Marcus Petreius was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 politician and general. He cornered and killed the notorious rebel Catiline

Catiline

Lucius Sergius Catilina , known in English as Catiline, was a Roman politician of the 1st century BC who is best known for the Catiline conspiracy, an attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic Senate.-Family background:Catiline was born in 108 BC to...

 at Pistoria

Pistoia

Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...

.

Career

The chronology of the early stages of Petreius’ career is unclear. He was in any case the first in his family line to enter into the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

. Sallust

Sallust

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust , a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines...

 describes him as a military man, who in 62 BC already had a thirty-year-long career in the army as Military tribune

Military tribune

A military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...

, Prefect

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 and Legate

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...

 behind him. Petreius served at the latest in 64 BC as Praetor, although the exact year he took on this position is unknown.

Petreius served as Legate under the Consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 Gaius Antonius Hybrida

Gaius Antonius Hybrida

Gaius Antonius Hybrida was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius Orator and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus; his mother is unknown. He was the uncle of the famed triumvir Mark Antony....

 in 63/62 BC. He led the Senatorial forces in the victory over the revolutionary Lucius Sergius Catilina at Pistoria

Battle of Pistoria

The Battle of Pistoria was fought in January of 62 BC between the forces of the Roman Republic and Catiline, a senatorial conspirator who wished to overthrow the republic, but failed in his objective...

 in early 62 BC, while Hybrida remained away from the battle with a foot ache. During Gaius Julius Caesar’s

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

 Consulship of 59 BC, Marcus Petreius allied himself with Caesar’s bitter opponent Marcus Porcius Cato

Cato the Younger

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...

 (the Younger).

From 55 BC, Petreius and Lucius Afranius

Lucius Afranius (consul)

Lucius Afranius was an ancient Roman legatus and client of Pompey the Great. He served with Pompey during his Iberian campaigns against Sertorius in the late 70s BC, and remained in his service right through to the Civil War. He died after the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC.-Early career:Lucius...

 administered the Spanish provinces as Legates, while the official governor Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus remained in Rome. After the outbreak of the Civil War

Caesar's civil war

The Great Roman Civil War , also known as Caesar's Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire...

 in 49 BC, Petreius and Afranius marched against Caesar, who for his part wished to secure Spain before moving against Pompey in Greece. The two Legates suffered defeat after initial successes, and were forced to capitulate and disband their army on August 2 at Ilerda

Battle of Ilerda

The Battle of Ilerda took place in June 49 BC between the forces of Julius Caesar and the Spanish army of Pompey the Great, led by his legates Lucius Afranius and Marcus Petreius...

. Caesar allowed Petreius and Afranius their freedom, and the two traveled to Greece to join Pompey’s forces. After Pompey’s defeat in the Battle of Pharsalus

Battle of Pharsalus

The Battle of Pharsalus was a decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus...

, Petreius and Cato fled from the Peloponnese to North Africa, where the former continued to serve as Legate in the resistance to Caesar. Together with Titus Labienus, Petreius again achieved several successes against Caesar. After the defeat of the Pompeians at Thapsus

Battle of Thapsus

The Battle of Thapsus took place on April 6, 46 BC near Thapsus . The Republican forces of the Optimates, led by Quintus Caecillius Metellus Scipio, clashed with the veteran forces loyal to Julius Caesar.-Prelude:...

, Petreius fled with the Numidia

Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...

n King, Juba

Juba I of Numidia

Juba I of Numidia was a King of Numidia. He was the son and successor to King of Numidia Hiempsal II.- Family :...

. As they realized the hopelessness of their situation, Petreius and Juba took their lives on an estate near Zama

Zama Minor

Zama Minor is an archaeological site in northern Tunisia. Not to be confused with Zama Regia, where, on October 19, 202 BC, there was the famous Battle of Zama.- External links :* * Catholic Encyclopedia Reference to location...

: Petreius and Juba decided upon a duel, in which Petreius killed Juba. Petreius then took his own life with the help of a slave.