Spurius Nautius Rutilus was a

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 Or ...

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 ...

in 424 BC. Nautius belonged to the patrician Nautia gens. Filiations indicate that he was the son, or more likely the grandson of Spurius Nautius Rutilus, the consul of 488 BC. Nautius himself seems to be the father of Spurius Nautius Rutilus, consular tribune in 419, 416 and 404 BC, and Gaius Nautius Rutilus, consul in 411 BC.

Consular tribune

In 424 BC Nautius was elected as consular tribune together with Appius Claudius Crassus,

Lucius Sergius Fidenas Lucius Sergius Fidenas was a Roman politician during the 5th century BC, and was elected consul in 437 and 429 BC. In 433, 424, and 418 BC he was military tribune with consular power. Family He was a member of the ''Sergii Fidenates'', a branch o ...

and

Sextus Julius Iulus Sextus Julius Iulus was a consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 424 BC. Julius belonged to the patrician Julia gens and the branch known as the Julii Iuli, one of the early republics most influential families having produced five consuls pri ...

. Nautius seems to have spent most of his consular time outside of Rome, probably leading armies in the field, as

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 ...

mentions that only his colleague Claudius remained in Rome for the

comitia The Roman assemblies were meetings of the Roman people duly convened by a magistrate. There were two general kinds of assemblies: a '' contio'' where a crowd was convened to hear speeches or statements from speakers without any further arrangem ...

and the election of the consular college of 423 BC.

Chronograph of 354 The Chronograph of 354 is a compilation of chronological and calendrical texts produced in 354 AD for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus by the calligrapher and manuscript illuminator, illustrator Furius Dionysius Filocalus. The origina ...

(Crasso et Fidenas) Nautius is not mentioned after 424 BC but both his sons, Spurius and Gaius, became successful politicians, achieving consular powers in 419 and 411 BC respectively. Livy in reporting the consular college of 424 BC has Nautius named Naevius, 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 ...

gens, but soon after confirms that all the consular tribunes of 424 were patricians and in a later chapter has him named Nautius. As other sources, such as

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 ...

, also has him named Nautius, it is most likely that the Naevius mentioned by Livy is a mistake on the part of the ancient historian or later transcribers.Broughton, vol i, pp.68, note. 1

References

{{s-end 5th-century BC Romans Roman consular tribunes Roman Republic

Consular tribune

See also

References