Lucius Veturius Philo (consul 206 BC)

[4] He was renowned for having been the first to announce to the Roman Senate the news of the great victory won over Hannibal Barca at the Battle of Zama, which ended the Second Punic War.

He served in the army of Gaius Claudius Nero as a consular legate, fighting at the Battle of the Metaurus, and was a close companion to his co-consul of 206 BC, Quintus Caecilius Metellus.

[6] Horsemen under Gaius Claudius Nero's command praised Caecilius Metellus and Veturius Philo highly for their actions during the campaign, and exhorted the commons to create the two as consuls for the next year.

The senate also commanded this due to complaints they had received from inhabitants of the province concerning neighboring Gauls, who, taking advantage of the wartime confusion, laid waste to many areas therein.

Heading to Bruttium, Philo received his army from a certain proprietor named Quintus Claudius, which he then proceeded to fill with newly raised soldiers, who he had enlisted on his own initiative.

[9] The consuls found that many had returned to their homes upon their arrival in the province at the beginning of that spring, and, presumably to drive away the roving Gauls and still-present Carthaginian-aligned forces that yet held control in parts of Bruttium traitorous to Rome, ravaged the district of Consentia, taking much loot with them.

Metellus made Veturius Philo, with whom he seemingly would have been close after years of service together, his magister equitum, before successfully overseeing the election of Marcus Cornelius Cethegus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus to the consulships of 204 BC.