Triarius, Valerius

3. C. Valerius Triarius, perhaps a brother of No. 2, was a friend of Cicero, who introduces him as one of the speakers in his dialogue De Finibus (1.5), and praises his oratory in his Brutus (100.76). His sister Valeria Paula divorced her husband in B. C. 50, and married D. Brutus. (Cael. apud Cic. ad Fam. 8.7.) On the breaking out of the civil war Triarius espoused the cause of Pompey, who appointed him and Laelius in B. C. 48 to the command of the ships which were furnished by the province of Asia. He was present at the battle of Pharsalia, and it is said to have been by his advice that Pompey ordered his troops to stand still and receive the charge of Caesar's soldiers, a mistake in the opinion of his great opponent. Triarius perished in the civil wars, probably in Africa, for Cicero speaks in B. C. 45 of his death, and adds, that Triarius had left him the guardian of his children. (Caes. Civ. 3.5, 92; Cic. Brut. 76, ad Att. 12.28.3.)