Titus Quinctius Crispinus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Titus Quinctius Crispinus († 208 BC ) came from the Roman patrician family of the Quinctier and was 208 BC. Chr. Consul . He succumbed to his injuries sustained in a skirmish with Hannibal in his consulate year .

Previous career

According to the filiation of the Fasti Capitolini , both the father and the grandfather of Titus Quinctius Crispinus carried the prenomen Lucius , but their circumstances are unknown.

Crispinus completed his steep political rise around the middle of the Second Punic War as a supporter of the important Roman politician and general Marcus Claudius Marcellus . As an older, experienced officer, he was first mentioned in 213 BC. BC called by the historian Titus Livius , who is the main source of his life. After Appius Claudius Pulcher at the end of 213 BC. After he had gone from Sicily to Rome to apply for the consulate of the following year , Crispinus took up his previous military function before Syracuse by taking Marcellus - whose legate he was probably until now - as commander of the fleet and some of the troops that Besieged Syracuse, was made.

Perhaps Crispinus fought in 212 BC. In the army of Appius Claudius Pulcher, elected consul, standing in front of Capua , in case he is identical to the Roman of the same name mentioned by Livy. After a long refusal, he allegedly let his former host, a campan named Badius , challenge him to a knightly duel in spite of their previous friendship, in which he is said to have wounded Badius on the left shoulder and captured his shield and horse. The ancient historian Friedrich Münzer believes in a historical core of this story and holds the victor over Badius with the consul of 208 BC discussed here. B.C. identical, his Canadian colleague Robert Broughton rejects such an equation. The whole anecdote could also be just a duplicate of the duel between Claudius Asellus and the Campanian Cerrinus Vibellius Taurea . Since Crispinus in any case in the same year 212 BC BC initially stayed near Syracuse and successfully repulsed an attack by the Carthaginian Hippocrates there , he would then have to have been transferred to this area of ​​operation - if he is identical to the Quinctius who was on duty off Capua. However, it seems unlikely that he separated from Marcellus just in the final stages of the conquest of Syracuse.

End of 210 BC The dictator Quintus Fulvius Flaccus , who was appointed to hold the elections for the following year, apparently carried out the election process according to the taste of Marcellus, so that his follower Crispinus 209 BC. He became praetor and in this capacity commander in chief of the troops stationed at Capua. It is not known what activities he undertook there.

Consulate and death

End of 209 BC In turn, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus presided over the elections for the coming year. This time Marcellus sat down as successful applicants for the highest office of the state - the 208 BC. BC could take up his fifth consulate - and Crispinus through. While Marcellus had been camping in Venusia (today Venosa ) for a long time since the previous year , Crispinus immediately after his election hurried to Bruttium and initially marched against Locri . But he broke off this attack when Hannibal was approaching and joined his army with his colleague, who had meanwhile withdrawn from Venusia, in order to be able to counter Hannibal decisively with united troops. In the area between Venusia and Bantia (today Banzi ), Crispinus and Marcellus awaited the Punic general, who, although approaching, did not accept an open fight against the armies of both consuls. So at first there were only minor skirmishes. Meanwhile, Hannibal had a wooded elevation between the camps of the two military opponents secretly occupied by numerous Numidian horsemen. The consuls later wanted to explore this hill as well, but got caught there with their small entourage. In the battle that ensued, Marcellus found death; Seriously wounded, however, Crispinus managed to escape.

Crispinus withdrew with his troops the next night and informed all nearby cities that Hannibal had been able to get Marcellus' signet ring. In this way he was able to prevent the Salapia community from falling into Hannibal's hands. After the Carthaginian general marched in the direction of Bruttium, Crispinus ordered the troops of his fallen comrade to move to Venusia. He himself went to Capua with his soldiers and had the Senate in Rome informed of the events. At his request, the Senate sent him three high-ranking men (including Lucius Cincius Alimentus , who also emerged as a historian ), with whom he wanted to discuss how to proceed . The ambassadors also had the task of asking Crispinus to appoint a dictator to hold the elections if he was unable to travel to Rome himself. Crispinus appointed Titus Manlius Torquatus as the electoral dictator and died soon afterwards at the end of 208 BC. At his injuries either in Taranto or in Campania . For the first time in Roman history, both consuls died in a relatively insignificant battle.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ad annum 208 BC Chr .: Titus Quinctius L. f. L. n. Crispinus .
  2. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 24,39,12.
  3. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 25,18,4-15; then Valerius Maximus 5,1,3.
  4. ^ Friedrich Münzer: Roman aristocratic parties and noble families. 1920, pp. 50 and 116.
  5. ^ Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton: Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Volume 1, 1951, p. 272.
  6. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 23,46,12.
  7. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 25,26,4 ff.
  8. ↑ Hans Georg Gundel : Quinctius 38. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume XXIV, Stuttgart 1963, Col. 1036.
  9. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27,6,12; 27.7.8 ff .; 27.22.5.
  10. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ; Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27,21,5; 27.22.1; among others
  11. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27.25.6-27.7.
  12. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27: 28,2-12.
  13. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27: 29, 1-5.
  14. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ; Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 27,33,6 f .; Polybios 10,32,1-6; Plutarch , Marcellus 29.
personal data
SURNAME Quinctius Crispinus, Titus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Crispinus, Titus Quinctius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 208 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 208 BC Chr.