Publius Vatinius

Many details about Vatinius' life emerge from Cicero's claims, which "must be taken with a grain of salt and understood as a piece of rhetorical invective, in which an orator would do anything to discredit his opponent, including the use of half-truths and exaggerations".

[4] Cicero claims he was allotted the provincia aquaria, which may have dealt with the city's water supply or otherwise, and less likely, handled matters in Ostia.

[11] In general, these military assignments had to have been justified by the then-"troubled state of Transalpine Gaul [and] invasion of Noricum by the Boii".

[15] Vettius also named a number of men – including Bibulus (serving as consul), "the older and younger Curiones, two Lentuli, Aemilius Paullus, and M. Brutus" – as members of the plot.

[1] He also was prosecuted, possibly by Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus, in the first half of 58; the trial was stopped, however, by the intercession of the people's tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher and violent disorder.

[22] It seems Vatinius failed to be elected to the aedileship in 57 BC, which was "all the more troubling" when the ex-tribunes who had opposed Caesar in his tribunician cohort were successfully returned as praetors.

[10] Cicero spoke on behalf of Sestius with a scathing speech against the character of Vatinius called in P. Vatinium testem interrogatio.

[25] After a fair amount of turmoil, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus were elected to the consulship for 55 BC.

[26] After his year as praetor, in August 54 BC, Vatinius was prosecuted for bribery in his campaign for the praetorship by Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus.

[1] While in Greece during the war, he attempted to parley for peace with Pompey in Epirus, which was unsuccessful; he later defended Brundisium from a naval attack by Decimus Laelius and, during his stay there, aided Cicero when he returned to Italy in the aftermath of the Pompeian defeat at Pharsalus.

[32] Early in 47 BC, Vatinius commanded troops in Illyricum and defeated Marcus Octavius at the Battle of Tauris,[33] recovering the province for the Caesarians.

[35] In return for his successes, Vatinius was rewarded with a three-month ordinary consulship – elections for that year were delayed and held in September – late in 47 BC.

[43][page needed] Vatinius was married twice, first to Antonia (sister of Mark Antony) and later to a woman named Pompeia.