Lucius Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus, A. f. A. n. (or "Lucius Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus, son of Aulus, grandson of Aulus", see Roman filiation), was a politician of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, of the

Manlia gens The gens Manlia () was one of the oldest and noblest patrician houses at Rome, from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus, consul in 480 BC, and fo ...

, who lived in the 4th century BCE. He was the father of the noted general of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus was a famous politician and general of the Roman Republic, of the old gens Manlia. He had an outstanding career, being Roman consul, consul three times, in 347, 344, and 340 BC, and Roman dictator, dictator thr ...

, though is described by ancient authors as a "domineering" father, who, in Titus's youth, banished his young son to agricultural labor in the countryside on account of his son's

speech disorder Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is c ...

. Manlius was appointed ''

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 ...

'' in 363 BCE to perform the rite of '' clavum fingere'' to mollify the angry gods, on account of the

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

s of disease and severe flooding that Rome experienced in that year.

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 Libri The ''History of Rome'', perhaps originally titled , and frequently referred to as (), is a monumental history of ancient Rome, written in Latin between 27 and 9 BC by the Roman historian Titus Livius, better known in English as "Livy". ...

'' 7.3-5, 10; 8.7, 12

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 ...

'' 16.2 The ancient historian

wrote that the ritual of taking office required driving a nail into the

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (; ; ), was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill. It was surrounded by the ''Area Capitolina'', a precinct where numer ...

in a religious ritual of

atonement Atonement, atoning, or making amends is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some othe ...

, perhaps as an

apotropaic magic Apotropaic magic (From ) or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tr ...

gesture to ward off sickness. Livy also writes that Manlius appeared to be more interested in war than in the religious mandate he had been given, which gave rise to the opposition of the

Roman senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...

, and he was brought to trial for numerous charges in the following year, including his display of cruelty to his own son. His son Titus, when he heard the charges, hastened to Rome and physically threatened the

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

Marcus Pomponius with a knife in a (successful) bid to get the charges dropped, which added to Titus's own legend and esteem in the eyes of the Roman people.

References

Ancient Roman dictators Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain Manlii 4th-century BC Romans {{DGRBM, author=WS, title= Capitolinus, Manlius (8) , volume=1, page=, url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dcapitolinus-manlius-bio-8