Caldusthe name of a family of the plebeian Caelia gens. The word caldus is a
shortened form of calidus, and hence Cicero (de
Inment. 2.9) says, " aliquem Caldum vocari, quod temerario et repentino consilio
sit."
1. C. CAELIUS
CALDUS, a contemporary of L. Crassus, the orator. No member of his
family had yet obtained any of the great offices, but he succeeded in raising himself by his
activity and eloquence, though his powers as an orator do not appear to have been very great.
After having endeavoured in vain to obtain the quaestorship (Cic. pro
Planc. 21), he was elected in B. C. 107, tribune of the plebs.
His tribuneship is remarkable for a lex tabellaria, which was directed against the legate C.
Popillius, and which ordained that in the courts of justice the votes should be given by means
of tablets in cases of high treason. Cicero (De Leg. 3.16) states, that
Caldus regretted, throughout his life, having proposed this law, as it did injury to the
republic. In B. C. 94, he was made consul, together with L. Domitius
Ahenobarbus, in preference to a competitor of very high rank, though he himself was a novus
homo : and after his consulship he obtained Spain as his province, as is usually inferred from
coins of the gens Caelia which bear his name, the word His (pania) and
the figure of a boar, which Eckhel refers to the town of Clunia. (One of these coins is
figured in the
Dict. of Ant. s. v. Epulones.) During the civil war between
Marius and Sulla,
B. C. 83, Caldus was a steady supporter of the
Marian party, and in conjunction with Carrinas and Brutus, he endeavoured to prevent Pompey
from leading his legions to Sulla. But as the three did not act in unison, Pompey made an
attack upon the army of Brutus and routed it, whereby the plan of Caldus was completely
thwarted. (
Cic. de Orat. 1.25,
Brut.
45,
in Verr. 5.70,
de Petit. Cons. 3,
pro Muren. 8 ; J. Obsequens, 111; Ascon.
Argum. in
Cornel. p. 57, ed. Orelli;
Plut. Pomp. 7;
Cic. Att. 10.12,
14-
16,
de Orat. 2.64;
ad
Herenn. 2.13, though it is uncertain whether the Caelius mentioned in the last two
passages is the same as C. Caelius Caldus or not; comp. Eckhel, v. p. 175.)