Lupicinus (comes per Thracias)
Lupicinus was a Roman military in late antiquity.
Lupicinus, who is not to be confused with Flavius Lupicinus, an earlier military, appears first in the schola Gentilium fighting the Alamanni in 368.[1] He then seems to have been tribune in Pannonia.
In 376 he appears as the commander of Roman troops in the Diocese of Thrace. There he oversaw the settlement of the Goths within the empire along the Lower Danube, after which, he proceeded to extort and starve them until they broke into an open revolt that led to the Gothic War of 376. After orchestrating a failed assassination attempt of the Gothic leaders while ostensibly meeting with them to discuss a peace, Lupicinus led his troops into a total defeat at the Battle of Marcianople. It was said that Lupicinus' actions in the battle were both foolish and cowardly. He was apparently superseded by new commanders in 377. It is unknown if Lupicinus was cashiered, executed or killed in subsequent battles.
References
- Otto Seeck, Lupicinus 2, in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. XIII,2 (1927), Sp. 1844–1845
- Lupicinus 3, in The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 1, pp. 519f.