419-400BC in Rome

Chimera of Arezzo, bronze Etruscan statue

This blog post will look at the years 419-400BC in Roman history, touching briefly on other parts of Italian history where possible. The primary source for the period is Livy, in his monumental work Ab Urbe Condita, which means "From the Foundation of the City". He wrote this in the time of Augustus, so it is much later than the events described. Other sources for this time include the histories of Diodorus Siculus, who wrote about this time period and Rome, but about a generation or two earlier than Livy. Dionysius of Halicarnassus and some other historians contain some information about the period also. There are also some lists of the consuls and triumphs of the various years preserved in ancient inscriptions, such as the Fasti Capitolini and the Fasti Triumphales.

The reader should take the dates and the events with a pinch of salt. Dating was an inexact science and there are disagreements on interregnums and other events. Every date in this blog may be incorrect. Most dates for the Roman Republic follow Livy's dates, which makes the dates somewhat earlier than what they may have actually been. One should also remember that the Roman years fluctuated compared to our own, so an event that I have mentioned as happening in one year may have happened at least partly in the following year. I have taken Livy's account as my primary source.

Terracotta statue group from Veii showing Heracles
facing against Apollo, dating perhaps a century earlier 

Also, many of Livy's sources were the personal histories of the wealthy families of Rome. These were immensely proud and their recollections of their ancestors may be highly fanciful. Some of these records, as we have seen with some of the stories of Tarquin, may in fact have been transposed from Greek history. I will call out these when I can.

In the year 419BC Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, Publius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Spurius Nautius Rutilus and Caius Servilius Axilla were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. This year saw a potential slave uprising to set fires across the city and to seize the Capitol building in confusion. However, some slaves informed the Romans and the ringleaders of the plot were executed, while the informers were rewarded with freedom and a huge sum of money.

There were reports of war preparations among the Aequi during this year. Word also reached the Romans that one of the towns of the Latin League, known as Labici, was planning on joining the Aequi. Open war was not declared, but both Rome and her enemies laid their plans.

Terracotta statue of Apollo from Veii,
dating to perhaps a century earlier

In the year 418 Lucius Sergius Fidenas, Gaius Servilius Axilla and Marcus Papirius Mugillanus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. The Aequi, in conjunction with their new allies from Labici, attacked Roman territory and once more took up positions on Mount Algidus to await the Roman attack.

There was a debate between the consular tribunes as to who should lead the armies and who should stay in the city. Eventually the father of one of the tribunes, a man named Quintus Servilius, is said to have determined the matter as a father and ordered his son to stay in the city. Even if a consular tribune held the supreme power of the state, a Roman son always had to obey his father.

The other two consular tribunes continued to quarrel and the Aequi took advantage of this to inflict a defeat on the Roman army. Fortunately for Rome, Quintus Servilius had advised his son, the remaining consular tribune to levy additional troops. His son appointed Quintus Servilius as a dictator and the additional troops under the command of the Dictator Quintus Servilius marched to Mount Algidus.

The Aequi were promptly defeated and their camp ransacked. The victorious Romans then marched to the town of Labici and took it easily, sacking the city. The dictator took his victorious army back to Rome and resigned his dictatorship. Settlers were sent out to resettle Labici from Rome.

In the year 417 Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, Lucius Servilius Structus, Publius Lucretius Tricipitinus and Spurius Veturius Cassius were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. Not much happened in this year that I am aware of.

Bronze reconstruction of the Mars of Todi
Etruscan statue

In the year 416 Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, Marcus Papirius Mugilanus and Spurius Nautius Rutulus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. There were calls for land reform from the tribunes of the plebs in this year, but these were halted by the patricians suborning some of the tribunes to veto the proposal of the other tribunes, either through bribery or flattery. Thus the land reform bill came to nothing once more.

In the year 415 Publius Cornelius Cossus, Gaius Valerius Potitus, Quintus Quinctius Cincinnatus and Marcus Fabius Vibulanus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. In this year a small campaign was fought against the Aequian town of Bolae, which had attacked the Roman settlers of Labici.

In the year 414 Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Lucius Valerius Potitus, Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Marcus Postumius Regillensis were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. The Aequi had retaken Bolae and the consular tribune Postumius was sent to command the attack against them. Postumius' army did retake the town, but the high-handed behaviour of the commander began to outrage his troops. Postumius responded to every questioning of his authority with harsher and harsher punishments until finally he was murdered by his own men. In a city where warfare was so constant and where military discipline was so high, this was a truly shocking act.

In the year 413 Aulus Cornelius Cossus and Furius Medullinus were elected as consuls in Rome. Trials were held for the murder of Postumius the previous year and some few were found guilty and executed, rather than the entire army being held to blame. However tensions between the plebeians and patricians were still quite high. A small campaign was fought against the Volscians.

Terracotta statue from Veii dating to perhaps a century earlier

In the year 412 Quintus Fabius Ambustus and Gaius Furius Pacilus were elected as consuls in Rome. There was a pestilence that year, but the mortality rate was quite low, perhaps in part because most people fled the city and went into isolation in the countryside, where they neglected the harvest for fear of meeting people with the contagion.

In the year 411 Marcus Papirius Atratinus and Gaius Nautius Rutilus were elected as consuls in Rome. To alleviate the grain shortages after the sickness of the previous year they oversaw the buying of grain from Etruria and Sicily.

In the year 410 Marcus Aemilius and Gaius Valerius Potitus were elected as consuls in Rome. There was ill-feeling among the plebeians against the patricians on the subject of land reform and when the Aequi attacked the lands of the allied Hernici, one of the tribunes of the plebs attempted to block the raising of armies. However an army was eventually raised and the consul Valerius led the levied army to victory. The army was not pleased however, and Menenius, the tribune who had raised the proposal of land reform, was the subject of much admiration from the soldiers. The patricians were concerned at this.

Tomb of the Blue Demons

Around this time, the Etruscan Tomb of the Blue Demons was made in the Necropolis of Monterozzi near the Etruscan town of Tarquinia. It was a tomb built by a noble family and has the rather sinister name due to the paintings of demons, some with blue skin, on the walls of the tomb. Many Etruscan grave paintings are rather charming, but these are rather unpleasant looking, and some of the earliest indications of what would later become stereotypes of hell and hellish beings in Western culture.

In the year 409 Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus and Lucius Furius Medullinus were elected as consuls in Rome. The plebeians were very angry with the patricians for continually blocking land reform and so a number of plebeian candidates were elected as quaestors. These were combined with some plebeian tribunes from the Icilii family, who were noted for their opposition to the patricians. However, there was no real way for the plebeian magistrates to force the patricians to accede to any demands. There was trouble with the Aequi that year and Rome was too divided to properly meet the threat.

In the year 408 Gaius Julius Julus, Publius Cornelius Cossus and Gaius Servilius Ahala were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. Word came of an impending invasion from the Volscians. Gaius Servilius Ahala, after patiently waiting for his colleagues to finish their own squabbles, appointed Publius Cornelius as the Dictator of Rome. Publius Cornelius won an easy and decisive victory over the Volscians and returned to Rome to resign the office of Dictator.

Tomb of the Blue Demons

In the year 407 Lucius Furius Medullinus, Gaius Valerius Potitus, Cnaeus Fabius Vibulanus and Gaius Servilius Ahala were appointed as consular tribunes. The tribunes noted that the truce with Veii, the powerful nearby Etruscan city had expired and thus sent an embassy to Veii to ask for reparations for previous damages. The Veientes were in the midst of their own party struggles and had no satisfactory answer to Rome. However, no campaign was undertaken, as the Roman garrison at Verrugo was defeated and massacred by the Volscians and Aequi. The Roman relief force arrived too late, but was able to kill some of the Volscians who were engaged in looting the nearby countryside.

In the year 406 Publius Cornelius Rutilus Cossus, Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Cnaeus Fabius Ambustus and Lucius Valerius Potitus were elected as consuls in Rome. It was a dangerous time for the Romans, as it appeared that war with Veii was imminent, while there was still trouble with the Volscians, as well as the ever-present threat of civil strife due to the hatred between patricians and plebeians.

Terracotta figure from Veii dating perhaps a century earlier

A campaign was led against the Volscians and one of their towns was captured, with much plunder from it. The plebeian soldiers were allowed to loot the town, which eased relations between patricians and plebeians. The consuls, with the full approval of the Senate then proposed to allow soldiers to be paid. This was a huge step forward for the plebeians, even though a new tax had to be enacted to pay for it. Previously the soldiers had served at their own expense, easy enough for patricians who had slaves to work their farms, but ruinous for plebeians who had to forego working the land while still paying their own upkeep during the war. This was why the plebeians were so interested in sacking towns; it had previously been their only way of defraying the cost of their losses.

The Senate and the consuls had won the plebeians over and war on Veii was declared. Livy declares that the city of Veii was besieged and that the siege lasted for ten years, but this sounds a little too coincidentally like the siege of Troy to be accepted uncritically. Nevertheless Livy records that the Romans began to besiege Veii in this year.

In the year 405 Titus Quinctius Capitolinus, Quintus Quinctius Cincinnatus, Gaius Julius Julus, Aulus Manlius, Lucius Furius Medullinus and Manlius Aemilius Mamercus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. The siege of Veii is said to have continued. Meanwhile the Etruscan towns gathered at their council in Voltumna. They could not decide whether or not to support the Etruscan city of Veii against the Romans.

Terracotta statue from Veii dating to perhaps a century earlier

In the year 404 Gaius Valerius Potitus, Manlius Sergius Fidenas Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Gaius Fabius Ambustus and Spurius Nautius Rutilus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. The siege of Veii is said to have continued, with the Romans unable to break the city or to properly starve it out. The introduction of pay must have been brought in for this eventuality. Some of the patricians must have known that the showdown with Veii would be a long war.

Livy records that war broke out with the Volscians once more. The Romans won a victory and afterwards besieged and took the town of Artena, although this might instead have been part of the war with Veii (as Livy records a similar town name allied with the city of Veii).

In 403 Marcus Aemilius Mamercinus, Marcus Quinctilius Varus, Lucius Valerius Potitus, Lucius Julius Iulus, Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis and Marcus Furius Fusus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. Livy records that Veii had elected a king during this time and that this decision was resented by the other Etruscan cities, who for this reason failed to come to the aid of Veii, although it does not explain why they did not aid Veii in earlier years.

Detail of the Chimera of Arezzo

The siege of Veii was clearly not heavily pressed, as it was only in this year that winter quarters were constructed and the siege continued the year around. This was unusual for Rome, as normally campaigns were only conducted for short periods during the year. The tribunes of the plebs opposed the measure, but after the people of Veii sallied out against the besieging Romans, many volunteers joined the army to strengthen it and to repair the damaged siege-works.

In the year 402 Gaius Servilius Ahala, Lucius Verginius Tricostus Esquilinus, Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus, Aulus Manlius Vulso Capitolinus and Marcus Sergius Fidenas were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. During this year, the continued military operations led to a relaxation in discipline and the Romans suffered minor defeats at the hands of the Volscians and from Etruscan contingents from Falerii and Capenae who had come belatedly to the aid of Veii. With the Senate concerned at the manner in which the war was being waged, pressure was brought on the consular tribunes to resign several months early and to have the new consular tribunes elected. After some debate, this was agreed to and the two consular tribunes who were held to have been responsible for the setbacks, Verginius and Sergius, were set to be tried in the coming year.

Mars of Todi

In the year 401 Lucius Valerius Potitus, Marcus Furius Camillus, Marcus Aemilius Mamercinus, Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Caeso Fabius Ambustus and Lucius Julius Iulus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. The two offending consular tribunes of the previous year were held as scapegoats for the military failures and the increased taxation and were both heavily fined for their failures on the battlefield. In war, the Etruscan cities of Falerii and Capenae were also besieged, meaning that Rome now had four active campaigns simultaneously, as they were fighting in Volscian territory and also besieging Veii. The resources of the city must have been strained to their utmost.

In the year 400 Publius Licinius Calvus Esquilinus, Publius Manlius Vulso, Lucius Titinius Pansa Saccus, Publius Maelius Capitolinus, Spurius Furius Medullinus and Lucius Publilius Philo Vulscus were elected as consular tribunes in Rome. In a rare first in Roman politics, it appears that Publius Licinius was the first plebeian to be elected as a consular tribune in Rome. This sign of an electoral victory, however small, eased the tensions between the two orders. A victory was achieved over the Volscians when the Romans captured the town of Anxur. That year the winter was a hard one, with rivers freezing over entirely.

Even while Veii, the largest of the Etruscan cities, was fighting for its survival against the expansion of Rome, the Etruscan culture was nearing its peak in terms of art. Two of the finest artworks, the Mars of Todi and the Chimera of Arezzo date from this time period.

The Chimera of Arezzo was probably part of a larger sculpture group, showing the battle of Bellerophon and the Chimera. It shows a hybrid creature with the heads of a lion, a snake and a goat (although the current position of the snake is a modern reconstruction). The bronze work is exquisite and shows that the work of the Etruscan artists was comparable to the work of the Greeks at the time.

Chimera of Arezzo

The Mars of Todi is a bronze statue of a warrior, currently held in the Vatican Museum. This is another phenomenal bronze statue, modelled after fashions of Greek statuary and giving an accurate depiction of body armour of the time period. It was likely a votive statue to a god. There is an inscription in Umbrian, using the Etruscan script. The name of the devotee however, is Celtic.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the Romans facing against the nearby city of Veii for control of the Tiber Valley. The 5th century BC is an odd time in Roman history. We have sources such as Livy and stories from the time. Much of what Livy says is doubtless true, but the history of Rome for this century is still semi-legendary. Many of the patterns of later Roman history are evident in this time period. War was nearly constant. The offices of consul, dictator, tribune of the plebs, censor and quaestor all play important roles during this time period. The martial traditions of the Romans were continually honed, even if the campaigns were so close by that winter campaigning was only necessary at the end of the century.

Finally, this century had seen the continued Struggle of the Orders, the class rivalry between patricians and plebeians. It is important to remember however that for all the resentment between the two orders, Rome had survived the century without an outright civil war. This was better than many cities of the Mediterranean during this century.

Etruscan statue from the city of Veii

Primary Sources
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, written circa 40BC
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, written around 18BC
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, written around 18BC (a different translation)
Fasti Triumphales, written circa 19BC
Fasti Capitolini, written circa AD13

Related Blog Posts:
439-420BC in Rome
419-400BC in the Near East
419-410BC in Greece
409-410BC in Greece
The Last Blog Post