Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 100 BC)
Lucius Valerius Flaccus (died between 73 and 69 BC) was a
Life and career
Flaccus belonged to the patrician gens Valeria, one of the most important gentes of the Republic. Flaccus' ancestors reached the consulship over five generations; his grandfather was consul in 152, his father was consul in 131 and also Flamen Martialis, the sacred priest of Mars. In addition, Flaccus had two homonymous cousins active during his lifetime: Gaius Valerius Flaccus, who became consul in 93, and Lucius Valerius Flaccus, consul in 86.
The earliest official capacity recorded for Lucius Flaccus is monetalis ("moneyer"), a common preliminary to the political career track for young men of senatorial rank. In 108 or 107 BC, Flaccus issued coinage depicting Victory and Mars. Flaccus was elected praetor sometime before 103 BC. In 100, he was the colleague of Gaius Marius for Marius' sixth consulship. He was so little at variance with Marius that his contemporary Rutilius Rufus, in his non-extant history, disparaged him as "more a servant than a colleague."[2]
In 97, Flaccus was
Flaccus served as
Religious office
Lucius Flaccus was flamen Martialis[10] when he died, sometime after the cooptation of Julius Caesar to the pontifical college in 73 and before that of the Publius Sulpicius Galba who was praetor around 66.[11] The year Flaccus acquired the priesthood is undetermined. The iconography of coinage he issued as monetalis in 108 or 107 BC includes a flamen's distinctive cap. His father also had served as the high priest of Mars, and the image may refer to this heritage; since sons often succeeded fathers in religious office, it is possible that the coin also marks the beginning of his own priesthood.
Role in civil war
In an address to the senate, Flaccus urged concordia ("harmonious order") and took the initiative by sending envoys to Sulla in
Flaccus was chosen in 82 BC by the senate – at the instigation of Sulla – as
Flaccus is thought to have influenced his cousin Gaius Valerius Flaccus to support, or at least to accept the necessity of, Sulla's regime. Gaius was the brother of the Lucius Flaccus who was murdered in Asia in 85; he was
References
- ^ Unless otherwise noted, dates and offices for Lucius Valerius Flaccus are from T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), pp. 6–7, 66– 68, 76, 79, 83, 135, 137 (note 13), 629.
- ^ Quoted by Plutarch, Marius 28.8.
- E. Badian, "Caepio and Norbanus," Historia 1957, as reprinted in Studies in Greek and Roman History (New York 1964), p. 48.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini, Degrassi 54f., 128, 478f.; Valerius Maximus 2.9.5.
- ^ Asconius, note to In Scaurum 18 and 22c.
- ^ Robin Seager, "Sulla," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 1994), 2nd ed., vol. 9, p. 181 online.
- ^ Francis X. Ryan, Rank and Participation in the Roman Senate (Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998), p. 191 online and p. 194.
- ^ Cicero, Ad Atticum 9.15.2, De Lege Agraria contra Rullum 3.5, Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino 125; Appian, Bellum civile 1.98.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini in Degrassi 54f., 130, 484f.
- ^ Cicero, Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo 27, De Divinatione 1.104, Varro, De lingua latina 6.21. The passages from Cicero's treatise on divination and from Varro less likely refer to the Lucius Valerius Flaccus who was consul in 131 and also a flamen Martialis, but the reference from Rab. Perd. points to the consul of 100.
- ^ Ryan, Rank and Participation, pp. 191–194, offers a highly detailed discussion of evidence for his date of death.
- ^ Cicero, Ad Atticum 8.3.6.
- ^ Michael Lovano, The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002), p. 55.
- ^ Lovano, The Age of Cinna, p. 81; Christoph F. Konrad, Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary (University of North Carolina Press, 1994), p. 86 online.
- ^ Lovano, The Age of Cinna, pp. 105–113, limited preview online.
- ^ Appian, Bellum civile 1.98; the letter from Sulla is discussed at length in H. Bellen, "Sullas Brief an den interrex L. Valerius Flaccus. Zur Genese der sullanischen Diktatur," Historia 24 (1975) 555-569. The letter may have preceded Flaccus's speech to the senate.
- ^ Cicero, Ad Atticum 9.15.2, Leges Agrariae 3.5, Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino 125; Appian, Bellum civile 1.98; Erik Hildinger, Swords Against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic (Da Capo Press, 2002), p. 209 online.
- ^ H.H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 (Routledge, 1988), p. 79 online.
- ^ Fast. Cap. in Degrassi 54f., 130, 484f.
- ^ Bruce W. Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda: The Collapse of the Cinnan Republic," American Journal of Philology 92 (1971), p. 597.
Selected bibliography
- Lovano, Michael. The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome. Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002. Limited preview online.
- Ryan, Francis X. Rank and Participation in the Roman Senate. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998.