# Aulus Hirtius

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{{short description|Roman Republican politician and consul in the 1st century BC}}
thumb|A coin minted under Aulus Hirtius
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}

'''Aulus Hirtius''' ({{IPA|la|ˈau̯lʊs ˈhɪrtɪ.ʊs|lang}}; {{c.|90}} – 43 BC) was [consul](/source/Roman_consul) of the [Roman Republic](/source/Roman_Republic) in 43 BC and a writer on military subjects. He was killed during his consulship in battle against [Mark Antony](/source/Mark_Antony) at the [Battle of Mutina](/source/Battle_of_Mutina).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aulus Hirtius {{!}} Roman soldier|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aulus-Hirtius|access-date=2020-12-19|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
He was a [legate](/source/Legatus) of [Julius Caesar](/source/Julius_Caesar)'s starting around 58 BC<ref>Cicero. ''On the Orator: Book 3. On Fate. Stoic Paradoxes. Divisions of Oratory,'' p. 189. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library 349. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1942.</ref> and served as an envoy to [Pompey](/source/Pompey) in 50. It was reported that Hirtius dined with Caesar, [Sallust](/source/Sallust), [Oppius](/source/Gaius_Oppius), [Balbus](/source/Lucius_Cornelius_Balbus_(consul)) and [Sulpicius Rufus](/source/Servius_Sulpicius_Rufus) on the night after Caesar's famous [crossing over](/source/Crossing_the_Rubicon) the [Rubicon river](/source/Rubicon_river) into Italy on 10 January 49 BC.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dando-Collins|first=Stephan|title=The Epic Saga of Julius Caesars Tenth Legion and Rome|year=2002|isbn=0-471-09570-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/caesarslegionepi00dand/page/67 67]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/caesarslegionepi00dand/page/67}}</ref>

During [Caesar's Civil War](/source/Caesar's_Civil_War) he served in Spain; he may have been a [tribune](/source/tribune) in 48, and in 47 was at [Antioch](/source/Antioch). He was a [praetor](/source/praetor) in 46 and [governor](/source/Roman_governor) of [Transalpine Gaul](/source/Transalpine_Gaul) in 45.

After [Caesar's assassination](/source/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar) in March 44, Hirtius was deeply involved in the maneuvering between parties. Having been nominated for that post by Caesar, Hirtius and [Pansa](/source/Gaius_Vibius_Pansa_Caetronianus) became consuls in 43.<ref>Syme, Roman Revolution p. 95. Hirtius was already consul-designate for 43 on the [Ides of March](/source/Ides_of_March), therefore likely a nominee of Caesar's.</ref>

Initially a supporter of [Mark Antony](/source/Mark_Antony), Hirtius was successfully lobbied by [Cicero](/source/Cicero), who was a personal friend,<ref>Cicero, ''De Fato'' I</ref> and switched his allegiance to the [senatorial](/source/Roman_Senate) party. He then set out with an army to attack Antony who was besieging Mutina. In concert with Pansa and Octavian (the future Emperor [Augustus](/source/Augustus)), Hirtius compelled Antony to retire but was slain in the fighting (April 21) at the [Battle of Mutina](/source/Battle_of_Mutina). He was honored with a public funeral, along with Pansa who died a few days later.

Hirtius added an eighth book to Caesar's ''[De Bello Gallico](/source/De_Bello_Gallico).'' He has sometimes been attributed as the author of ''[De Bello Alexandrino](/source/De_Bello_Alexandrino)'', though stylistic analysis since the 1960s, including recent computer-assisted stylistic analysis contradicts this attribution. The subject of ''De Bello Alexandrino'' authorship remains a topic of debate among scholars.<ref>Zhang, Olivia R., Trevor Cohen & Scott McGill. “Did Gaius Julius Caesar Write ''De Bello Hispaniensi''? A Computational Study of Latin Classics Authorship”. HUMAN IT 14.1 (2018): 28–58</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Brandon |last2=Nizovsky |first2=David |last3=Leonenko |first3=Anna |last4=Zeng |first4=Tingying Helen |last5=Shalaginov |first5=Mikhail |chapter=Authorship Verification of the Caesarian Corpus Using Siamese BERT |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |date=2026 |volume=16122 |editor-last=Valente de Oliveira |editor-first=José |editor2-last=Leite |editor2-first=João |editor3-last=Rodrigues |editor3-first=João |editor4-last=Dias |editor4-first=João |editor5-last=Cardoso |editor5-first=Pedro |title=Progress in Artificial Intelligence |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-05179-0_24 |language=en |location=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |pages=316–325 |doi=10.1007/978-3-032-05179-0_24 |isbn=978-3-032-05179-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Storch |first=Rudolph H. |date=1973 |title=The Author of the De bello Hispaniensi: A Cavalry Officer? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3295963 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=381–383 |jstor=3295963 |issn=0009-8353}}</ref>

[Suetonius](/source/Suetonius) in Chapter 68 of his ''Life of Augustus''<ref>Suetonius, ''Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#68 68], translated by [John Carew Rolfe](/source/John_Carew_Rolfe).</ref> writes that [Lucius Antonius](/source/Lucius_Antonius_(brother_of_Mark_Antony)), the brother of Mark Antony, accused Augustus of having "given himself to Aulus Hirtius in Spain for three hundred thousand [sesterces](/source/sesterces)." This alleged homosexual liaison would have taken place in 46 BC, during the civil wars when Julius Caesar took Octavian to Spain and Aulus Hirtius was serving there. However, it is possible that this was an attempt at slander by Mark Antony, who was Octavian's political opponent at the time. Allegations of homosexual submissiveness was a common method of political attack in the Roman Republic and it is impossible to know how much of it was true.

==See also==
*''[De Fato](/source/De_Fato)'', a dialogue by Cicero, where Hirtius is an interlocutor

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*[http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Caesar/index.html Julius Caesar's War Commentaries]
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/home.html Suetonius: The Lives of the Twelve Caesars]

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{{succession box|title=[Roman consul](/source/Roman_consul)|before=[Marcus Antonius](/source/Mark_Antony)<br/>[C. Julius Caesar](/source/Julius_Caesar)<br/><small>[P. Cornelius Dolabella](/source/Publius_Cornelius_Dolabella_(consul_44_BC))<br/>(as suffect)</small>|after=[C. Julius Caesar Octavianus](/source/Augustus)<br/>[Quintus Pedius](/source/Quintus_Pedius)|years=''with [Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus](/source/Gaius_Vibius_Pansa_Caetronianus)''<br/>43 BC}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirtius, Aulus}}
Category:90s BC births
Category:43 BC deaths
Category:1st-century BC Roman augurs
Category:1st-century BC Roman consuls
Category:1st-century BC writers in Latin
Category:Ancient Roman writers
Category:Golden Age Latin writers
Aulus
Category:Military personnel of Julius Caesar
Category:Roman consuls who died in office
Category:Ancient Roman generals killed in action
Category:Ancient Roman military writers
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:People of the War of Mutina

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aulus Hirtius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulus_Hirtius) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulus_Hirtius?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.