A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

4. M.JuniusSilanus, consul B. C. 109, with M. Caecilius Metellus, fought in this year against the Cimbri in Transalpine Gaul, and was defeated. He was accused in B. C. 104, by the tribune Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, out of revenge, because he had injured an hereditary friend of Ahenobarbus. The latter charged him with having fought without any commission from the people (injussu populi), and with having thus been the principal cause of the calamities which the Romans had experienced in this war; but he was acquitted almost unanimously, as only two tribes out of the thirty-five voted for his condemnation. Cicero (Brut. 35) praises his oratorical powers. (Liv. Ep.65 ; Sail. Jug. 43 ; Eutrop. 4.11. s. 27; Flor. 3.3.4 ; Cic. Div. in Caecil. 20, Verr. 2.47; Ascon. in Cornel. pp. 68, 80, ed. Orelli.)