Lucius Licinius Lucullus was a novus homo who became Consul in 151 BC. He was imprisoned by the Tribunes for attempting to enforce a troop levy too harshly. Upon reaching Hispania, he was disappointed to find that the Celtiberians had made peace, and attacked the Vaccaei and Cauci, without any warrant from the Senate. He besieged the city of Cauca, and when the inhabitants surrendered, he demanded they do so under several conditions. One of these conditions was that a Roman garrison be installed in the city, which promptly killed all the adult males and plundered the city.
He besieged the city of Intercatia, and they surrendered only when Scipio Africanus the Younger guaranteed that the treaty would not be broken.
He was also involved in the Lusitanian War.
Famous quotes containing the word lucullus:
“Why the ghosts of poor old dead Romans should be dragged in every time a man eats an oyster, I don’t see. We’re as fine specimens as they were. I swear I shan’t let any old turned-to-clay Lucullus outlive me, even if I’ve never eaten a lamprey.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)