Divide and Conquer

We return to the 410s BCE to explore some classic Conflict of the Orders. This one will end with an evil patrician plan (mwahahaha) to divide and conquer their plebeian foes.

Episode 141 – Divide and Conquer

Some Unfinished Business

The Romans had been engaged in battle with the Aequians when we last checked in on them. Due to some slappy fighting between the military tribunes with consular power, a dictator had been called in to get this military campaign back on track.

Quintus Servilius was chosen for their role, and he took his son along for the ride. Fortunately for this father-son duo, the Aequians were getting sloppy. Servilius took full advantage of their overconfidence and whipped the Romans into shape. He even ordered the death of a slightly hesitant standard-bearer! With the stern Servilius Snr in charge, the Romans manage to turn the tables on their enemies.

Roman standards were considered to be sacred by the legions. It is most unusual that the dictator ordered the death of a standard-bearer on the spot! Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Land from Labici

Thanks to the defeat of the Labicani and the Aequians, the Romans finally have some new territory on their hands. Terrified that the tribunes of the plebs might try to redistribute the land, the Senate quickly established a colony in the new area.

Trouble from the Tribunes

The senators were probably right to be afraid, as two tribunes decided to put forward a new agrarian law. Land taken from the enemies of Rome should be split up and divvied up between the citizens. Cue some more Conflict of the Orders!

The patricians were alarmed by this outrageous proposal. The descendent of uber—patrician royalty, Appius Claudius, was there to steer the patricians down a nefarious path. It was time to take the tribunes of the plebs on; to divide and conquer…    

Things To Look Out For:

• Random facts about our family history
• Us once again casting doubt on early Roman historical accounts
• Class traitors… always look out for class traitors!
• Classic Conflict of the Orders narratives

Our Players 418 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• Lucius Sergius C. f. C. n. Fidenas (Pat), previously consul in 437, 429; and previously military tribune with consular power in 433, 424
• Marcus Papirius L. f. -. n. Mugillanus (Pat)
• Gaius Servilius Q. f. C. n. Axilla (Pat), previously consul in 427, military tribune with consular power in the previous year 419

Dictator

• Quintus Servilius P. f. Sp. n. Priscus Fidenas (Pat)

Master of the Horse

• Gaius Servilius Q. f. C. n. Axilla (Pat) – upgraded from military tribune with consular power!

Censor

Lucius Papirius L. f. -. n. Mugillanus (Pat). Previously consul in 427 and military tribune with consular power 422.

Our Players 417 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• P. Lucretius Hosti f. – n. Tricipitinus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c.p. 419
• Agrippa Menenius T.f. Agripp. n. Lanatus (Pat) Cos. 439, Mil. Tr. c.p. 419
• C. Servilius Q. f. C. n. Axilla (or Structus) (Pat) Cos. 427, Mil. Tr. c.p. 419, 418
• Sp. Rutilius Crassus
• OR
• Sp. Veturius Sp. f. Sp. n. Crassus Cicurinus (Pat)

Our Players 416 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• A.Sempronius L. f. A. n. Atratinus (Pat) Cos. 428b, Mil. Tr. c.p. 425, 420.
• M. Papirius L. f. – n. Mugillanus (Pat) Cos. 411, Mil. Tr. c.p. 418
• Q. Fabius Q. f. M. n. Vibulanus (Pat) Cos. 423, Mil. Tr. c.p. 414
• Sp. Nautius Sp. f. Sp. n. Rutilus (Pat) Cos. 411, Mil. Tr. c.p. 419, 404

Tribunes of the Plebs

• S. Maecilius
• (M.) Metilius

Our Sources

• Dr G reads Fasti Capitolini, Fasti Minores (CIL 1(2).1,p 55, no.1); Diodorus Siculus 13.2.1; 13.7.1; 13.9.1
• Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.45-49
• 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)
• Holloway, R. Ross. 2008. ‘Who Were the “Tribuni Militum Consulari Potestate?”‘ L’Antiquite Classique 77, 107-125.
• Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) 
• 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 are courtesy of BBC Beta.

Automated Transcript

Courtesy of Otter AI.

Dr Rad 0:12
Welcome to the partial historians.

Dr G 0:15
We explore all the details of ancient Rome.

Dr Rad 0:20
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Dr G 0:30
And I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Roman saw it by reading different ancient authors and comparing their accounts.

Dr Rad 0:41
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr G 0:59
Hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of the partial historians. I am one of your hosts, Dr. G.

Dr Rad 1:08
And I’m very excited Dr. Racks are trying out a new setup.

Dr G 1:12
This may or may not succeed,

Dr Rad 1:15
it’s gonna be the most interesting episode audio logically,

Dr G 1:20
we want to say a huge shout out thank you to our patrons, because it is through their support that we were able to invest in some new equipment, and everybody’s gonna hear the results for better or worse.

Dr Rad 1:34
We are audio geniuses, of course, it’s going to work out it’s going to be amazing. Just your way. Yes. Now strategy, we are tracing the journey of hearing from the founding of the city. And I owe you and all of our listeners a big apology. Oh, did you break the history of Rome from the value of the city somehow I may just have. So last episode, I left you all on a cliffhanger, our dictator of 418 BC about to march out into battle. And I said I was finishing there because I thought we were heading into a new year. Turns out I was wrong. Oh no, I got confused. Because you see 417 and 416 are blended together. But 418 is in fact quite distinct.

Dr G 2:18
I have terrible news for you. You’re gonna have to hand back in your PhD.

Dr Rad 2:23
I’ll just be rad.

I hate it. I’m sorry. All right. So when we do the recap, therefore this episode, I am going to not only recap what happened last time, but also add some more information. Oh, excellent. All right. Well, let’s get into where were we up to in this narrative anyway?

Well, so I believe we were up to 418 BCE last episode, and we ended up with some military Tribune’s with consular power who could not get along to save themselves.

Tragedy. Yeah, Look, you know, arguments abound, poor strategic decisions were made. It wasn’t great. And there was a man who was the father of one of these gentleman Quintus Servilius.

Sounds like I’m making fun of him whenever I use that V. But

Dr G 3:12
I mean, that’s his name.

Dr Rad 3:15
I know, it just sounds funny. Like what does Servilius

Dr G 3:18
Is he asking for ridicule? perhaps, especially if I add on Quintus Servilius, Priscus Fidenas.

Dr Rad 3:26
So this guy had seen that there was going to be travelled because he it’s actually only been what like maybe six or seven years, maybe eight Max, since we last had an issue where the commanders were arguing, and it led to military disaster for room. So he sees the writing on the wall, allegedly. And he basically makes sure that he and his son are going to be there and prepared to kind of step in and handle the situation, which he thinks is going to arise which is military disaster for the Romans.

Dr G 4:00
This is a typical elitist plan. Not only is he going to get himself into power, he’s going to bring his son along with him, and it’s all going to be great. It does seem suspicious that he and his son are the ones that you know, come in to do the whole here we come to save the day thing.

Dr Rad 4:16
I mean, yeah, I have some concerns. But you know, for 18 being what it is chaotic, fine, fine. Yes, exactly. So, essentially, the way that they did this is they made sure that not every available man had been sent out to face the Romans enemies who I should add the Aequians and the people of Labici.

Dr G 4:39
The Labicani, Yes, who re entered the narrative as one of the sort of like surrounding neighbours, who was a little bit upset with Rome for the way that Rome has treated them over and over again. And I think from what you said last time, they’ve been nursing this garage for almost 100 years now, pretty much as soon as the Republic is started. They’ve been upset.

Dr Rad 5:02
Oh No.

Yeah, exactly. So in 418 BC last episode, we finished up with the dictator Quintus Servilius and his master o