Gaius Antonius Hybrida

Gaius Antonius Hybrida (flourished 2nd century BC & 1st century BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius Orator and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus. His mother is unknown and among his nephews was the famed triumvir Mark Antony. His military career started as a legate and cavalry commander of dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the Mithridatic Wars. After Sulla's return to Rome, Gaius remained in Greece with a force of cavalry. He was supposed to maintain peace and order but ended in plundering the countryside and sacking for his own profit several temples and holy places. Rumors of atrocities committed on the local population, which included maiming and torture, earned him the nickname Hybrida ("half-beast") (Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 213). In 76 BC he was prosecuted for his malpractices by the young Julius Caesar, but escaped punishment because he successfully appealed to the people's tribunes.^[1] Years later, in 70 BC, he was removed from the Senate and stripped out of senatorial rank by the censors, still on charges due to the atrocities committed in Greece. In spite of his bad reputation, however, he was elected tribune in 71 BC, which meant that he again joined the senate, then praetor in 66 BC, and finally consul with Marcus Tullius Cicero in 63 BC. He secretly supported Lucius Sergius Catiline, but Cicero won him to his side by promising him the governorship of the rich province of Macedonia. On the outbreak of the Catilinarian conspiracy, Gaius was obliged as consul to lead an army into Etruria, but handed over the command on the day of battle to Marcus Petreius, on the ground of ill health. He then went to Macedonia, where he made himself so detested by his oppressive rule and extortions over the people, that he was forced to leave the province. In 59 BC, Gaius was accused in Rome both of having taken part in the Catiline conspiracy and of extortion in his province. It was said that Cicero had agreed with Gaius to share his plunder. Cicero's defence of Gaius two years before in view of a proposal for his recall, and also on the occasion of his trial, increased the suspicion. Despite Cicero's defence, Gaius was condemned and went into exile at Kefalonia. He seems to have been recalled by Caesar, since he was present at a meeting of the Roman Senate in 44 BC and was censor in 42 BC. Gaius married an unnamed Roman woman. By his wife, he had two daughters:

• Antonia Hybrida Major (Major Latin for the elder) married Roman tribune Lucius Caninius Gallus
• Antonia Hybrida Minor (Minor Latin for the younger) married her first paternal cousin Mark Antony as his second wife

From his daughter’s marriages, he had at least two grandchildren who were a younger Lucius Caninius Gallus and Antonia.

References

• Cicero, In Cat. iii. 6, pro Flacco, 38
• Plutarch, Cicero, 12
• Cassius Dio, xxxvii. 39, 40; xxxviii. 10
• On his trial see article in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Footnotes