Lucius Julius Iullus ( 438–430 BC) was a member of the ancient patrician

gens Julia The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families of ancient Rome. From the early decades of the Republic, members of this gens served in the highest offices of the Roman state, beginning with Gaius Julius Iulus, consul in 489 ...

. He was one of the

consular tribunes A consular tribune was putatively a type of magistrate in the early Roman Republic. According to Roman tradition, colleges of consular tribunes held office throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC during the so-called " Conflict of the O ...

of 438 BC,

magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be n ...

in 431, and

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in 430 BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 657.

Family

Lucius was the son of Vopiscus Julius Iulus, who had been consul in 473 BC, and grandson of the Gaius Julius Iulus who had been consul in 489. His uncle

Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (biblical figure) (1st century AD) *Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist * Gaius Acilius * Gaius Antonius * Gaius Antonius Hybrida * Gaius Asinius Gal ...

was consul in 482 BC, and the Gaius Julius Iulus who was consul in 447 and again in 435 was his cousin. He was the father of Lucius Julius Iulus, consular tribune in 401 and 397 BC. The Sextus Julius Iulus who was consular tribune in 424 might have been Lucius' younger brother, or perhaps a cousin.

Career

Consular tribune

The year before his election, Rome suffered through a severe grain shortage, and in order to forestall famine, a wealthy plebeian merchant named

Spurius Maelius Spurius Maelius (died 439 BC) was a wealthy Roman plebeian who was slain because he was suspected of intending to make himself king. Biography During a severe famine, Spurius Maelius bought up a large amount of wheat and sold it at a low price to ...

, who had purchased large stores of grain, sold it to the people at a low price. The patrician Lucius Minucius Augurinus, who was ''praefectus annonae'', or president of the grain market, accused Maelius of conspiring to overthrow the state, and

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus () was a Ancient Rome, Roman patrician (ancient Rome), patrician, Roman Senate, statesman, and Roman army, military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a famous model of Virtus (virtue), Roman virtue—parti ...

was nominated

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

to deal with the emergency. Cincinnatus summoned Maelius to appear before him and answer the charges, and when he refused the merchant was cut down by

Gaius Servilius Ahala Gaius Servilius Ahala ( 439 BC) was a 5th-century BC politician of ancient Rome, considered by many later writers to have been a hero. His fame rested on the contention that he saved Rome from Spurius Maelius in 439 BC by killing him with a dagg ...

, the magister equitum. To the plebeians, the accusation and killing of Maelius was nothing short of the murder of someone who had come to their aid, and they refused to permit the election of consuls for the following year. In place of consuls, three men were elected consular tribunes:

Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus was a political figure in the Roman Republic, serving as consular tribune in 438 BC and dictator three times in 437, 434, and 426 BC. Prior to gaining the imperium Aemilius was, in 446 BC, elected Quaestor together wi ...

, whom Livy calls "a man of high distinction", received the most votes, probably reflecting the confidence the plebeians had in his even-handedness, followed by

, son of the dictator, presumably representing the aristocratic party, and Lucius Julius Iulus. During their year of office, the Latin city of

Fidenae Fidenae () was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the '' Via Salaria''. Its inhabitants were known as Fidenates. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represent ...

, long dominated by Rome, gave its allegiance to the

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

Lars Tolumnius Lars Tolumnius (Etruscan language, Etruscan: Larth Tulumnes, d. 437 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan Civilization, Etruscan city-state of Veii. He is best remembered for instigating, and decisively losing, a war with the neighb ...

, King of

Veii Veii (also Veius; ) was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the city-st ...

. Four envoys were sent to the Fidenates to demand an explanation, and were murdered, ostensibly on the orders of Tolumnius. The breaking of the alliance and murder of the Roman envoys prompted the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

to declare war against Veii and its allies, although hostilities would not begin until the following year.Livy, iv. 17. The Romans were victorious, and Tolumnius was slain in battle.

Magister equitum

Seven years later, as Rome was emerging from one of its periodic epidemics, word arrived from Rome's neighbors, the

Hernici The Hernici were an Italic tribe of ancient Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Sacco River (''Trerus''), bounded by the Volsci on the south, and by the Aequi and the Marsi on the north. History For many y ...

, that the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long stru ...

and

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

were rising in arms, and fortifying a position on

Mount Algidus Mount Algidus (, "Chilly Mountain") is the eastern rim of the dormant Alban Volcano in the Alban Hills, about southeast of Rome, Italy. The ridge is traversed by a narrow crevasse called the . It was the site of the ancient Roman Battle of Mount ...

. According to some of Livy's sources, the consuls, Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus Pennus and Gaius Julius Mento, engaged the Aequi and Volsci at Mount Algidus and were defeated. Either because of this, or the general state of disarray at Rome, in which the consuls were in perpetual disagreement, a group of moderates urged the

tribunes of the plebs Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune () was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate ...

to pressure the consuls to name a dictator. The Senate was opposed to this plan, but even as they railed against the presumption of the tribunes to compel the consuls to take action or face imprisonment, Quinctius and Mento preferred to throw in their lot with the people than with the Senate.Livy, iv. 26, 26 Predictably, the consuls could not agree on a candidate, and so the choice fell to Quinctius by lot. He nominated his father-in-law,

Aulus Postumius Tubertus Aulus Postumius Tubertus was a Roman military leader in the wars with the Aequi and Volsci during the fifth century BC. He served as ''Magister Equitum'' under the dictator Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus in 434 BC, and was dictator himself in 431.' ...

, who named Lucius Julius Iulus his master of the horse. Postumius ordered the

Latins The term Latins has been used throughout history to refer to various peoples, ethnicities and religious groups using Latin or the Latin-derived Romance languages, as part of the legacy of the Roman Empire. In the Ancient World, it referred to th ...

and Hernici to raise troops, while he assembled a Roman army. When all three forces were ready, the dictator marched for the enemy camp, leaving the Magister Equitum and the consul Julius to defend the city. The battle was extremely fierce; the dictator was wounded in the shoulder, while his cousin, Spurius Postumius Albus, who had been consul the previous year, left the field when his skull was fractured by a rock. The consul Quinctius lost an arm in the fighting, and Marcus Fabius Vibulanus, who in charge of the cavalry, had his thigh pinned to his horse by a lance. But the Romans were victorious, and all of the surviving enemies except for their senators were sold into slavery.

Consul

In the following year, 430, Lucius was elected consul, together with Gaius Papirius Crassus, over the opposition of the tribunes of the plebs, who had sought to elect consular tribunes instead. During their year of office, the Aequi sent a delegation to the Senate, requesting a treaty, and were granted an eight-year truce. The Volsci were occupied by internal dissension, and so Rome was at peace. The domestic harmony was threatened, however, when the censors, Lucius Papirius and Publius Pinarius, levied numerous fines, payable only in cattle under the terms of the '' Lex Aternia Tarpeia'' of 454 BC, thereby depriving numerous citizens of their cattle in order to enrich the state. The plebeian tribunes intended to propose a law converting the fine from one that was literally pecuniary to one payable in money, a measure that the people greatly desired. But when one of the tribunes informed the consuls of this plan, Lucius and Papirius anticipated the scheme by proposing the law themselves, thereby depriving the tribunes of what might have been seen as a victory over the patricians.Niebuhr, vol. ii. note 690.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Titus Livius (

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

), ''

Ab Urbe Condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

'' (History of Rome). *

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, ''

Bibliotheca Historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' (, ) is a work of Universal history (genre), universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the h ...

'' (Library of History). *

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''

De Republica ''De re publica'' (''On the Republic''; see below) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive f ...

''. *

Barthold Georg Niebuhr Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...

, ''The History of Rome'', Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirlwall, trans., John Smith, Cambridge (1828). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952). {{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Iullus, Lucius consul 5th-century BC Roman consuls Magistri equitum (Roman Republic) Lucius consul Roman consular tribunes