Curio was the son of
his homonymous father and his wife Memmia, born around 84 BC. Curio and
Mark Antony had a close friendship, which was denounced by their political enemies as immoral or possibly an affair. In a defamatory speech against Antony,
Cicero accused Antony of being Curio's lover, claiming that after the two youths had been banned from seeing each other by Curio's father, Curio smuggled Antony in through his father's roof.
Opponent of Caesar His first recorded political activity was, with his father, to support
Publius Clodius Pulcher in the senate and the courts during the
Bona Dea affair. Clodius had been accused of sacrilege; Curio's father vigorously opposed a senatorial resolution establishing a court for prosecution and the younger Curio fought the law that was correspondingly proposed in the assemblies. He and his father became opponents of Caesar and the
First Triumvirate in 59 BC. For their efforts, they were applauded in public and at the games. He was implicated in the Vettius affair – allegations, possibly masterminded by Caesar, that Curio was part of a conspiracy to assassinate Pompey – but the allegations were unbelieved and Vettius was found dead shortly thereafter. A few years later, in 54 BC, he served as quaestor in
Asia and stayed there for a few years. Around this time, his father died (he received a letter of condolence from Cicero). Upon his return to Rome in 52, he gave magnificent funeral games commemorating his father in collaboration with
Marcus Favonius, an ally of Cato who was then serving as aedile. He also married
Fulvia, the widow of his friend Clodius, who had been killed in a street battle with
Titus Annius Milo that January. This helped his public image among Clodius supporters and gave him the support of Clodius' gangs. His and Fulvia's son
Scribonius Curio was born soon after.
Plebeian tribunate In the year 51 BC, he prepared to stand for the aedileship the following year. But after the conviction of one of the
plebeian tribunes-elect in July, he took the opportunity to stand as that tribune's replacement. The same year, he was elected to the
pontificate. His political position had been firmly anti-Caesarian and he was expected to support Caesar's removal from Gaul without honours, block a possible second consulship, and repeal Caesar's agrarian legislation in 59. However, Curio changed his views, possibly because he resented the senate's refusal to insert an intercalary month, or after receiving a massive bribe from Caesar. However, it did not become clear that he had become an ally of Caesar for some months; Curio continued his anti-Caesarian proposals until his tribunician proposals – including for annexation of Mauritania – were rejected by the senate. Only in March, when the question of Caesar's command was mooted before the senate, did Curio's position become more clear when he demanded that if Caesar were to be removed in Gaul, Pompey must also be removed in Spain. Through the year, Curio vetoed any other discussion of Caesar's command. The proposal was widely praised by the general population as an acceptable compromise that would avoid civil war, giving Curio tremendous popularity, but at the same time winning Curio the enmity of
Pompey. The proposal also won the approval of many senators, who viewed it as "more attractive... than the rhetoric of inflexible confrontation". In December 50, one of the then-censors,
Appius Claudius Pulcher, attempted to have him removed from the senate, a proposal which the senate rejected at Curio's urging. At a following debate on Curio's motion that both Caesar and Pompey should step down, the senate voted hugely in favour (370 to 22). This motion, however, was vetoed by the consul, who then extrajudicially called upon Pompey to raise men to fight Caesar. Upon the expiration of his tribunate on 9 December 50 (tribunes took office on 10 December rather than 1 January), he complained to the people about Pompey and consul
Marcellus and promptly fled to Caesar in Ravenna. As the year drew to a close, relations between Caesar and Pompey drew to a breaking point: a last-minute proposal brought by Curio and two of the tribunes for that year (Mark Antony and
Quintus Cassius Longinus) on 1 January 49 BC was rejected and the senate – at the urging of the hardliners – voted to remove Caesar from his command (Curio and
Marcus Caelius Rufus were the only dissenting votes) and moved the
senatus consultum ultimum against Caesar. In response, Curio, Antony, Cassius, and Caelius fled the city to Caesar, and he then took up arms against the senate.
Civil war Around 10 January, the
civil war started when Caesar
crossed the Rubicon and invaded Italy proper. The cities and communities of northern Italy quickly fell or surrendered to Caesar and he ordered the recruitment of additional soldiers. Curio was put in charge of the recruiting operation. When Caesar reached
Corfinium, Curio brought twenty-two cohorts of recruits to assist in the siege. After Pompey's flight to Greece with about a third of the senate, Curio was put in command of three legions to take Sicily and Africa. Arriving in Sicily on 24 April 49 BC, he forced
Cato from the province without bloodshed. Curio's success in Sicily also secured its grain supply and strategic position, allowing Caesar to feed the city and gain control of the central Mediterranean. In August 49, he set sail from
Lilybaeum and landed near Anquillaria on
Cape Bon in Africa. There, he faced
Publius Attius Varus and King
Juba I of Numidia, who had sided with Pompey. Although he won a
battle at Utica, he was forced to withdraw and eventually defeated by Saburra, Juba's general, at the
Bagradas River where he fought to the death, along with his army, rather than attempting to flee to his camp. ==Marriages==