Manius Iuventius Thalna

Manius Iuventius Thalna (* before 206 BC ; † 163 BC in Corsica ) was a Roman politician and senator in the first half of the 2nd century BC. In the year 163 BC He served as an ordinary consul , but died before the end of his term of office.

Live and act

Family background

Thalna is believed to have existed before 206 BC. Be born in the Lex Villia annalis from 180 BC. A minimum age of 40 years for a praetor was set and Thalna this level of his cursus honorum in the year 167 BC. Reached. He belonged to the plebeian gens of the Iuventier , who originally lived in Tusculum and whose representatives began around 200 BC. Can be proven in Rome . Allegedly a Iuventius is said to have been the first curular aedile from the plebs, but this is likely to have been a legend from the circle of the family, with which one wanted to increase one's own reputation. After all, the Thalna branch managed to rise to consulate within three generations. Titus Iuventius Thalna, Manius' father, officiated in 194 BC. BC as praetor peregrinus and thus created the basis for the later career of his son.

Tribunate and Praetor

The two episodes known to us from Thalna's political work in front of his consulate are related to the course and consequences of the Third Macedonian-Roman War (171–168 BC):

As a tribune he made himself in 170 BC. Chr., Together with his colleague Gnaeus Aufidius, the affair of several Greek delegations that raised serious accusations against Gaius Lucretius Gallus, who as praetor had commanded the Roman fleet in the war against King Perseus of Macedonia the previous year . Among other things, representatives of Chalkidas accused Gallus of having plundered their city and enslaved its inhabitants in breach of the alliance with Rome . When the Senate quoted the accused in front of them and on this occasion new accusations were made, Thalna and Aufidius announced an indictment against Gallus as part of a contio . This eventually led to its unanimous condemnation by all 35  tribes of the People's Assembly . Gallus had to pay a heavy fine. In this context, Livius describes Thalna and Aufidius as "influential and powerful" ( graviores potentioresque ) politicians of Rome.

In the following years there were tensions with Rhodes , which actually had friendly relations with the Romans. The Rhodians had offered themselves as mediators for a peace treaty between Rome and Macedonia. The Senate, however, distrusted the motives of the Rhodians, imputed them to a secret partisanship for Macedonia and issued barely veiled threats regarding punitive measures against Rhodes for the time after the expected victory over King Perseus.

Like his father before, Thalna acted as praetor peregrenius , as 167 BC. In the year after the victorious end of the war, two Rhodian delegations arrived in Rome and tried to smooth things out in bilateral relations, but were received coolly by the Senate and the consuls. According to Polybius , the ambassadors only understood how hostile parts of the Roman nobility were to the island state and how great the danger was for Rhodes when Thalna tried to bring about a declaration of war against Rhodes in the central committee and a corresponding empire to wage war for one of the incumbent To obtain magistrates . According to Livy, Thalna hoped to be entrusted with this task herself.

However, Thalna had neglected to inform the Senate and consuls of his initiative beforehand. It was probably this break with the mos maiorum in particular that prompted the tribunes Marcus Antonius and Marcus Pomponius to intercession . However, Livy accuses the two of having acted contrary to the customs of Roman politics and of having set a precedent by setting their veto before citizens were given the opportunity to express themselves for or against Thalna's motion. Antonius is said to have dragged Thalna down from the speaker's stage by force. Andreas Graeber sees Thalna's advance as an isolated case and interprets the intercession and the apparent failure of Thalna's application as evidence that during this time “the Senate, on whose behalf the people's tribunes certainly acted, was firmly in control of the glorious and ambitious magistrates held."

Consulate and death

Despite the scandal during his praetur, Thalna was made consul for the year 163 BC. Elected. He was the only one of his gens to hold office in Republican times. His colleague was Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , who died in 177 BC. Had already been consul once before. The fact that both consuls came from the plebs had previously only occurred in the years 172–170 and 167 BC. And should not be repeated for a long time afterwards.

All that is known about Thalna's consulate is that he led campaigns in Corsica, apparently against the background of sporadic revolts by the locals against Roman rule and attempts by the Romans to get the Corsican hinterland under control. The fact that a consul was entrusted with this task indicates serious problems Rome faced during this period in Corsica. However, due to the poor sources, details are not known.

After all, Thalna was so successful in his warfare that the Senate decided to hold a festival of thanks ( supplicatio ) in his honor. According to tradition, he is said to have just made a sacrifice when this message reached him in Corsica. While reading the letter, the blow hit him, so that he collapsed lifeless at the altar. Valerius Maximus deserves a mention in his compilation of curious deaths and he assumes excessive joy as the cause of death. With a mocking allusion to the minor importance of Thalna's military successes, he comments: "Here is the man who should have been entrusted with the destruction of Numantia and Carthage !" ( En cui Numantia aut Karthago excindenda traderetur! ). After Thalna's death, his colleague Gracchus, who until then had apparently been in charge of official affairs in Rome, traveled to the province of Sardinia et Corsica , probably to take over the vacant command.

literature

• Friedrich Münzer : Iuventius 30. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X, 2, Stuttgart 1919, column 1371.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cicero , Pro Plancio , 19.
2. ^ Friedrich Münzer : Iuventius . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X.2, Stuttgart 1919, column 1361.
3. ^ Cicero, Pro Plancio , 58. Münzer: Iuventius . Friedrich Münzer: Iuventius 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X.2, Stuttgart 1919, column 1362.
4. ^ Münzer: Iuventius 30. Friedrich Münzer: Iuventius 32 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X.2, Stuttgart 1919, column 1372.
5. ↑ Livy , Ab urbe condita 43, 6, 2; 7, 5-11.
6. ↑ Livy 43, 8, 1-2 and 9-10. See also: Friedrich Münzer: Lucretius 23 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIII.2, Stuttgart 1919, Sp. 1684-1686. Paul J. Burton: Friendship and Empire. Roman Diplomacy and Imperialism in the Middle Republic (353-146 BC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-19000-8 , pp. 330-331.
7. ^ Livy 43: 8, 2.
8. ^ Livy 44, 14, 8-15, 8.
9. ↑ Livy 45, 20, 4–21, 2. Polybius , Historíai 30, 4, 1–3.
10. ↑ Polybios 30, 4, 4–5 (without mentioning Thalna's name). Livy 45, 21, 1-2.
11. ^ Livy 45, 21, 3-8. Friedrich Münzer: Iuventius 30 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X.2, Stuttgart 1919, column 1371.
12. ↑ Polybios 30, 4, 6 (without mentioning Thalna's name). This detail is not mentioned in the case of Livius, whose work is incomplete at this point. See Livy 45:21, 8.
13. ^ Andreas Graeber : Auctoritas patrum. Forms and ways of senate rule between politics and tradition. Springer, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-540-41698-6 , p. 66, (At the same time: Frankfurt (Oder), European University, habilitation paper, 1996/1997).
14. ^ Münzer: Iuventius 30 .
15. ↑ Valerius Maximus , Facta et dicta memorabilia 9, 12, 3.
16. ↑ Stephen L. Dyson: The Creation of the Roman Frontier. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1985, ISBN 0-691-03577-6 , p. 267.
17. ↑ Valerius Maximus 9, 12, 3.Cf. Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia 7, 182.
18. ↑ Valerius Maximus 9:12, 3.
19. ^ Münzer: Iuventius 30 . Friedrich Münzer: Sempronius 53 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). 2nd series, Volume II.2, Stuttgart 1923, Col. 1403-1409, here Col. 1408.