A Wrongheaded Man

In this episode, we tackle the years 415 and 414 BCE and the downfall of Postumius, a very wronghead man.  

Episode 142 – A Wrongheaded Man

Did you remember to RSVP for the war?

In 415 BCE, the Romans were gearing up for war with Veii and the Aequians… but neither of their dance partners turned up! It takes two to tango and in this case, neither the people of Veii or the Aequians felt ready to get down and boogie.

A Wrongheaded Man Indeed!

War against the city of Bolae kicked off in 414 BCE. One of the military tribunes with consular power, Postumius, was placed in command against this Aequian tribe. Whilst the Romans enjoyed success in battle, their internal problems overshadowed the victory.

How do you create chaos in Rome? Simply take a tribune of the plebs, add a dash of agrarian reform, then stir in an arrogant patrician.  Livy described Postumius as a wrongheaded man, and a questionable comment certainly had serious repercussions. Will sticks and stones, or words, do the most damage?

Quote courtesy of Teacher’s Corner.

Join us for another tale of disaster with one of the Postumii at the centre.

Need to catch up on the previous conflict with the Labici? You can find our previous episode here.

Things to Look Out For:

• Dr G accidentally skipping over 415 BCE
• Various attempts at agrarian reform
• What is #trending amongst the elite
• A snide aside with very dramatic consequences
• Several important lessons from the Romans that could also be applied to parenting

Our Players 415 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• P. Cornelius A. f. P. n. Cossus (Pat)
• C. Valerius L. f. Volusi n. Potitus Volusus (Pat) Cos. 410, Mil. Tr. c.p. 407, 404
• N. (or M.?) Fabius Q. f. M. n. Vibulanus (Pat) Cos. 421, Mil. Tr. c.p. 407 *
• Q. Quinctius L. f. L. n. Cincinnatus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c.p. 405

Tribune of the Plebs

• L. Decius

Our Players 414 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• Cn. Cornelius A. f. M. n. Cossus (Pat) Cos. 409
• L. Valerius L. f. P. n. Potitus (Pat) Cos. 393, 392, Mil. Tr. c.p. 406, 403, 401, 398
• Q. Fabius Q. f. M. n. Vibulanus (Pat) Cos. 423, Mil. Tr. c.p. 416
• P. Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus Regillensis (Pat)

Tribune of the Plebs

• M. Sextius

Quaestors

• P. Sextius (or Sestius)

Our Sources

Dr G reads Virgil, Aeneid, 6.771-776; Diodorus Siculus 13.34.1, 13.381, 13.42.6; Dio Cassius, Roman History, 6.23; and the Fasti Capitolini.

Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.49-50.

Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)

Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)

Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) 

Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The rise of Rome. History of the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doi:10.4159/9780674919938. ISBN 978-0-674-65965-0. S2CID 239349186.

Ogilvie, R. M. 1965. A Commentary on Livy: Books 1-5 (Clarendon Press). 

Sound Credits

Our music was composed by Bettina Joy de Guzman. Sound effects courtesy of BBC and Orange Free Sounds.

Automated Transcript.

Courtesy of Otter AI.

Dr G  00:12

Welcome to the partial historians.

Dr Rad  00:15

We explore all the details of ancient Rome. Everything from political scandals to love affairs, the battles waged, and when citizens turn against each other. I’m Dr. Rad.

Dr G  00:30

And I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Roman saw it by reading different ancient authors and comparing their accounts.

Dr Rad  00:41

Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr G  01:00

Hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of the partial historians. I am one of your hosts. I am Dr. G.

Dr Rad  01:10

And I am your other hosts, Dr. Rad.

Dr G  01:13

Hello, Dr. Rad.

Dr Rad  01:16

It’s so nice to have you back from Italy. Well, for me,

Dr G  01:20

it is a pleasure to be back. I’ll admit I regretted it for a little while. But today is very sunny and warm and feels kind of Romanesque. So I’m back on board with being in Australia.

Dr Rad  01:33

It is getting very hot in here.

Dr G  01:36

Maybe too hot too soon.  Yeah, it’s a worrying sign. But nonetheless, this is going to cool down a bit later this week. So I can return to my wintry state. Your natural habitat as it were.

Dr Rad  01:49

Exactly, yes.

Dr G  01:51

So we are tracing the history of Rome from the founding of the city. And if you are interested in supporting our work, we have a Patreon. We also do some merch. And we’ve also just released our book on The Roman kings. So there’s plenty of ways when you miss us between episodes, to feel like you have us close at heart,

Dr Rad  02:14

and D and you can pick up our book online in a digital version from Gumroad or from Amazon. Or you can pick it up in a physical form from Abbey’s bookstore in Sydney.

Dr G  02:29

Yeah, we are very lucky to have it stocked in our hometown. So we’re thrilled about that. And so in the grand tradition of where we’re up to in this narrative history, I think we should start with a bit of a recap of what might have been happening up till now.

Dr Rad  02:48

Yes, well, last episode, we were talking about the years 417 and 416. And they were a bit blurred together, as far as I could see. Couldn’t really separate them out. But what I could tell was that there was some classic conflict of the orders happening. Oh, boy,

Dr G  03:06

it’s the subject that just keeps on giving.

Dr Rad  03:08

It certainly does. And so last episode, we were dealing with the fact that some of the tribune of the plebs were trying to pass a law about land, which is an ongoing concern, obviously, for the plebeian class. And in order to foil them, the patricians came up with an evil plan.

Dr G  03:32

Classic times, I mean, the minute you ask for agrarian reform, I think you’re also at the same time asking for patrician evil plans. That’s kind of these two things go naturally together for the elite in Rome.

Dr Rad  03:44

They certainly do. And so we had one of the Appii Claudii people, the Appius Claudius’ is of the world coming along with a douchebag plan of turning Tribunes against each other, which of course, worked,

Dr G  04:00

Dammit.

Dr Rad  04:02

So that’s kind of what we were dealing with last episode Dr G.

Dr G  04:06

All right. Now, I suspect that you will have lots of things to tell me about the things that are coming up.

Dr Rad  04:14

That’s a relative term.

Dr G  04:16

All right. Okay. Well, that’s good to know, because I am still sort of swimming about sort of, without a real proper narrative source to hold on to so always cobbling together little bits and pieces from all sorts of source material and hoping that I have a hint of something that might have happened.

Dr Rad  04:35

I know I’m picturing you very much as being like, adrift in an ocean just like paddling about like doggy paddle style, grabbing at pieces of woods that are just like floating there, just like at the end of Titanic.

Dr G  04:48

I always hoped as a as a dog in the ocean that I’ll find a big stick. But no, sometimes I have more. Sometimes I have less.

Dr Rad  04:58

I’ll take you any which way, Dr G.

Dr G  05:02

Excellent. All right. Well, let’s jump in

Dr Rad  05:05

Let’s do it 415 BCE

Dr G  05:25

Don’t you mean 414 BCE?

Dr Rad  05:29

No I mean 415

Dr G  05:33

Let