Gaius Volusenus
Encyclopedia
Gaius Volusenus Quadratus (fl.
mid-1st century BC) was a distinguished military officer of the Roman Republic
. He served under Julius Caesar
for ten years, during the Gallic Wars
and the civil war of the 40s
. Caesar praises him for his strategic sense and courageous integrity.
in the 12th Legion
under the legate
Servius Galba
, and distinguished himself in battle when Galba was defeated by the Nantuates
in 57 BC.
In 55
BC Volusenus was sent out by Caesar in a single warship to undertake a week-long survey of the coast of south eastern Britain
prior to Caesar's invasion
. He probably examined the Kent
coast between Hythe
and Sandwich
. When Caesar set off with his troops however he arrived at Dover
and saw that landing would impossible. Instead he travelled north and landed on an open beach, probably near Walmer
. Volusenus had evidently failed to find a suitable harbour, which would have prevented the damage Caesar's exposed ships would suffer at high tide. The great natural harbour at Richborough
, a little further north, was used by Claudius
in his invasion just 100 years later, but we do not know whether Volusenus travelled that far, or indeed whether it existed in a suitable form at that time (our knowledge of the geomorphology
of the Wantsum Channel
that created that haven is limited).
Volusenus later became Praefectus Equitum (cavalry commander). In 53 BC, during the revolt of Ambiorix
, he was sent ahead by Caesar with cavalry to relieve Quintus Cicero
, who was besieged by the Sugambri in Atuatuca, but found it difficult to convince the terrified defenders that the rest of Caesar's army was not far behind.
When the legate
Titus Labienus
suspected Commius
, the formerly loyal king of the Atrebates
, of conspiring against them in the winter of 54
or 53 BC
, he invited him to a meeting and sent Volusenus and some centurion
s to execute him for his treachery. Commius escaped, but sustained a wound to the head.
In 51 BC
Volusenus was serving as commander of cavalry under Mark Antony
, and in the winter of that year was ordered by Antony to pursue Commius, who was conducting a campaign of agitation and guerrilla warfare
. He defeated him in several skirmishes, and finally destroyed Commius's forces in a single engagement, although at the cost of a spear-wound to the thigh. S.P. Oakley sees this encounter as an unusual example of single combat in the Late Republic, echoing duels between Romans and physically superior Celts in the Early Republic. Commius himself escaped and later sued for peace on the condition that he never again had to meet a Roman.
In 48 BC, during the Civil War
, an attempt to assassinate Volusenus was made by Aegus and Roscillus
, two noble brothers of the Celtic Allobroges
who had served in Caesar's cavalry throughout the Gallic Wars. The brothers had been caught defrauding their comrades of pay and decided to defect to Pompey
's side. The death of Volusenus was meant to render Pompey useful service, but the task proved too difficult, and they were forced to defect without any such token.
Ronald Syme
noted that Volusenus's decade-long tour of duty might have been uncommon for a man of his equestrian social rank, many of whom "owed their commissions less to merit than to the claims of friendship and influence or the hope of procuring gain and political advancement." The exemplary career of Volusenus, like that of Decidius Saxa
, indicates that even in the Late Republic an equestrian might choose to excel as a career officer rather than as a publican or businessman. Volusenus is one of only three ranking officers to whom Caesar ascribes the quality of virtus
.
of one of Cicero's speeches against Mark Antony
, Volusenus was sometimes identified by 19th-century scholars as a tribune
of the plebs
in 43 BC. The passage, and Volusenus's documented loyalty to Caesar, was thus interpreted to mean that he was a supporter of Mark Antony
, but two other manuscripts indicate that the proper noun is in fact a verb (voluissent) and neither Cicero nor any other source mentions Volusenus among Antony's followers. T.R.S. Broughton does not record a plebeian tribunate for Volusenus in The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, confirming only that Volusenus was a military tribune in 56 and held the rank of praefectus equitum in 52–51 and again in 48.
in origin (as Volasenna), but some scholars have attributed an Umbri
an origin to the family, based on inscriptional
evidence.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
mid-1st century BC) was a distinguished military officer of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. He served under Julius Caesar
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....
for ten years, during the Gallic Wars
Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gallic tribes. They lasted from 58 BC to 51 BC. The Gallic Wars culminated in the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC, in which a complete Roman victory resulted in the expansion of the...
and the civil war of the 40s
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...
. Caesar praises him for his strategic sense and courageous integrity.
Military service
During the Gallic War Volusenus served as Tribunus MilitumTribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
in the 12th Legion
Legio XII Fulminata
Legio duodecima Fulminata , also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was a Roman legion, levied by Julius Caesar in 58 BC and which accompanied him during the Gallic wars until 49 BC. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the...
under the 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...
Servius Galba
Servius Sulpicius Galba (praetor 54 BC)
Servius Sulpicius Galba, praetor in 54 BC.As legate of Julius Caesar's 12th Legion during his Gallic Wars, he was defeated by the Nantuates in 57 BC. Later, however, angered due to Caesar's opposition to his campaign for the consulship, he joined the conspiracy with Brutus and Cassius, and was...
, and distinguished himself in battle when Galba was defeated by the Nantuates
Nantuates
The Nantuates or Nantuatae were an ancient people of modern day Switzerland, whose territory extended into adjacent areas now in modern-day France....
in 57 BC.
In 55
55
Year 55 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Vetus...
BC Volusenus was sent out by Caesar in a single warship to undertake a week-long survey of the coast of south eastern Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
prior to Caesar's invasion
Caesar's invasions of Britain
In his Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice, in 55 and 54 BC. The first invasion, made late in summer, was either intended as a full invasion or a reconnaissance-in-force expedition...
. He probably examined the Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
coast between Hythe
Hythe, Kent
Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....
and Sandwich
Sandwich, Kent
Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....
. When Caesar set off with his troops however he arrived at Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
and saw that landing would impossible. Instead he travelled north and landed on an open beach, probably near Walmer
Walmer
Walmer is a town in the district of Dover, Kent in England: located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is six miles north-east of Dover. Largely residential, its coastline and castle attract many visitors...
. Volusenus had evidently failed to find a suitable harbour, which would have prevented the damage Caesar's exposed ships would suffer at high tide. The great natural harbour at Richborough
Richborough
Richborough is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet....
, a little further north, was used by Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
in his invasion just 100 years later, but we do not know whether Volusenus travelled that far, or indeed whether it existed in a suitable form at that time (our knowledge of the geomorphology
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
of the Wantsum Channel
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel is the name given to a now silted-up watercourse separating the Isle of Thanet and what was the mainland of the English county of Kent...
that created that haven is limited).
Volusenus later became Praefectus Equitum (cavalry commander). In 53 BC, during the revolt of Ambiorix
Ambiorix
Ambiorix was, together with Catuvolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul , where modern Belgium is located...
, he was sent ahead by Caesar with cavalry to relieve Quintus Cicero
Quintus Tullius Cicero
Quintus Tullius Cicero was the younger brother of the celebrated orator, philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was born into a family of the equestrian order, as the son of a wealthy landowner in Arpinum, some 100 kilometres south-east of Rome.- Biography :Cicero's well-to-do father...
, who was besieged by the Sugambri in Atuatuca, but found it difficult to convince the terrified defenders that the rest of Caesar's army was not far behind.
When the 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...
Titus Labienus
Titus Labienus
Titus Atius Labienus was a professional Roman soldier in the late Roman Republic. He served as Tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC, and is remembered as one of Julius Caesar's lieutenants, mentioned frequently in the accounts of his military campaigns...
suspected Commius
Commius
Commius was a historical king of the Belgic nation of the Atrebates, initially in Gaul, then in Britain, in the 1st century BC.-Ally of Caesar:...
, the formerly loyal king of the Atrebates
Atrebates
The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
, of conspiring against them in the winter of 54
54 BC
Year 54 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Appius and Ahenobarbus...
or 53 BC
53 BC
Year 53 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Calvinus...
, he invited him to a meeting and sent Volusenus and some centurion
Centurion
A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army .Centurion may also refer to:-Military:* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy...
s to execute him for his treachery. Commius escaped, but sustained a wound to the head.
In 51 BC
51 BC
Year 51 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellus and Sulpicius...
Volusenus was serving as commander of cavalry under Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, and in the winter of that year was ordered by Antony to pursue Commius, who was conducting a campaign of agitation and guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
. He defeated him in several skirmishes, and finally destroyed Commius's forces in a single engagement, although at the cost of a spear-wound to the thigh. S.P. Oakley sees this encounter as an unusual example of single combat in the Late Republic, echoing duels between Romans and physically superior Celts in the Early Republic. Commius himself escaped and later sued for peace on the condition that he never again had to meet a Roman.
In 48 BC, during 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...
, an attempt to assassinate Volusenus was made by Aegus and Roscillus
Aegus and Roscillus
Aegus and Roscillus were two chiefs of the Allobroges, who had served Julius Caesar with great fidelity in the Gallic Wars, and were treated by him with great distinction. They accompanied him in his campaigns against Pompey, but having been reproved by Caesar on account of depriving the cavalry...
, two noble brothers of the Celtic Allobroges
Allobroges
The Allobroges were a Celtic tribe of ancient Gaul, located between the Rhône River and the Lake of Geneva in what later became Savoy, Dauphiné, and Vivarais. Their cities were in the areas of modern-day Annecy, Chambéry and Grenoble, the modern of Isère, and modern Switzerland...
who had served in Caesar's cavalry throughout the Gallic Wars. The brothers had been caught defrauding their comrades of pay and decided to defect to Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
's side. The death of Volusenus was meant to render Pompey useful service, but the task proved too difficult, and they were forced to defect without any such token.
Ronald Syme
Ronald Syme
Sir Ronald Syme, OM, FBA was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. Long associated with Oxford University, he is widely regarded as the 20th century's greatest historian of ancient Rome...
noted that Volusenus's decade-long tour of duty might have been uncommon for a man of his equestrian social rank, many of whom "owed their commissions less to merit than to the claims of friendship and influence or the hope of procuring gain and political advancement." The exemplary career of Volusenus, like that of Decidius Saxa
Decidius Saxa
Lucius Decidius Saxa , sometimes mistaken as Decidus, was a Roman general in the 1st century BC.He was born in Spain, but perhaps of Italian origin. In 49 BC he fought as follower of Julius Caesar in Spain against an army of Pompey. In 44 BC he was tribune of the people and after the assassination...
, indicates that even in the Late Republic an equestrian might choose to excel as a career officer rather than as a publican or businessman. Volusenus is one of only three ranking officers to whom Caesar ascribes the quality of virtus
Virtus (virtue)
Virtus was a specific virtue in Ancient Rome. It carries connotations of valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths...
.
Political career?
Based on a "hopelessly corrupt" readingTextual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
of one of Cicero's speeches against Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, Volusenus was sometimes identified by 19th-century scholars as a tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
of the plebs
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
in 43 BC. The passage, and Volusenus's documented loyalty to Caesar, was thus interpreted to mean that he was a supporter of Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, but two other manuscripts indicate that the proper noun is in fact a verb (voluissent) and neither Cicero nor any other source mentions Volusenus among Antony's followers. T.R.S. Broughton does not record a plebeian tribunate for Volusenus in The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, confirming only that Volusenus was a military tribune in 56 and held the rank of praefectus equitum in 52–51 and again in 48.
Italian origin
The name Volusenus may be EtruscanEtruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
in origin (as Volasenna), but some scholars have attributed an Umbri
Umbri
The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is currently occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria....
an origin to the family, based on inscriptional
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
evidence.