ABSTRACT
For more than two millennia the reputation of L. Munatius Plancus has suffered from a steady drumbeat of denunciation, condemnation of the person arising from disapproval of what appear to be self-serving actions, and a lack of stability. Plancus' service under Antony kept Plancus in positions of trust and power for a decade, and modern scholars admit the soundness of Antony's administration of the eastern domains of Rome. No source details Plancus' administrative achievements, but Antony's decision to entrust him with his signet ring while he was to be away on campaign in 35 is confirmation of his assessment. Plancus is not mentioned in any of Cicero's letters to other people, though a brother and either another brother or cousin do appear. He appears five times in the Philippic orations but in no other speeches. The windings of Plancus' career have attracted much attention, for he worked with a series of persons who were political enemies of one another.
