Lucius Munatius Plancus
[5] When Caesar left for Spain in 45 BC, Plancus was appointed one of the prefects of the city in place of quaestors and aediles who had not been elected that year.
[6] Upon Caesar's return from Spain, he appointed Plancus governor of Transalpine Gaul pro consule in early 44 BC.
[13] Soon afterwards, Cicero was writing to the governors already stationed there seeking military support to resist Antony's assumption of the provinces; he wrote both to Plancus and Decimus Brutus.
Plancus defended his caution with the argument that declaring too rashly before preparations would have meant swift consequences like those that befell Decimus Brutus (then besieged in Mutina).
Pedius' passage of the lex Pedia which sentenced the tyrannicides to exile in absentia changed Plancus' calculations; after a few months of cooperation with Decimus, he broke off.
[20] After Octavian joined with Antony and Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC through passage of the lex Titia,[21] they and their main allies all gave one close family member or friend to the proscriptions.
[24] The next year, he continued supervising colonisation near Beneventum and, during the Perusine War, assisted Lucius Antony in defeating one of Octavian's legions.
[27] During Mark Antony's expedition in 36 BC, to Armenia and Parthia to avenge Crassus' death from 17 years earlier, he was proconsular governor (or perhaps legate) of Syria.
[31][32] Complimentary sources, such as Horace's Ode 1.7, praise Plancus for having realised the falsity of Antony's promises and having returned virtuously to the side of Rome and Italy.
[31] In January 27 BC, Plancus, as one of the senior ex-consuls, brought a motion suggestion that Octavian adopt the title Augustus.
Plancus died in Gaeta and is one of the very few important Roman historical figures whose tomb has survived and is identifiable, although his body has long since vanished.
The Mausoleum of Plancus, a massive cylindrical tomb now much restored (and consecrated to the Virgin Mary in the late 19th century), is in Gaeta, on a hill overlooking the sea: it houses a small permanent exhibit in honor of him.
14), consul in AD 13 and legate in 14, who married Aemilia Paulla, daughter of Paullus Aemilius Lepidus and wife Cornelia.
[45] The specific meaning of Cicero's words are debated; Mitchell argues that the times in that sentence refers to Caesar's dominatio over the state rather than a generalised lack of principle.
He blamed Plancus for his brother's death and paints his defection from Antony in 32 BC in terms being a pathological traitor with no political principles.
[49] Ronald Syme, in Roman Revolution memorably savaged him: "A nice calculation of his own interests and an assiduous care for his own safety carried him through well-timed treacheries to a peaceful old age".
[50] While more recent scholarship has perhaps softened slightly, Plancus' career is still largely seen in terms of flexibly adapting to prevailing circumstances out of self-interest.
