Quintus Hortensius (consul designate 108 BC)

Quintus Hortensius (or possibly Lucius Hortensius)^[1] (fl. 2nd century BC) was a Roman politician who was elected consul for 108 BC, but was prosecuted before he could take office.

Biography

Hortensius was a member of the plebeian gens Hortensia, and possibly the uncle of the famous orator Quintus Hortensius.^[2] It has been speculated that he served as a legatus under Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur in Asia in 121 BC, and was a witness at his trial in 120.^[3]

In 111 BC, it is believed that Hortensius served as praetor in Sicily.^[4] He was then elected consul in 109 BC for the following year (108 BC), but was put on trial and condemned prior to taking office, most likely for electoral bribery.^[5] He most likely then had his citizenship revoked before being exiled.

Sources

• Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol I (1951)
• Swan, Michael, The Consular Fasti of 23 BC and the Conspiracy of Varro Murena, Harvard Studies in Classical Phililogy, Volume 71, 1967, pgs. 235 - 247