Philosopher

Licinius is an interesting person discussed in Descrittione di Malta of 1647 by Commendatore Gio Francesco Abela, but a very scanty information is available. Licinius is considered as a philosopher. Rev. Dr. Joseph Busuttil in his study  about this personality, published in Melita Historica, says that ‘among the hundreds of letters of Cicero there is one in which he recommends Aulus Licinius Aristotelis - a Maltese friend of his – to a certain Rex’. ‘This letter, written in the autumn of 46 BC, speaks of a Maltese friend of Cicero, Aulus Licinius Aristotelis’. According to Busuttil the first thing one has to note is the name. ‘The cognomen Aristotelis - common throughout Sicily and other parts of the Greek-speaking world, indicates that the person concerned was of Greek extraction’. Cicero tells his friend Rex that ‘Aulus Licinius’ is an  antiquissimus hospes of his, in other words, that Cicero used to entertain Aulus Licinius in his home, when the latter was in Rome, and that Aulus Licinius, on his part, had been of some service to Cicero.

‘One can only speculate as to when these two became acquainted. It is possible that Cicero made friends with him when Cicero was quaestor at Lilybaeum in Sicily in 75 BC, or when he was defending the interests of the Maltese against Verres in 70 BC. It is  equally possible that Cicero had known him long before 75 BC, in Rome perhaps, or in some other Italian city. One can take it as fairly certain that Aulus Licinius was a person of some special standing in Malta or in Sicily, otherwise he would not have been easily accepted in Cicero’s circle.

‘Cicero claims that Aulus Licinius obtained his freedom from Caesar through his personal intervention. Aulus Licinius had certainly never been Caesar’s slave, otherwise he would not have become Cicero’s friend. Cicero goes on to say that Aulus Licinius had frequently been in Cicero’s group of friends (that group which eventually fought with Pompey against Caesar), and that he maintained his adherence to the Senate’s cause longer than Cicero did. After the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Caesar issued a general edict banishing all Pompeians from Italy. Cicero himself was within an ace of being thrown out of Italy. He managed to reconcile himself with Caesar and the relations between the two grew gradually warmer. After Pompey’s defeat, Cicero returned to Italy. As he avers that Aulus Licinius remained loyal to the cause longer than he did, he fought at the battle of Pharsalus and after Pompey’s flight, unlike Cicero, joined the supporters of the Senate in Africa. Later, through Cicero’s intervention, he was pardoned by Caesar.’

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.