Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus was a political figure in the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, serving as

consular tribune 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 ...

in 438 BC and

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...

three times in 437, 434, and 426 BC. Prior to gaining the imperium Aemilius was, in 446 BC, elected

Quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

together with Lucius Valerius Potitus. They were, according to

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

, the first elected quaestors of the Republic. His first and third dictatorships involved wars against the Veintines and Fidenates. He was victorious both times, capturing Fidenae in 426 BC. His second dictatorship in 434 BC was occasioned by fear of an impending war with

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscans. Thei ...

, but that war never materialized. Aemilius Mamercinus instead used his office to propose cutting the term of the

censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

from five years to eighteen months. This change was vigorously opposed by 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 ...

but loved by the

people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

, so he submitted the ''lex Aemilia de censura minuenda'' to the

Tribal Assembly The Tribal Assembly (''comitia populi tributa'') was an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens convened by tribes (''tribus''). In the Roman Republic, citizens did not elect legislative representatives. Instead, they voted themselves on legis ...

, which approved it. In retaliation, the censors used the power of their office to strike him from his

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

, increase his tax burden eight-fold, and brand him an aerarian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aemilius Mamercinus, Mamercus 5th-century BC Romans Roman consular tribunes Ancient Roman dictators Aemilii