A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

5. C.LucceiusHirrus, C. F., of the Pupinian tribe (Cic. Fam. 8.8.5), tribune of the plebs, B. C. 53, proposed that Pompey should be created dictator, and was in consequence very nearly deprived of his office (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. 3.8.4, 9.3; Plut. Pomp. 54, where he is

errneously called Lucilius). In B. C. . 52 he was a candidate with Cicero for the augurship, and in the following year a candidate with M. Caelius for the aedileship, but he failed in both; and as he was thus opposed both to Cicero and his friend, he is called in their correspondence, Hillus, " the stammerer." When Cicero wished to obtain a triumph on account of the successes he had gained in Cilicia, he endeavoured to become reconciled to Lucceius, and his name frequently occurs in Cicero's correspondence at that period. (Cic. Fam. 2.10.1, 8.2.2, 3.1, 9.1, 11.2, ad Att. 7.1. §§ 7, 8.)

On the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49, Hirrus joined Pompey, and was stationed with a military force in northern Italy, but, like the other Pompeian commanders, was deserted by his own troops (Caes. Civ. 1.15, where Lucceium is the true reading instead of Ulcillem ; comp. Cic. Att. 8.11. A.). He was subsequently sent by Pompey as ambassador to Orodes, king of Parthia, to endeavour to gain his assistance for the aristocracy, but he was thrown into prison by the Parthian king; and when Pompey's officers, before the battle of Pharsalia, confident of victory, were assigning the various offices of the state, there was a vehement dispute whether Hirrus should be allowed to stand for the praetorship in his absence (Caes. Civ. 3.82; D. C. 42.2). He was pardoned by Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia, and returned to Rome. The C. Hirrius mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 9.55. s. 81) and Varro (R. R. 3.17), as the first person who had sea-water stock-ponds for lampreys, and who sent some thousands of them to Caesar for his triumphal banquets, is most probably the same person as the preceding, though he is spoken of as a separate person under HIRRIUS. It would likewise appear that the Hirtius, whom Appian says (B. C. 4.43, 84) was proscribed by the triumvirs in B. C. 43, and who fled to Sex. Pompey in Sicily, is a false reading for Hirrus.