Gaius Licinius Macer

Gaius Licinius Macer (died 66BC) was a Roman annalist and politician.

Life A member of the ancient plebeian clan Licinia, he was tribune in 73BC. Sallust mentions him agitating for the people's rights. He became praetor in 68BC, but in 66BC Cicero succeeded in convicting him of bribery and extortion, upon which Macer committed suicide.

Work Macer 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 II. Livy casts doubt on Macer's reliability, suggesting that he misrepresented events in order to glorify the Licinii, but notes that he quotes original sources such as the Linen Rolls. According to Macrobius, he credited Romulus with the introduction of intercalation to the Roman calendar.