Titus Labienus (historian)
Titus Labienus was an orator and historian in the time of Augustus, nicknamed Rabienus for his vigorous style. He killed himself when the Senate had his books burned. Caligula later overrode the Senate and had the books restored. Life Little is known about his early life. He did not come from aristocracy or the influential Roman family Labieni. Instead, he grew up poor and unpopular. Although in his youth Titus Labienus was considered unimportant, as an adult he garnered fame for his works as an historian and orator. At the time, Rome was a new monarchy, Augustus had assumed power, and there was a lot of animosity in the air between the people who were for and those who were against the monarchy that had taken over the Roman Empire. Continuously, people would go throughout the city of Rome and either publicly state or publish pamphlets with negative comments and accusations about the new emperor and monarchy. Titus Labienus eagerly joined the cause against the new monarchy, "flailing Augustan order" and vigorously supported Pompey the Great (106 BC to 46 BC), a statesman and general of the late Roman Republic and opponent of Julius Caesar for forming the monarchy. As a historian, Titus Labienus would viciously attack the different classes of Roman society, thus eventually leading to his nickname Rabienus or "rabid one", for his "furious invective". His writings were full of such controversial material that when he recited his works in public, he would have to pass over sections that were too discordant. Instead, he would allude to the missing information by saying that they were to be read after his death. Titus Labienus was also recognized throughout Rome as an important member of the academic profession or "manus orator". As time progressed the amount of pamphlets swirling about Rome began to grow, and the Emperor Augustus began to put into place stricter regulations on writing, initially punishing any writers who attacked anyone (particularly himself), then moving to censor writings themselves. As both an author and a professor, both changes to Roman law further angered Titus Labienus. As an author he wanted the freedom to write what he wanted to write, not what the government wanted or would allow. And as a professor, he wanted to be able to teach the truth, not just what the Roman government wanted people to know. In general, the loss of freedom of speech aggravated Titus Labienus impelling him to voice his disapproval even more of the new monarchy. As even more time progressed, Augustus became even stricter until he finally created a new type of punishment for this "new crime" of voicing one's opinion. With this new type of punishment, depending on how guilty one was or how serious the crime one committed against the state was, either one or all of one's life works were to be burned at the stake. When the new law was first declared, even members of the Senate thought that was "an unusual way of inflicting