CETHEGUS, the name of a Roman patrician family of the Cornelian gens. Two individuals are of some importance:— 0) MARCUS CORNELIUS CETHEGUS, pontif ex maximus and curule aedile, 213 B.C. In 211, as praetor, he had charge of Apulia; later, he was sent to Sicily, where he proved a successful administrator. In 2o9 he was censor, and in 204 consul. In 203 he was proconsul in Upper Italy, where, in conjunction with the praetor P. Quintilius Varus, he defeated Mago, Hannibal's brother, in Insubrian territory, and obliged him to leave Italy. He died in 196. He had a great reputation as an orator, and is characterized by Ennius as "the quintessence of persuasiveness" (sundae medulla). Horace (Ars Poet. 5o; Epistles, ii. 2. 117) calls him an authority on the use of Latin words.
See Livy xxv. 2, 41, XXVII. II, xx1X. II, RXX. 18.
(2) GAIUS CORNELIUS CETHEGUS, the boldest of Catiline's associates, joined the conspiracy in the hope of getting his debts cancelled. When Catiline left Rome in 63 B.C., Cethegus remained behind as leader of the conspirators with P. Lentulus Sura. He undertook to murder Cicero and other prominent men, but was hampered by the dilatoriness of Sura. He was condemned to death, and executed, with Sura and others, on the night of Dec. 5.
See Sallust, ; Cicero, In Cat. ill. ; Appian, Bell. Civ. ii. 2-5 ; see also CATILINE.