Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus

Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 455 BC, and decemvir in 451 BC.

Family

He was the only member of the patrician family to become consul. The gens Romilii disappears after him in the ancient accounts.[1] He was the grandson of a Titus Romilius and the son of a Titus Romilius, his complete name being Titus Romilius T.f. T.n. Rocus Vaticanus.[2] The cognomen Vaticanus which he carried shows that the term was used at least as far back as the 5th century BC.[3] He might be the founder of the tribus Romilia which included several immigrant districts.[4][5]

Biography

Consulship

In 455 BC, he was elected consul with Gaius Veturius Cicurinus.[6][2] They issued orders during a period of high tension between the patricians and the plebeians. The tribunes of the plebs, representatives of the people, demanded in vain for many years that the power of the consuls be limited in written law. The Lex Terentilia, first drafted in 462 BC, was differed each year by the tribunes who tirelessly proposed numerous identical drafts of the law each year.

The Latin city of Tusculum needed Romain aide against the Aequi who had pillaged their lands. The two consuls levied an army,[2] consisted primarily of patricians, but also of some plebeian volunteers,[7] to defend the Tusculan allies. Among the plebeians lied Lucius Siccius Dentatus who openly supported the legal drafts contested by the patricians. In response, Titus Romilius chose Lucius Siccius for a perilous mission. When Siccius protested regarding the risks of the mission, the consul interrupted and himself imposed silence.[7] This anecdote delivered by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, but ignored by Livy, allows the author to illustrate by example the relationship tense relationship between the patricians and the plebeians, and the superiority in social status and the authority of the former over the later.[7][8] Lucius Siccius Dentatus survived and was elected tribune of the plebs in 454 BC.[7][9] The Aequi were defeated near Algidus Mons. The public treasury was then exhausted, and so the consuls decided to sell the abundant spoils (praeda), which would otherwise be rewarded to the soldiery. Essentially, this limited the gains of the plebeians who had volunteered.[10]

Proceedings

In the wake of their decision, Gaius Veturius and Titus Romilius were taken to court by the plebeian aedile Lucius Alienus and by the tribune of the plebs, Gaius Calvus Cicero, from the beginning of 454 BC.[11] The testimony of Lucius Siccius Dentatus allowed the confirmation of Titus Romilius' guilt, but he retracted when the old consul offered to send an ambassador to the Greek cities as a sign of appeasement during political tensions.[11] Nevertheless, Titus Romilius was all the same condemned in paying a considerable amenity of 10,000 asses, seemingly posing a problem and a law was promulgated, which fixed the equivalence against the amenity in cattle and the value of bronze.[12]

Decemvirate

Further information: Decemviri and Law of the Twelve Tables

In 451 BC, Titus Romilius was part of the First Decemvirate which wrote the first written laws of Rome and whose government lasted one year and acted in moderation.[13][14][15]

References

  1. ↑ cels-Saint-Hilaire 1995, p. 164.
  2. 1 2 3 Broughton 1951, p. 42.
  3. ↑ Liverani 1999, p. 13.
  4. ↑ Alföldi 1965, p. 295-310.
  5. ↑ Gagé 1978, p. 86.
  6. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, XII. 4
  7. 1 2 3 4 Lynewood Smith 2012, p. 91.
  8. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, X. 45
  9. ↑ Lynewood Smith 2012, p. 43.
  10. ↑ Gagé 1978, p. 78.
  11. 1 2 Broughton 1951, p. 43.
  12. ↑ Gagé 1978, p. 71.
  13. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, XII. 9
  14. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita, III. 33
  15. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities]], X. 56

Bibliography

Ancient bibliography

Modern bibliography

Political offices
Preceded by
Marcus Valerius Maximus Lactuca,
and Spurius Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus		 Consul of the Roman Republic
455 BC
with Gaius Veturius Cicurinus 		Succeeded by
Spurius Tarpeius Montanus Capitolinus,
and Aulus Aternius Varus Fontinalis
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