Servius Sulpicius Praetextatus was an ancient Roman politician who served four times as consular tribune, 377 BC

377 BC

Year 377 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Mamercinus, Poplicola, Cicurinus, Rufus , Cincinnatus and Cincinnatus...

, 376

376 BC

Year 376 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Mugillanus, Lanatus, Cornelius and Praetextatus...

, 370

370 BC

Year 370 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Capitolinus, Medullinus, Praetextatus, Cornelius, Volusus and Poplicola...

, and 368

368 BC

Year 368 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Cornelius, Praetextatus, Structus, Capitolinus, Crassus and Cicurinus...

. He married the elder daughter of Marcus Fabius Ambustus

Marcus Fabius Ambustus (consular tribune 381 BC)

Marcus Fabius Ambustus was an ancient Roman politician who was the son of Caeso Fabius Ambustus. He was consular tribune in 381 BC. He had two daughters, of whom the elder was married to Servius Sulpicius Praetextatus, and the younger to Gaius Licinius Stolo, one of the authors of the Lex Licinia...

. An anecdote frequently told said that his wife's sister, the younger daugh­ter of Fabius, who was married to the plebeian Gaius Licinius Stolo

Gaius Licinius Stolo

Gaius Licinius Stolo, along with Lucius Sextius, was one of the two tribunes of ancient Rome who opened the consulship to the plebeians.Records indicate he was tribune from 376 BC to 367 BC, during which he passed the Lex Licinia Sextia restoring the consulship, requiring a plebeian consul seat,...

, urged on her husband to procure the consulship for plebeians through the Lex Licinia Sextia

Lex Licinia Sextia

Lex Licinia Sextia was a Roman law introduced around 376 BCE and enacted in 367 BCE. It restored the consulship, allegedly reserved one of the two consular positions for a plebeian , and introduced new limits on the possession of conquered land.- Authors :It is named for the plebeian tribunes Gaius...

, as she was jealous of the honors of her sister's husband. As early as the turn of the 19th century, the German historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Barthold Georg Niebuhr was a Danish-German statesman and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. Classical Rome caught the admiration of German thinkers...

pointed out the historical untrustworthiness and contradictions in this tale.