The gens Mallia was a

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

family at

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 ...

. Due to its relative obscurity, the nomen ''Mallius'' is frequently, but erroneously amended to the more common '' Manlius''. The only member of this

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

to obtain any of the higher curule magistracies under the

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

was

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was a Roman politician and general. A '' novus homo'' ("new man"), Mallius was elected to the consulship of the Roman Republic in 105 BC. He was sent as consul to the province of Transalpine Gaul to stop the migration of the ...

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 105 BC. Othere Mallii are known from epigraphy, including funerary inscriptions and military diplomas showing that various members of this gens served in auxiliary cohorts of the Roman army during imperial times.

Members

* Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, father of the consul. * Gnaeus Mallius Cn. f. Maximus, consul in 105 BC, received the province of

Transalpine Gaul Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in Occitania (administrative region) , Occitania and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Prov ...

. He quarreled with the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

Quintus Servilius Caepio Quintus Servilius Caepio may refer to: * Quintus Servilius Caepio (consul 140 BC) * Quintus Servilius Caepio (consul 106 BC) * Quintus Servilius Caepio (quaestor 103 BC) * Quintus Servilius Caepio (adoptive father of Brutus) * Quintus Servilius ...

, a member of an ancient and aristocratic house, who considered the '' novus homo'' Mallius beneath his dignity. As a result, both forces were badly defeated at the

Battle of Arausio The Battle of Arausio took place on 6 October 105 BC, at a site between the town of Arausio, now Orange, Vaucluse, and the Rhône river, where two Roman armies, commanded by proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus ...

, and Mallius lost two sons in the fighting. On their return, both men were prosecuted for their loss of the army. Servilius was defended by

Lucius Licinius Crassus Lucius Licinius Crassus (140 – September 91 BC) was a Roman orator and statesman who was a Roman consul and Roman censor, censor and who is also one of the main speakers in Cicero's dramatic dialogue on the art of oratory ''De Oratore'', set jus ...

, the famous orator, and Mallius by

Marcus Antonius Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the ...

, also a skilled rhetorician. Despite this, both men were condemned, interdicted from fire and water, and banished. * Mallius Cn. f. Cn. n., name of two sons of the consul, both killed at the battle of Arausio. * Gaius Mallius, an experienced

centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

under

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

, was recruited by

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to seize control of the Roman state in 63 BC. ...

for his

Second Catilinarian conspiracy The Catilinarian conspiracy, sometimes Second Catilinarian conspiracy, was an attempted coup d'état by Catiline, Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline) to overthrow the Roman consuls of 63 BC – Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Anton ...

in BC 63, and stationed at

Faesulae Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. F ...

, where he was charged with gathering an army and necessary supplies. After the conspiracy was revealed, Mallius had command of the right wing of Catiline's forces against the consul

Gaius Antonius Hybrida Gaius Antonius Hybrida (flourished 1st century BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius (orator), Marcus Antonius and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus; his mother is unknown. He was also the uncle o ...

, but both he and Catiline fell in battle. *

Flavius Mallius Theodorus Flavius Mallius Theodorus ( c. 376–409) was a Roman politician and author of an extant treatise on metres, ''De metris'', one of the best of its kind (H. Keil, ''Grammatici Latini'', vi.). He also studied philosophy, astronomy and geometry, and w ...

, sometimes called ''Manlius Theodorus'', consul in AD 399, and the author of ''De Rerum Natura''.

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

dedicated his ''De Vita Beata'' to Mallius.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 1053 ("Theodorus", no. 49).

References

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Bibliography

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 ...

, ''

In Catilinam The Catilinarian orations (; also simply the ''Catilinarians'') are four speeches given in 63 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the year's consuls. The speeches are all related to the discovery, investigation, and suppression of the Catili ...

De Oratore ''De Oratore'' (''On the Orator'') is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BC. It is set in 91 BC, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the Social War and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius, the oth ...

''. * Gaius Sallustius Crispus (

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

), ''Bellum Catilinae'' (The Conspiracy of Catiline), ''Bellum Jugurthinum'' (The Jugurthine War). * 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). * Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

), ''Roman History''. * ''

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 William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952). * Elena Dmitrieva,
The History of Aquisition of Jean-Baptiste Mallia's Collection of Engraved Gems by the State Hermitage Museum
, in ''Reports of the State Hermitage Museum'' (2022). Roman gentes

Members

See also

References

Bibliography