Manlia gens

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Roma
within a torque, the emblem of the Manlii Torquati. The reverse depicts a warrior charging into battle on horseback, beneath the letter 'Q', signifying Torquatus' quaestorship.

The gens Manlia (Mānlia)[1] 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 for nearly five centuries its members frequently held the most important magistracies. Many of them were distinguished statesmen and generals, and a number of prominent individuals under the Empire claimed the illustrious Manlii among their ancestors.[2]

Origin

The Manlii were said to hail from the ancient Latin city of Tusculum. The nomen Manlia may be a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen Manius, presumably the name of an ancestor of the gens.[3] The gens Manilia was derived from the same name, and its members are frequently confused with the Manlii, as are the Mallii.[2] However, Manius was not used by any of the Manlii in historical times. The Manlii were probably numbered amongst the gentes maiores, the greatest of the patrician families. As with many patrician gentes, the Manlii seem to have acquired plebeian branches as well, and one of the family was tribune of the plebs in the time of Cicero. The plebeian Manlii were probably descended from freedmen of the patricians, from members who had gone over to the plebeians, or from unrelated persons who acquired the nomen after obtaining the franchise from one of the Manlii.

Praenomina

The Manlii used the praenomina Publius, Gnaeus, Aulus, Lucius, and Marcus. The Manlii Torquati also favored the name Titus, using primarily that, Aulus, and Lucius.

A well-known story relates that after Marcus Manlius Capitolinus was condemned for treason, the Roman Senate decreed that henceforth none of the gens should bear the praenomen Marcus. However, this legend may have originated as a way to explain the scarcity of the name amongst the Manlii, as the name was rarely used in later generations.

Branches and cognomina

Denarius of Lucius Manlius Torquatus, 65 BC. The obverse depicts the head of the Sibyl, while a tripod and amphora, instruments of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, appear within a torque on the reverse.

The earliest cognomen found amongst the Manlii is Cincinnatus, better known from the Quinctia gens. This name originally referred to a person with fine, curly hair. The descendants of Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus bore the surname Vulso, meaning "plucked", perhaps chosen for its contrast to Cincinnatus.[4] Münzer, noting that the cognomen Cincinnatus is missing from the older historians, supposed that it might be a mistake, and that Vulso was the original surname of the Manlian gens.[5][6] The Manlii Vulsones flourished for over three hundred years.[7]

The Manlii Capitolini were descended from the Vulsones, and first appear in the second half of the fifth century BC. The surname Capitolinus probably indicates that the family lived on the Capitoline Hill, although the role of Marcus Manlius in saving the Capitol from the Gauls during the sack of Rome in 390 BC is also credited with establishing the name in his family.[8] The surname was relatively short-lived amongst the Manlii, being replaced by that of Torquatus. This surname was first acquired by Titus Manlius Imperiosus, who defeated a giant Gaul during a battle in 361 BC, and took his torque as a trophy, placing it around his own neck.[9] The descendants of Torquatus remained prominent until the final decades of the Republic, and adopted the torque as an emblem upon their coins. Imperiosus, a cognomen borne by Torquatus and his father, was bestowed on account of their imperious manner.[10][11] The Manlii Torquati were firmly aligned with the aristocratic party toward the end of the Republic, siding first with Sulla, then with Pompeius and the Liberatores. In later times, Torquatus was borne by the Junii Silani, who were descended from the Manlii.

The Manlii Acidini rose to prominence during the Second Punic War, but achieved only one consulship, in 179, before fading into relative obscurity. They still flourished in the time of Cicero, who praises their nobility.[12][13]

From coins of the Manlii featuring the inscriptions SER and SERGIA, Münzer concluded that one stirps of this gens bore the cognomen Sergianus, indicating descent from the Sergia gens. However, this probably referred to the tribus Sergia; a plebeian branch of the Manlii used the name of their tribe to distinguish themselves from the patrician Manlii, a practice also found among the Memmii.[14][15][16][17]

Towards the end of the Republic, several early Manlii appear without cognomina, such as Quintus and Gnaeus Manlius, tribunes of the plebs in 69 and 58 BC.[2]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Manlii Cincinnati et Vulsones

Manlii Capitolini

Manlii Torquati

the younger Marius and Papirius Carbo
.
  • Titus Manlius L. f. A. n. Imperiosus Torquatus, dictator in 353, 349, and 320; and consul in 347, 344, and 340 BC, was a celebrated general, and won the name Torquatus for defeating a Gaulish champion in single combat, and taking his torque as a trophy. He is equally remembered for the severe discipline that he imposed upon his eldest son during his final consulship.[66]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. L. n. Torquatus, while serving as prefect in 340 BC, he was put to death by his father, the consul, after disobeying orders to engage an enemy champion in single combat, hoping to replicate his father's feat.[67]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, consul in 299 BC, thrown from his horse and killed.[68]
  • Lucius Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, legate of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in the great campaign of 295 BC.[69][70]
  • Aulus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus Atticus, censor in 247 BC, consul in 244 and 241. He received a triumph during his second consulship for having thwarted a revolt of the Falisci.[71]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, consul in 235 and 224, censor in 231, propraetor in Sardinia in 215, and dictator in 208 BC. He was awarded a triumph in 235 for his campaign in Sardinia. He was also a pontiff.[72][73]
  • Aulus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, tribunus militum in 208 BC, he was killed with the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus in a Carthaginian ambush near Petelia.[74]
  • Titus Manlius A. f. T. n. Torquatus, praetor in 170 BC, consul in 165, and ambassador to Egypt in 162. He also became pontiff in 170.[75]
  • Aulus Manlius A. f. T. n. Torquatus, praetor in 167 BC, and consul in 164.[76]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. A. n. Torquatus, praetor circa 136 BC. He was defeated by the revolted slaves of Eunus in Sicily.[77][78]
  • Decimus Junius Silanus Manlianus, a natural son of Titus Manlius Torquatus, the consul of 165 BC. He was adopted into the Junii Silani. He was praetor in 142.[79][80][81][82][83]
  • Aulus Manlius T. f. A. n. Torquatus, son of Titus Manlius Torquatus, the consul of 165 BC.[84]
  • Lucius Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, quaestor between 113 and 112 BC. He minted coins during his magistracy.[85][86][iii]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, son of the praetor of circa 136 BC. He died at an old age since he was still alive in 54 to serve as witness on behalf of Gnaeus Plancius.[87][88]
  • Lucius Manlius L. f. T. n. Torquatus, proquaestor in the staff of Sulla in 82 BC, with whom he minted coins. He was then praetor in 68, perhaps proconsul of Asia in 67, consul in 65, and finally proconsul of Macedonia in 64 and 63.[89][90]
  • Titus Manlius T. f. T. n. Torquatus, possibly a praetor circa 69 BC. He studied under Apollonius Molon in Rhodes and was promised to the consulship, but died before he could be eligible.[91][92][93]
  • Manlia T. f. T. n., married her cousin Aulus Manlius Torquatus, the praetor of 70 BC.[88]
  • Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, the natural son of the consul of 65 BC, he was adopted into the Manlii by Titus Manlius Torquatus after the death of his natural son. The adoption was just an artifice to make him eligible to the college of augurs, as it already counted a member of the gens Cornelia[iv] (Faustus Cornelius Sulla), but none of the Manlii. Spinther did not even make the pretext of changing his name.[94][95][96]
  • Aulus Manlius A. f. T. n. Torquatus, praetor in 70, then propraetor of Africa in 69, and quaesitor in 52. He was also a legate of Pompeius in 67, tasked with the surveillance of the east of Spain and the Balearic Islands. He married his cousin, Manlia.[97][98][99][v]
  • Manlia, daughter of the consul of 65 and wife of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.[100]
  • Lucius Manlius L. f. L. n. Torquatus, praetor in 50 or 49 BC, was a partisan of Pompeius. After the Battle of Thapsus in 46, he failed to escape to Spain, and committed suicide with Metellus Scipio on a ship.[101][102][103][104][105]
  • Aulus Manlius L. f. L. n. Torquatus, quaestor of Vibius Pansa in 43 BC. He supported Brutus and Cassius, but survived the proscriptions of the triumvirs, and later became a friend of Horace. He was perhaps a pontiff.[106][107][108][109]
  • Aulus Manlius A. f. A. n. Torquatus, the elder son of Aulus Manlius Torquatus, praetor in 70 BC.[110][vi]
  • Titus Manlius A. f. A. n. Torquatus, present in the house of Caesar, where the case against Deiotarus was heard in 45 BC.[111][112]

Stemma of the Manlii Torquati

Stemma taken from Münzer until "A. Manlius Torquatus, d. 208", and then Mitchell, with corrections. All dates are BC.[113][114]

Legend
Green
Consul
T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus
dict. 353, 349, 320
cos. 347, 344, 340
T. Manlius Torquatus
d. 340
T. Manlius Torquatus
cos. 299
L. Manlius Torquatus
legate 295
T. Manlius Torquatus
T. Manlius TorquatusA. Manlius Torquatus
cens. 247; cos. 244, 241
T. Manlius Torquatus

cos. 235, 224
cens. 231; dict. 208
A. Manlius Torquatus
d. 208
T. Manlius Torquatus
cos. 165
A. Manlius Torquatus
cos. 164
T. Manlius Torquatus
pr. 137
D. Junius
Silanus Manlianus
pr. 142, d. 140
T. Manlius TorquatusL. Manlius Torquatus
qu. circa 113
A. Manlius Torquatus
T. Manlius Torquatus
pr. 69
P. Cornelius
Lentulus Spinther
(adopted) augur 57
Manlia
L. Manlius Torquatus

cos. 65
A. Manlius Torquatus
pr. 70
L. Manlius Torquatus
pr. 49
A. Manlius Torquatus
qu. 43, pontifex
A. Manlius TorquatusT. Manlius Torquatus

Manlii Acidini

Denarius of Aulus Manlius, 118–107 BC. The obverse depicts a head of Roma, while Sol drives a quadriga on the reverse.

Others

Aureus of Aulus Manlius, 80 BC. Roma is portrayed on the obverse. The reverse depicts an equestrian statue of Sulla, which was placed in front of the Rostra.[124] The head of Roma looks like the one on the denarii of his father.[125]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Livy calls him Gaius, a name not otherwise used by the Manlii, but evidently a mistake for Gnaeus, given in the filiation of his grandson, Aulus Manlius Vulso Capitolinus, consular tribune in 405, 402, and 397. The two names were nearly always abbreviated, and frequently confounded. Diodorus calls him Marcus, and Dionysius Aulus. None of these explicitly identify the decemvir with the consul of 474, nor do Livy or Diodorus state that he had previously been consul, although Dionysius erroneously indicates that he had been consul the previous year. The chronological difficulty in identifying the decemvir with the consul of 474 arises from the decemvir's son serving as consular tribune three times from 405 to 397; unless he were the child of the decemvir's old age, he would have been rather elderly by the time he first achieved high office, if his father were consul nearly seventy years earlier.
  2. ^ Called "Gaius" by Livy. His cognomen is uncertain; it could also be Capitolinus, or he may have borne both.
  3. ^ Broughton and Mitchell place his quaestorship much later, circa 94 and 96, respectively. However, Crawford's dating of circa 112 fits better with the chronology, as Lucius' son also minted coins with Sulla in 82.
  4. ^ It was forbidden to have two members of the same gens in the college of pontiffs.
  5. ^ Broughton and Mitchell suppose that he was quaestor in 81, but Crawford attributes the coins inscribed "A. Manli A. f. Q[uaestor]" to another Manlius, who was not one of the Torquati.
  6. ^ Mitchell guesses that his name was Aulus, because typical Roman practice was for an eldest son to be named after his father.
  7. ^ According to Münzer, he was the son of Lucius Manlius Vulso, praetor peregrinus in 218 BC.
  8. ^ Münzer and Brougton express doubt as to his filiation, based on the tradition respecting the intentional disuse of the praenomen Marcus following the death of Marcus Manlius Capitolinus in the fourth century BC. Münzer also doubts the existence of a collateral branch of the family, since the adoption of Fulvianus a generation earlier implies that the Acidini were on the verge of extinction.
  9. ^ Münzer suggested that he was a Vulso, but Broughton disagrees, saying that he was succeeded as epulo by a plebeian, so he must have been a plebeian as well.

References

  1. ^ Chapter 3, Charles E. Bennett (1907) The Latin Language – a historical outline of its sounds, inflections, and syntax. Allyn & Bacon, Boston.
  2. ^ a b c Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 920 ("Manlia Gens").
  3. ^ Chase, pp. 122, 123.
  4. ^ Chase, pp. 109, 110.
  5. ^ PW, vol. 27, p. 1157.
  6. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 25 (note 1).
  7. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 1285, 1286 ("Vulso").
  8. ^ Chase, pp. 113, 114.
  9. ^ Livy, vii. 10.
  10. ^ Chase, pp. 110, 111.
  11. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 604, 605 ("Manlius Capitolinus"), vol. II, p. 571 ("Imperiosus"), vol. III, pp. 1163–1165 ("Manlius Torquatus").
  12. ^ Cicero, De Lege Agraria, ii. 24.
  13. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 12, 13 ("Acidinus").
  14. ^ Eckhel, vol. v, p. 244.
  15. ^ PW, vol. 27, p. 1159.
  16. ^ Taylor, Voting Districts, pp. 229, 230.
  17. ^ Mattingly, "Numismatic Evidence", pp. 12–14.
  18. ^ Livy, ii. 43, 45, 47.
  19. ^ Dionysius, ix. 5, 6, 11, 12.
  20. ^ Orosius, ii. 5.
  21. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 24, 25 (note 1).
  22. ^ Livy, ii. 54.
  23. ^ Dionysius, ix. 36–38.
  24. ^ Diodorus Siculus, xi. 63.
  25. ^ Fasti Triumphales.
  26. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 28, 43–46.
  27. ^ Livy, iii. 33.
  28. ^ Dionysius, x. 52, 56, 57.
  29. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 43–46.
  30. ^ Livy, iv. 44.
  31. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 70.
  32. ^ Livy, v. 12
  33. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 84, 85 (note 1).
  34. ^ Livy, vi. 30
  35. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 208, 209, 213.
  36. ^ Livy, xxii. 35.
  37. ^ PW, vol. 27, pp. 1178, 1222, 1223.
  38. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 238, 240 (note 4).
  39. ^ Livy, xxvi. 23, xxvii. 6, 7.
  40. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 279.
  41. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 165.
  42. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 333, 340, 360, 366, 369.
  43. ^ Livy, xxxii. 27, 28, xxxviii. 20, 39.
  44. ^ Polybius, xxii, 25, 26.
  45. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 333, 364, 367.
  46. ^ Livy, xxxiii. 42, xxxix. 51.
  47. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 340, 382.
  48. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 345, 349, 361, 395, 397 (note 1), 399.
  49. ^ PW, vol. 27, pp. 1178, 1228.
  50. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 460 (note 6).
  51. ^ Livy, iv. 23.
  52. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 61.
  53. ^ Livy, iv. 42.
  54. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 69.
  55. ^ Livy, iv. 61, v. 8, 16.
  56. ^ a b Fasti Capitolini, AE 1927, 101; 1940, 59, 60.
  57. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 80, 83, 87.
  58. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 87.
  59. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 92, 99.
  60. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 96, 97, 99, 100 (note 2), 101, 103, 110, 111 (note 1).
  61. ^ Livy, vii. 12.
  62. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 106, 112, 113.
  63. ^ Livy, vii. 3, 4.
  64. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 117, 118.
  65. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 121, 122, 123 (note 1), 124.
  66. ^ Broughton, vol.I, pp. 119, 120, 125, 129, 130, 132, 135, 136, 153.
  67. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 136, 137.
  68. ^ Broughton, vol.I, pp. 173, 174 (note 2).
  69. ^ Livy, x. 26.
  70. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 178.
  71. ^ Broughton, vol.I, pp. 216, 217, 219.
  72. ^ Livy, xxiii. 34.
  73. ^ Broughton, vol.I, pp. 223, 226, 231, 256-258 (note 4), 282, 290.
  74. ^ Broughton, vol.I, p. 292.
  75. ^ Broughton, vol.I, pp. 420, 422, 423 (note 4), 438, 442.
  76. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 433, 439.
  77. ^ Florus, Epitome, ii. 7 § 7.
  78. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 486.
  79. ^ Florus, Epitome, 54.
  80. ^ Valerius Maximus, v. 8. § 3.
  81. ^ Cicero, De Finibus, i, 24. Decius in the manuscript.
  82. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 477.
  83. ^ Morgan, "Cornelius and the Pannonians", pp. 195–198.
  84. ^ Mitchell, "The Torquati", p. 31.
  85. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 13.
  86. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 308.
  87. ^ Cicero, Pro Plancio, 27.
  88. ^ a b Mitchell, "The Torquati", p. 25.
  89. ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 61, 64, 70, 138, 146, 150 (note 11), 151 (note 16), 157, 163, 169.
  90. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 386, 387.
  91. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 245.
  92. ^ Homolle, BCH, 3, p. 156.
  93. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 493.
  94. ^ Cicero, Pro Sestio, 144.
  95. ^ Cassius Dio, xxxix. 17.
  96. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 207.
  97. ^ Cicero, Pro Plancio 11.
  98. ^ Appian, Bella Mithridatica, 95.
  99. ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 77, 127, 133, 149, 237.
  100. .
  101. ^ Caesar, De Bello Africo, 96.
  102. ^ Orosius, vi. 16 § 5. Incorrectly named Titus.
  103. ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 135, 256, 277, 289, 297, 298; vol. III, p. 136.
  104. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 439.
  105. ^ Sumner, The Orators in Cicero's Brutus, pp. 139–140.
  106. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, iii. 69, 76.
  107. ^ Taylor, "Augustan Editing", pp. 76, 79 (note 13).
  108. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 341.
  109. ^ Mitchell, "The Torquati", p. 27.
  110. ^ Mitchell, "The Torquati", pp. 26, 31.
  111. ^ Cicero, pro Rege Deiotaro, 32.
  112. ^ Mitchell, "The Torquati", p. 26.
  113. ^ Mitchell, "The Torquati".
  114. ^ Münzer, PW, vol. 27, pp. 1181-1182.
  115. ^ Livy, xxvii. 4.
  116. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 279, 300, 303, 308, 313, 317, 321, 324.
  117. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 365, 369, 371, 373, 379, 380,
  118. ^ a b Livy, xlii. 49.
  119. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 417, 419 (note 1), 428.
  120. ^ PW, vol. 27, p. 1178; No. 26.
  121. ^ PW, vol. 27, p. 1163.
  122. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 417, 419 (note 1).
  123. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xii. 32
  124. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, i. 97.
  125. ^ a b Mattingly, "Numismatic Evidence", p. 13.
  126. ^ Livy, ii. 19.
  127. ^ Broughton, vol I, p. 10.
  128. ^ Livy, xxxiii. 42, xl. 1, 16, 41, 42.
  129. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 17 § 7. Manilius in the text.
  130. ^ PW, vol. 27, pp. 1159-1161, 1178.
  131. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 338, 339 (note 9), 382, 383 (note 1), 385, 389.
  132. ^ Sallust, Bellum Jugurthinum, 86, 90, 102.
  133. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 552.
  134. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 318.
  135. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 312, 313.
  136. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 397.
  137. ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 83, 87.
  138. ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 92 (note 7), 132.
  139. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 116.
  140. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 160.
  141. ^ Cassius Dio, xxxvii. 47.
  142. ^ Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis Pro Milone, p. 46.
  143. ^ Grant, From Imperium To Auctoritas, p. 381.
  144. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 365.
  145. ^ Der Neue Pauly, Stuttgardiae 1999, T. 7, c. 828.
  146. ^ Tacitus, Annales, xii. 40, Historiae, i. 64.
  147. ^ Cassius Dio, lxvii. 14.

Bibliography