Titus Larcius
Encyclopedia
Titus Lartius, surnamed either Flavus or Rufus, was one of the leading men of the early Roman Republic
, twice consul
and the first Roman dictator
.
is also spelled Larcius and Largius, were an Etruscan
family at Rome
during the early years of the Republic. Their nomen is derived from the Etruscan praenomen
Lars. Titus' brother, Spurius Lartius
, was one of the heroes of the Republic, who defended the wooden bridge
over the Tiber
at the side of Horatius Cocles
and Titus Herminius
. He was also twice consul, in 506 and 490 B.C.
. During their year of office, there was a disturbance at Rome, which was attributed to the actions of a group of young Sabines. Only the previous year, the consul Spurius Cassius Viscellinus had defeated the Sabines near Cures
, and for a while it appeared that the war might be rekindled. Tensions were also high because it was anticipated that war with the Latins
was imminent. Octavius Mamilius
, the prince of Tusculum
, and son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
, the seventh and last King of Rome
, was forming an alliance amongst the thirty towns of Latium
, with the aim of restoring Tarquin to the throne.
In these circumstances it was decided to appoint a single magistrate, originally called the praetor maximus or magister populi, "master of the infantry", but afterwards known simply as the dictator, to oversee the defense of the city. The dictator held supreme authority in the exercise of his duties, and the people had no right to appeal from his decisions, as they could under the consuls. However, the command of the dictator was limited to a period of six months. The senate
directed the consuls to nominate a dictator, and Cominius chose his colleague, Lartius. The dictator then proceeded to nominate Spurius Cassius, who had triumphed over the Sabines the previous year, as his magister equitum
, or "master of the horse".
The creation of this magistracy is said to have alarmed the Sabines, who sent envoys to Rome in order to avert war. The negotiations were unsuccessful, and war was declared, but both sides were reluctant to take the field, and no battle occurred. During the remainder of his office, Lartius held the census, negotiated with the various Latin towns in hopes of retaining some old allies and gaining new ones, and presided over the consular elections for the following year. He then laid down his office before the expiration of his term, setting a precedent for future dictators.
He held the consulship a second time in 498 B.C., with Quintus Cloelius Siculus. During this year, the long anticipated war with the Latins began. The dictator Aulus Postumius Albus
led the Roman forces to victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus
, while the consul Lartius captured the town of Fidenae
. After leaving his magistracy, Lartius is said by Dionysius to have dedicated the temple of Saturn
at the foot of the Capitoline Hill
.
In 494, Lartius advocated measures to relieve the plebs
from the burdens of debt; and in the following year, when the plebeians seceded
from the city and encamped on the Mons Sacer, Lartius was one of the envoys sent by the senate to treat with them. The embassy was successful, and resulted in the institution of the tribunes of the people
. Also in 493, Lartius served as legate
to the consul Cominius, his colleague in 501, at the siege of Corioli
, where Gaius Marcius Coriolanus gained fame through his valor.
, consul in 505 B.C. However, the historian Titus Livius
felt it unlikely that a man who had not yet been consul would be appointed the first dictator, or that Manius Valerius would have been nominated in place of his father. Another tradition places the institution of the dictatorship three years later, in 498 B.C., during Lartius' second consulship. In that year, Livius states that Aulus Postumius Albus was appointed dictator, and led the Roman army to victory over the Latins at the Battle of Lake Regillus. However, this battle is also placed by some authorities in 496, when Postumius was consul.
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...
, twice consul
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
and the first Roman dictator
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
.
Background
The Lartii, whose nomenRoman naming conventions
By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen...
is also spelled Larcius and Largius, were an Etruscan
Etruscan 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...
family at Rome
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....
during the early years of the Republic. Their nomen is derived from the Etruscan praenomen
Praenomen
The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...
Lars. Titus' brother, Spurius Lartius
Spurius Lartius
Spurius Lartius, surnamed either Flavus or Rufus, was one of the leading men of the early Roman Republic, of which he was twice consul...
, was one of the heroes of the Republic, who defended the wooden bridge
Pons Sublicius
The earliest known bridge of ancient Rome, Italy, the Pons Sublicius, spanned the Tiber River near the Forum Boarium downstream from the Tiber Island, near the foot of the Aventine Hill. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Ancus Martius around 642 BC, but this date is...
over the Tiber
Tiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...
at the side of Horatius Cocles
Horatius Cocles
Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the ancient Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Lars Porsena, king of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium.-Background:...
and Titus Herminius
Titus Herminius Aquilinus
Titus Herminius, surnamed Aquilinus, was one of the heroes of the Roman Republic. He participated in two of the most famous conflicts that attended the birth of the Republic, and was elected consul in 506 BC...
. He was also twice consul, in 506 and 490 B.C.
Career
Lartius' first consulship was in 501 B.C., the ninth year of the Republic. His colleague was Postumus Cominius AuruncusPostumus Cominius Auruncus
Postumus Cominius Auruncus served as consul of the Roman Republic in 501 BC, together with Titus Lartius, and again in 493 BC, together with Spurius Cassius Viscellinus....
. During their year of office, there was a disturbance at Rome, which was attributed to the actions of a group of young Sabines. Only the previous year, the consul Spurius Cassius Viscellinus had defeated the Sabines near Cures
Cures
Cures, a Sabine town between the left bank of the Tiber and the Via Salaria, about 26 km. from Rome. According to legend, it was from Cures that Titus Tatius led to the Quirinal the Sabine settlers, from whom, after their union with the settlers on the Palatine, the whole Roman people took the...
, and for a while it appeared that the war might be rekindled. Tensions were also high because it was anticipated that war with the Latins
Latins (Italic tribe)
The Latins were a people of ancient Italy who included the inhabitants of the early City of Rome. From ca. 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small part of the peninsula known to the Romans as Old Latium , that is, the region between the river Tiber and the promontory of Monte Circeo The Latins (or...
was imminent. Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius was princeps of Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium. He was the son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome...
, the prince of Tusculum
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...
, and son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...
, the seventh and last King of Rome
King of Rome
The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for...
, was forming an alliance amongst the thirty towns of Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
, with the aim of restoring Tarquin to the throne.
In these circumstances it was decided to appoint a single magistrate, originally called the praetor maximus or magister populi, "master of the infantry", but afterwards known simply as the dictator, to oversee the defense of the city. The dictator held supreme authority in the exercise of his duties, and the people had no right to appeal from his decisions, as they could under the consuls. However, the command of the dictator was limited to a period of six months. 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...
directed the consuls to nominate a dictator, and Cominius chose his colleague, Lartius. The dictator then proceeded to nominate Spurius Cassius, who had triumphed over the Sabines the previous year, as his magister equitum
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
, or "master of the horse".
The creation of this magistracy is said to have alarmed the Sabines, who sent envoys to Rome in order to avert war. The negotiations were unsuccessful, and war was declared, but both sides were reluctant to take the field, and no battle occurred. During the remainder of his office, Lartius held the census, negotiated with the various Latin towns in hopes of retaining some old allies and gaining new ones, and presided over the consular elections for the following year. He then laid down his office before the expiration of his term, setting a precedent for future dictators.
He held the consulship a second time in 498 B.C., with Quintus Cloelius Siculus. During this year, the long anticipated war with the Latins began. The dictator Aulus Postumius Albus
Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis
Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis was an ancient Roman who, according to Livy, was dictator in 498 BC, when he conquered the Latins in the great Battle of Lake Regillus. Many of the coins of the Albini commemorate this victory of their ancestor, as in the one pictured...
led the Roman forces to victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus
Battle of Lake Regillus
The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary early Roman victory, won over the Latin League led by the expelled Etruscan former king of Rome. It is usually said to have occurred in 498 BC, but other dates have been proposed, including 499 BC, 496 BC and 493 BC.The battle may be entirely legendary,...
, while the consul Lartius captured the town of Fidenae
Fidenae
Fidenae, or Fidenes, home of the Fidenates, was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the Via Salaria, which ran between it and the Tiber. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan...
. After leaving his magistracy, Lartius is said by Dionysius to have dedicated the temple of Saturn
Saturn (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in...
at the foot of the Capitoline Hill
Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...
.
In 494, Lartius advocated measures to relieve 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...
from the burdens of debt; and in the following year, when the plebeians seceded
Secessio plebis
Secessio plebis was an informal exercise of power by Rome's plebeian citizens, similar to a general strike taken to the extreme. During a secessio plebis, the plebs would simply abandon the city en masse and leave the patrician order to themselves...
from the city and encamped on the Mons Sacer, Lartius was one of the envoys sent by the senate to treat with them. The embassy was successful, and resulted in the institution of the tribunes of the people
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...
. Also in 493, Lartius served as 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...
to the consul Cominius, his colleague in 501, at the siege of Corioli
Corioli
Corioli, an ancient Volscian city in Latium adiectum, taken, according to the Roman annals in 493 BC, with Longula and Pollusca, and retaken for the Volsci by Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, its original conqueror, who, in disgust at his treatment by his countrymen, had deserted to the enemy.After this...
, where Gaius Marcius Coriolanus gained fame through his valor.
Historical uncertainty
An alternative tradition states that the first dictator was Manius Valerius, the son of Marcus Valerius VolususMarcus Valerius Volusus
Marcus Valerius Volusus was a Roman consul with Publius Postumius Tubertus in 505 BC....
, consul in 505 B.C. However, the historian Titus Livius
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
felt it unlikely that a man who had not yet been consul would be appointed the first dictator, or that Manius Valerius would have been nominated in place of his father. Another tradition places the institution of the dictatorship three years later, in 498 B.C., during Lartius' second consulship. In that year, Livius states that Aulus Postumius Albus was appointed dictator, and led the Roman army to victory over the Latins at the Battle of Lake Regillus. However, this battle is also placed by some authorities in 496, when Postumius was consul.