Quintus Caecilius Metellus (c. 250 BC – 175 BC) was a pontiff in 216 BC, aedile of the plebeians in 209 BC, curule aedile in 208 BC, magister equitum in 207 BC, consul in 206 BC, dictator in 205 BC, proconsul of Bruttium in 204 BC, and an ambassador at the court of Philip V of Macedon in 185 BC.
He served as a legate in the army of Gaius Claudius Nero and fought in the war against Hannibal. He was a political ally of Scipio Africanus, the man who eventually defeated Hannibal. He was also distinguished as an orator, the funeral sermon he pronounced at his father's funeral being counted amount his best speeches.
He was the father of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus and Lucius Caecilius Metellus Calvus.
Family Background
Quintus Caecilius Metellus was the son of Lucius Caecilius Metellus, a successful general who defeated Hasdrubal at Panormus in the First Punic War. Both father and son were members of the famed gens Caecilia, a powerful plebeian family of the late Republic.
Early career
Caecilius Metellus first appears in the historical record in 221 BC, delivering a panegyric at the obsequies of his father, Lucius, who died that year. Quintus declared that "his father had achieved the ten greatest and highest objects in the pursuit of which wise men pass their lives". Among these he included being a "brave commander", "supreme orator", and "eminent member of the senate". Cicero comments that Caecilius Metellus was considered "a good speaker" by his contemporaries, alongside the likes of the famed Quintus Maximus Verrucosus.
In the disastrous year of 216 BC, after the grave Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae, Metellus, alongside Quintus Fabius and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, were all made pontiffs, to replace Publius Scantinius, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and Quintus Aelius Paetus, all of whom had fallen at the previously mentioned battle.
Caecilius Metellus then, in 209 BC, is recorded by Livy as having become an Aedile of the Plebeians, alongside Gaius Servilius Geminus.
Metellus was accordingly made Curule Aedile during the next year, 208 BC, again alongside Geminus; the two Curule Aediles were noted by Livy as having ordered that year's Roman Games to be repeated for one day. Taking up a position as a lieutenant-general, or legate, in Gaius Claudius Nero's army, Metellus, along with Lucius Veturius Philo and Publius Licinius Varussent, was sent back to Rome in 207 BC to announce the Roman victory in and death of Hasdrubal Barca at the Battle of the Metaurus. Making their way into the Forum, the three emissaries were forced to push their way through jubilant masses and into the senate, where Veturius read out the news, to the shouted approval of the senate, which declared a three day's thanksgiving.
Rise to Prominence during the Second Punic War
Several of the equites under Gaius Claudius Nero's command highly praised Caecilius Metellus and Veturius Philo for their actions during the campaign, and exhorted the people to elect the two as consuls for the next year. This opinion was seconded by the two consuls of 207 BC, Gaius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator, the consuls sighting the "courage and fidelity" with which their legates had served them. Salinator, serving as dictator with the purpose of holding the comitia in 207, therefore made Caecilius Metellus his magister equitum, as well as consul for the upcoming year 206 BC, declaring that he would become so at the previously mentioned comitia.