A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. Q.Cornificius, was one of the judices on the trial of Verres, and tribune of the plebs in the following year, B. C. 69. He probably obtained the praetorship in 66, and was one of Cicero's competitors for the consulship in 64. His failure, however, did not make him an enemy of the great orator; he seems to have assisted him in the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy, and it was to his care that Cethegus was committed upon the arrest of the conspirators. Subsequently in B. C. 62, Cornificius was the first to bring before the senate the sacrilege of Clodius in violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. He probably died soon afterwards, as we hear nothing further of him. He is called by Asconius "vir sobrius ac sanctus." (Cic. in Verr. Act. 1.10; Ascon. in Tog. Cand. p. 82; Cic. Att. 1.1; Sal. Cat. 47; Appian, App. BC 2.5; Cic. Att. 1.13.)