Marcus Popillius Laenas (Consul 359 BC)

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Marcus Popillius Laenas was a 4th century BC A living politician of the Roman Republic who lived in the BC and belonged to the Popillier plebeian dynasty . 359, 356, possibly 354, 350 and 348 BC He served as consul in the 2nd century BC, thus holding this highest Roman state office four or five times.

Life

According to the triumphal fasts, the father of Marcus Popillius Laenas also carried the prenomen Marcus , his grandfather, however, the prenomen Gaius . The first known office of his cursus honorum is the curular aedility , which he gave in 364 BC. Chr. Held; this magistrate had only been introduced two years earlier. In this capacity, he and his counterpart organized the first ludi scaenici (theater plays) in Rome .

359 BC In BC Popillius Laenas reached the consulate for the first time, which he held together with Gnaeus Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus . Both consuls successfully fended off a sudden nocturnal attack by the Tiburtines on Rome. Popillius Laenas also held the priesthood of a Flamen Carmentalis and was carrying out a state sacrifice in this capacity during his first consulate when he heard of the revolt of a crowd against the Senate . Still wrapped in his priestly cloak, the laena , according to Cicero , he hurried to the rebellious plebs , whom he was able to calm down with the help of his authority and tongue-in- cheek skills . Through this episode, Cicero incorrectly explains the origin of Popillius' surname Laenas , which in reality may have originally been an Etruscan gentile name and was transformed into a cognomen over time.

Presumably in his capacity as aedile, Popillius Laenas condemned 357 BC. Chr. Gaius Licinius Stolo , who had campaigned for the equality of the plebeians, to a fine because Stolo is said to have broken his own agricultural law, which limits the maximum possession of state land to 500 iugera. In the following year 356 BC BC Popillius Laenas officiated as consul for the second time, this time had Marcus Fabius Ambustus as an official colleague and again war against the Tiburtines, whom he drove back to their cities; he also devastated their fields.

The Roman historian Titus Livius mentions that some annalists use the name of a consul from 354 BC. With Marcus Popillius . This is mostly identified with the here treated Marcus Popillius Laenas, who would have been consul for the third time this year. Another tradition presented by Livy and the rest of the surviving tradition name, instead of Popillius, Titus Quinctius Pennus Capitolinus Crispinus . The other consul from 354 BC In any case, was the above-mentioned Marcus Fabius Ambustus.

350 BC In BC Popillius Laenas was elected to the highest office of the state for the third or fourth time. Because his fellow consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio was suffering from an illness, he was given the sole task of fighting the Gauls , which he successfully solved by two successive victories over the enemy. In the battles that took place, however, he sustained a serious injury in that his left shoulder was pierced by a spear. Because of his military success against the Gauls, he was allowed to hold a triumph .

Popillius Laenas had his last consulate, which was his fourth or fifth, in 348 BC. Together with the younger patrician Marcus Valerius Corvus . Thereafter there is no more tradition about him. His son was the consul of the same name from 316 BC. Chr.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Sextus Pompeius Festus , De verborum significatione 436; see. Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 7, 2.
  2. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 12, 1; Diodor , Bibliothéke historiké 16, 15, 1.
  3. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 12, 1-4.
  4. ↑ Cicero, Brutus 56.
  5. ↑ Hans Volkmann : Popillius 20). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 59.
  6. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 16, 9; see. Valerius Maximus , Facta et dicta memorabilia 8, 6, 3.
  7. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 17, 1f .; Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 16, 32, 1.
  8. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 18, 10.
  9. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7, 23, 1-25, 1; Triumphal Acts, CIL I² p. 44 and 170.
  10. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 7:26; Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 16, 69, 1.
personal data
SURNAME Popillius Laenas, Marcus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laenas, Marcus Popillius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 359, 356, 354 (?), 350 and 348 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 348 BC Chr.