Licinius Macer
Gaius Licinius Macer (d.
66 BC) was an official and
annalist of
ancient Rome.
A member of the ancient plebeian
gens Licinia, he was
tribune in
73 BC;
Sallust mentions him agitating for the people's rights. He became
praetor in
68, but in
66 Cicero succeeded in convicting him of bribery and extortion, upon which Macer committed suicide.
Macer also wrote a history of Rome, in 16 books. The work is now lost, but from
Livy and
Dionysius, who both used it, we know that it began with the founding of the city, and that
Pyrrhus appeared in book 2. Livy casts doubt on Macer's reliability, suggesting that he misrepresented events in order to glorify the Licinii (7.9.5), but notes that he quotes original sources, such as the
Linen Rolls (4.7.12, 4.20.8, 4.23.2).
His son
Licinius Macer Calvus was a noted poet.
