LUCIUS CORNELIUS LENTULUS

lucius cornelius lentulus, surnamed crus or cruscello (for what reason is unknown), member of the anti-caesarian party. in 61 b.c. he was the chief accuser of p. clodius (q.v.) in the affair of the festival of bona dea. when consul (49) he advised the rejection of all peace terms offered by caesar, and declared that, if the senate did not at once decide upon opposing him by force of arms, he would act upon his own responsibility. there seems no reason to doubt that lentulus was mainly inspired by selfish motives, and hoped to find in civil war an opportunity for his own aggrandizement. but in spite of his brave words he fled in haste from rome as soon as he heard of caesar's advance, and crossed over to greece. after pharsalus, he made his way to rhodes (but was refused admission), thence, by way of cyprus, to egypt. he landed at pelusium the day after the murder of pompey, was immediately seized by ptolemy, imprisoned, and put to death. see caesar, _bell. civ._ i. 4, iii. 104; plutarch, _pompey_, 80. a full account of the different cornelii lentuli, with genealogical table, will be found in pauly-wissowa's _realencyclopadie_, iv. pt. 1, p. 1355 (1900) (s.v. "cornelius"); see also v. de vit, _onomasticon_, ii. 433.