Marcus Claudius Glicia
Marcus Claudius Glicia or Glycias was a subordinate of the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher who briefly served as dictator in 249 BC.[1]
Family
Glicia was a client of
The
Dictatorship
Background
Glicia served as the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher's viator (messenger).[6] The fasti records that Glicia had been a "scribe" – Glicia qui scriba fuerat – it is unclear whether the pluperfect form means he was a former scribe at his appointment or that he was a scribe immediately before his appointment.[7]
The epitome of Livy's 19th book records that in 249 BC:
Claudius Pulcher, consul, obstinately persisting, notwithstanding the omens were inauspicious, engages the enemy's fleet, and is beaten; drowns the sacred chickens which would not feed: recalled by the senate, and ordered to nominate a dictator; he appoints Claudius Glicia, one of the lowest of the people, who, notwithstanding his being ordered to abdicate the office, yet attends the celebration of the public games in his dictator's robe.[8]
The engagement mentioned was a naval engagement called the Battle of Drepana off the coast of Sicily during the First Punic War; Claudius' sacred chickens were used for auguries.[9] "Unused to the pitching decks of a Roman trireme", they refused to eat: a bad omen.[10][11] Pulcher infamously responding by ordering that they should be thrown into the sea with the phrase "If they will not eat, let them drink!".[4][12] The tale was mentioned by the first century AD historian Valerius Maximus as an example of the need to take auguries seriously.[12]
Appointment
Pulcher's impious actions were blamed for the subsequent defeat, in which the navally-unaccustomed Romans lost almost their entire fleet.[4] Upon hearing of the result of the battle, the Senate recalled him to Rome, charged Pulcher with treason for his treatment of the chickens, and ordered him to appoint a dictator to resume operations in his place.[13]
In response to the senatorial request for a dictator and "apparently out of spite" and in jest, Pulcher nominated as dictator "the most inappropriate man he could think of": Glicia. The dictator's tenure was extremely short-lived; the senate induced him – via unknown means – to resign immediately.[14] It is possible that he resigned the dictatorship before formally taking office by passage of a lex curiata that would have granted him imperium.[15]
No
Legacy
Glicia's appointment was picked up by
References
Citations
- ^ a b Broughton 1951, p. 215.
- ^ Broughton 1951, p. 215. The fasti capitolini gives the dictator's name entire, with filiation.
- ^ a b Wilson 2021, p. 108 n. 32.
- ^ a b c Wilson 2021, p. 107.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 109.
- ^ Suet. Tib., 2.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 108 (n. 31).
- ^ a b Liv., 19.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 106.
- ^ Wilson 2021, pp. 106–7.
- ^ Val. Max., p. 16 (n. 83).
- ^ a b Val. Max., 1.4.3.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 106, 106 (n. 26).
- ^ Wilson 2021, pp. 107, 109, 371.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 108 (n. 28).
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 371.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 185.
- ^ Humm 2005, p. 54 (n. 172).
- OCLC 1111650610.
- ^ Wilson 2021, p. 39 (n. 36).
Modern sources
- Broughton, Thomas Robert Shannon (1951). The magistrates of the Roman republic. Vol. 1. New York: American Philological Association.
- Humm, Michel (2005). Appius Claudius Caecus: la République accomplie (in French). École Française de Rome. OCLC 1151490700.
- Wilson, Mark (2021). Dictator: the evolution of the Roman dictatorship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. OCLC 1243162549.
Ancient sources
- Livy (1868). "Epitome of Book 19". From the founding of the city. Translated by Spillan, Daniel; Edmonds, Cyrus – via Wikisource.
- Suetonius (1913). "Life of Tiberius". The Twelve Caesars. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rolfe, JC. Harvard University Press – via LacusCurtius.
- OCLC 53231884.