Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus

Campaign against the pirates

After his consulship Vatia Isauricus was assigned the post of proconsular governor of Cilicia with the responsibility of clearing out the pirates which had been ravaging shipping for many years. His command lasted from 78 until 74 BC. The first year (78) he allocated to the military preparations, the following two years he fought a combined naval and land campaign against pirates and the Isauri in Cilicia. In 77 and 76 he achieved a number of naval victories against the pirates off the Cilician coast, and was able to occupy the Lycian and Pamphylian coasts. After the pirates fled to their fortified strongholds, Vatia Isauricus began attacking their coastal fortresses. He captured the town of Olympos, the stronghold of brigand Zenicetus. He then went on to capture Phaselis before subduing Corycus and a number of minor pirate strongholds, capturing a number of pirate captains in the process, including the famous Nicon.

In 75 BC, he advanced across the Taurus Mountains, the first time a Roman army crossed these mountains, and succeeded in defeating the Isaurian hill tribes along the northern slopes. He laid siege to their principal town, Isaura, and managed to capture it after diverting the course of a river, thereby depriving the defenders in the town of their only source of water, after which they surrendered. It was during this part of the campaign that he was acclaimed Imperator by his legionaries. By 74 BC, Vatia Isauricus had organized the territory he had conquered and incorporated it into the province of Cilicia. He was succeeded as proconsul of Cilicia by Lucius Octavius who died shortly after arriving. Octavius was succeeded by Lucius Licinius Lucullus who incorporated Vatia Isauricus' veteran troops and fleet into his army when he marched against Mithridates VI of Pontus at the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War.

Upon his return to Rome, in 74 BC, he was granted a triumph, as well as being awarded the agnomen Isauricus for his victories in Isauria. After parading the captured pirates in his triumph, he deposited the entire war booty he had captured into the treasury and, unlike his peers, kept none for himself, a feat for which he was widely acclaimed.

Later career

By now, Vatia Isauricus was considered one of the leading members of the Roman Senate, and sometime prior to 76 BC, Vatia Isauricus was admitted to the College of Pontiffs. In 70 BC he served as one of the judges in the trial of Gaius Verres. In 66 BC he supported the proposal of Gaius Manilius to give Pompey the command of the renewed war against the pirates. In 63 BC he was a candidate for the position of pontifex maximus, but was defeated by Julius Caesar, who had served him in his war against the pirates the decade before. Towards the end of that same year he had supported the consul Cicero in the suppression of the Catiline conspiracy, and spoke in the senate in favour of imposing the death penalty upon Catiline and his supporters.

In 57 BC he joined the other members of the aristocracy to bring about Cicero's return from banishment, while in the following year (56 BC) he opposed in the senate the restoration of Ptolemy XII Auletes, preferring instead to annex Egypt as a Roman province. In 55 BC he was elected censor, a position he held until at least July 54 BC. During his time as censor, he and his colleague attempted to regulate the stream of the Tiber River after a destructive flood in 54 BC.

From 55 to 44 BC Vatia Isauricus was the Princeps Senatus. Due to his being close to 80 years of age, he took no part in the civil wars. He died in the early summer of 44 BC.

Vatia Isauricus was the father of the consul of 48 BC and 41 BC, Publius Servilius Isauricus. He also had a daughter named Servilia.