- For others of this family, see Ahenobarbus.
When the college of pontiffs did not elect him in place of his father, he brought forward a law (the lex Domitia) by which the priests of the superior colleges were to be elected by the people in the comitia tributa (seventeen of the tribes voting) rather than by the priestly colleges themselves. The law was repealed by Sulla, revived by Julius Caesar and (perhaps) again repealed by Mark Antony, the triumvir.
The people afterwards, in 103 BC, elected him Pontifex Maximus out of gratitude (succeeding Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus).
He prosecuted in his tribunate and afterwards several of his private enemies, as Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (whom he blamed for not having been elected to the pontificate in the first place) and Junius Silanus.
He was elected consul in 96 BC and censor in 92 BC with Lucius Licinius Crassus the orator, with whom he was frequently at variance. They took joint action, however, in suppressing the recently established Latin rhetorical schools, which they regarded as injurious to public morality.
Their censorship was long celebrated for their disputes. Domitius was of a violent temper, and was moreover in favor of the ancient simplicity of living, while Crassus loved luxury and encouraged art. Among the many sayings recorded of both, we are told that Crassus observed, "that it was no wonder that a man had a beard of brass, who had a mouth of iron and a heart of lead. Cicero wrote that Domitius was not to be reckoned among the orators, but that he spoke well enough and had sufficient talent to maintain his high rank.
Ahenobarbus apparently died in 88 BC, during the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and was succeeded as pontifex by Quintus Mucius Scaevola. He had two sons: Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.
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Last updated on Saturday June 07, 2008 at 22:05:31 PDT (GMT -0700)
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