A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. 3. CALPURNII BIBULI, two sons of the preceding, whose praenomens are unknown, were murdered in Egypt, B. C. 50, by the soldiers of Gabinius. Their father bore his loss with fortitude though he deeply felt it; and when the murderers of his children were subsequently delivered up to him by Cleopatra, he sent them back, saying that their punishment was not his duty but that of the senate. Bibulus had probably sent his sons into Egypt to solicit aid against the Parthians; and they may have been murdered by the soldiers of Gabinius, because it was known that their father had been opposed to the expedition of Gabinius, which had been undertaken at the instigation of Pompey. (Caes. Civ. 3.110; V. Max. 4.1.15; comp. Cic. ad Att. vi. 5, ad Fam. 2.17.)