1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Norbanus, Gaius

NORBANUS, GAIUS, surnamed Bulbus (or Balbus), Roman politician, was a seditious and turbulent democrat. In 103 B.C., when tribune of the people, he accused Q. Servilius Caepio of having brought about the defeat of his army by the Cimbri through rashness, and also of having plundered the temple of Tolosa. Caepio was condemned and went into exile. About ten years later Norbanus himself was accused of treason on account of the disturbances that had taken place at the trial of Caepio, but the eloquence of M. Antonius, grandfather of the triumvir, procured his acquittal. In 89 Norbanus as praetor successfully defended Sicily against the Italian socii. During the civil war between Marius and Sulla he sided with the former, but was defeated by Sulla at mount Tifata near Capua, and again by Metellus at Faventia in Cisalpine Gaul (82). He fled to Rhodes, where he committed suicide, while the Rhodians were debating whether to hand him over to Sulla.

See Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, bk. iv. ch. v.; Greenidge, Hist. of Rome.