A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

9. M.CaeciliusMetellus, Q. F. Q. N., brother of the two preceding and son of No. 5, was consul B. C. 115, with M. Aemilius Scaurus, the year in which his father died. In B. C. 114 he was sent to Sardinia as proconsul, to suppress an insurrection in the island, which he succeeded in doing, and obtained a triumph in consequence in B. C. 113, on the same day as his brother Caprarius. (Vell. 1.11, 2.8; Eutrop. 4.25.)

The annexed coin which bears the legend M. METELLUS Q. F. was struck by order of the preceding Metellus. The reverse represents the head of an elephant enclosed in Macedonian shields, and the whole surrounded by a laurel crown: the elephant has reference to the victory of his great-grandfather in Sicily over the Carthaginians [No. 1], and the Macedonian shields to the conquest of Andriscus in Macedonia by his father [No. 5]. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 151.)