Lucius Postumius Megellus (consul 305 BC)
Lucius Postumius Megellus | |
---|---|
Publius Cornelius Rufinus and Manius Curius Dentatus | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 345 BC |
Died | c. 260 BC |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Roman Empire |
Battles/wars | Second Samnite War * Battle of Bovianum Third Samnite War * Battle of Aquilonia Siege of Cominium |
Lucius Postumius Megellus (c. 345 BC – c. 260 BC) was a politician and general during the middle years of the
Six years later the
Two years later, as the war was drawing to a close, Megellus held the office which oversaw the consular elections. He exploited this to have himself elected consul, in spite of the law requiring a ten-year gap. Amidst furious arguments with his fellow consul, one of the previous year's consuls and the senate he carried the Siege of Cominium to a successful conclusion. With the war all but over he returned to Rome demanding a third triumph. This was refused, and when he left office he was tried for malfeasance and given an enormous fine.
Family
Megellus was a member of the
First consulship
Megellus’ career was marked by overbearing and oppressive behaviour in his dealings with his fellow magistrates and with the citizens of the Republic.[3] His political progress was closely entwined with his military role in the ongoing Samnite Wars, which gave him the scope to ascend to the highest levels of political office, and use his victories to further his career, regardless of the law; for example his disregard of the Lex Genucia to claim the consulship for the third time in 291.[4][5]
Megellus first came to prominence during his time as
His election as
Second consulship
With the resumption of hostilities in 298, Rome was soon in need of experienced military commanders to take the field against a coalition of enemies, with the Samnites to the south in league with the
Elected consul for the second time in 294 BC, Megellus was given command of the forces on the southern front.[18] He captured several towns in Samnium, but in Apulia he was routed and put to flight, and after being wounded he was driven into Luceria with a few of his men.[19] Returning to Rome to recover from his wounds, he dedicated the temple of Victory in Rome, built with the fines exacted during his curule aedileship.[7] When he had recovered, he again returned to campaign in Samnium, where he captured the towns of Milionia and Ferentinum.[20] Contradictory accounts have Megellus also campaigning in Etruria in 294 BC, but these are usually discounted by modern scholars.[21] At the end of the campaigning season he celebrated a triumph over the Samnites.[19][22] This triumph was notorious, as his senatorial enemies claimed that he was not entitled to one, as he had technically left the province which the Senate had assigned to him, during his return to Rome.[23] Disregarding the opposition, he celebrated it without the Senate's permission, which was customary, earning him a good deal of enmity.[24]
Third consulship
As soon as he left the office on 1 January 293, Megellus was immediately threatened with impeachment for his actions as consul by one of the tribunes, Marcus Cantius. With the ongoing crisis of the Samnite war, however, his military ability meant that he was desperately needed. Consequently, he was appointed legatus, a high military office, to the consul Spurius Carvilius Maximus, and agreement was reached to suspend his prosecution until the end of the campaigning season.[4][25] However, the victories achieved by Carvilius Maximus, especially the Battle of Aquilonia, at which Megellus fought, resulted in the trial never taking place, as his opponents believed that his popularity meant that he would have inevitably been found innocent.[20]
At the end of 292, Megellus was appointed
Over the course of the last two years, Megellus had acquired large tracts of uncleared land from the Samnites which, although they were technically
With Venusia taken, Megellus recommended that the Senate should turn it into a Roman
Later career
As a consequence of his high-handed behaviour, when he left office in 290 BC, Megellus was prosecuted by two of the tribunes on the charge of having employed troops on his own land.
Megellus’ last known activity in public life occurred in 282 BC, when Rome was asked to intercede on behalf of the town of Thurii, which was suffering raids from the Lucanians and Bruttians. When the Romans sailed their ships into the Bay of Tarentum, the Tarentines took this to be a breach of the treaty prohibiting Roman ships from entering. They successfully attacked the ships and followed up with an assault against Thurii, capturing Roman citizens in the process.[38] Rome sent Megellus to Tarentum to demand their release, and for the Tarentines to hand over those who had committed these aggressive acts against Rome.[39] His demands were rejected out of hand, and Megellus was treated without the customary respect accorded an ambassador; the Terentines mocked his Roman toga, his imperfect Greek pronunciation, and as he was led out of the town, he was even apparently urinated upon.[40]
Footnotes
- ^ There is confusion in both Livy’s and Dionysius of Halicarnassus’s accounts, with very similar events (Megellus’ demanding of a triumph, his decision to triumph in spite of Senatorial opposition, his use of the Plebeian Tribunes to further his goals) occurring after his second and third consulships, in 294 and 291 BC respectively. Scholars are divided as to whether a) the events are confused, occurring in one year only, most likely in 294 (based on the Fasti stating that it was Gurges not Megellus who received the triumph in 291 and that Megellus triumphed in 294), or b) whether two similar events were conflated. To make sense of the evidence, it appears that Megellus did demand a triumph in 294, which he staged in spite of Senatorial opposition. He then tried the same tactic again in 291; but this time he had disbanded his troops before his return to Rome, and the Plebeian tribunes interposed their veto to prevent his triumph. Given that the war was virtually over by the end of 291, and therefore the need to keep his military services available for the state was not as pressing, no further attempts were made to accommodate Megellus’ increasingly erratic behaviour. Salmon, pg, 275; Arnold, pg, 394; Forsythe, pg. 327
References
- ^ Arnold, pg. 391
- ^ Smith, pg. 1009
- ^ Arnold, pg. 391
- ^ a b c Arnold, pg. 392
- ^ Broughton, pg. 183
- ^ Broughton, pg. 165
- ^ a b c Forsythe, pg. 342
- ^ Livy 9:44
- ^ Salmon, pg. 251
- ^ Broughton, pg. 166
- ^ a b Smith, pg. 1008
- ^ Livy, viii, 9.43–44
- ^ Oakley, pg. 10
- ^ Oakley, pgs. 274; 282 & 288
- ^ Broughton, pg. 178
- ^ Oakley, pg. 292
- ^ Oakley, pg. 293; Smith, pgs. 1008-1009
- ^ Oakley, pg. 349
- ^ a b Forsythe, pg. 327
- ^ a b c d e f Smith, pg. 1009
- ^ Oakley, pg. 349; Forsythe, pgs. 326-329
- ^ Oakley, pg. 372
- ^ Oakley, pg. 374
- ^ Oakley, pg. 373
- ^ Broughton, pg. 181
- ^ Broughton, pg. 183
- ^ Arnold, pgs. 392-3
- ^ Oakley, pg. 509; Smith, pg. 1009; Arnold, pg. 393
- ^ Oakley, pg. 188
- ^ Arnold, pg. 393
- ^ a b c d Arnold, pg. 394
- ^ Salmon pg. 275
- ^ Broughton, pg. 182
- ^ Torelli, Mario, Studies in the Romanization of Italy (1995), pg. 153
- ^ Arnold, pg, 394
- ^ Oakley, pg. 509
- ^ Arnold, pg. 395
- ^ Forsythe, pgs. 350-351
- ^ Broughton, pg. 189
- ^ Forsythe, pg. 351
Sources
Ancient
Modern
- Forsythe, Gary, A Critical History of Early Rome from Prehistory to the First Punic War (2005)
- Oakley, S. P., A Commentary on Livy, Books 6-10 Vol. IV (2007)
- Salmon, E. T., Samnium and the Samnites, (2010)
- Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol I (1951)
- Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol II (1867).
- Arnold, Thomas, History of Rome (1840)