on the same side of the debate as him. Antistius's distinguished presentation on the occasion brought him to public acclaim for the first time, and he became a highly sought-after court advocate in the years following; soon, all the important court cases were brought to him. The contemporary Cicero considered him one of the best orators active at the time, though he attributed his success partly to a lack of worthy competition. In his dialogue Brutus (227), Cicero described Antistius's style of oratory as follows: The career of Antistius peaked between the civil wars of 87 and 83 BC, when the general Sulla was away from Italy and Sulla's enemies, Gaius Marius and then Cornelius Cinna, dominated politics in Rome. Cicero described this as a time when law and dignity were lacking, and Antistius's prominence in the courts would seem to implicate him in the judicial irregularities of the period. In 86 BC, Antistius presided over a court which tried Pompey (the future triumvir) for embezzlement of public funds during the Social War. The trial was "deliberately planned and contrived from the outset".