Marcia gens

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Gaius Marcius Coriolanus reproached by his mother, Veturia, and wife, Volumnia, before the walls of Rome.

The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.[1]

Origin

The Marcii are supposed to have been Sabines, descended from a certain Marcus Marcius of Cures, a kinsman of Numa Pompilius, and his son, Numa Marcius, a childhood friend of Pompilius, who accompanied him to Rome and served as his chief advisor. His son, the younger Numa Marcius, was urban prefect under Tullus Hostilius, and his grandson was Ancus Marcius, the fourth King of Rome.[1]

Although the Roman monarchy was not strictly hereditary, tradition holds that the sons of Ancus Marcius hoped to succeed their father, but were prevented from doing so when his chief advisor, the Etruscan Lucius Tarquinius, took advantage of their absence at the time of the king's death to solicit support for his own claim, and was elected king.[2]

After biding their time for many years, the sons of Marcius gained their revenge by engineering the assassination of Tarquin, but they were again prevented from claiming the throne by a ruse of Tanaquil, the Roman queen, who installed her stepson, Servius Tullius, as regent, until he had sufficient support to rule on his own. The later Marcii claimed descent from Ancus Marcius, but nothing further is recorded of his sons or the generations between them and the Marcii of the early Republic.[1][3]

The nomen Marcius is a patronymic surname, based on the common praenomen Marcus. There is no reason to doubt that both names are in turn derived from the god Mars, although the precise linguistic process by which this occurred is complex and uncertain.[4]

Praenomina

Denarius of a Marcius Philippus.

The Marcii were relatively conservative with respect to praenomina, with only three names accounting for nearly all of the Marcii of the Republic. Most branches of the family used Lucius, but preferred either Gaius or Quintus, seldom if ever using both in the same branch. There were isolated instances of Publius, Marcus, and perhaps one instance of Gnaeus, although this case is doubtful. All were very common names throughout Roman history; but there was also at least one Septimus, a praenomen that was quite rare at Rome.

The ancient praenomina Numa and Ancus evidently passed out of use some time before the establishment of the Republic. Both are likely Sabine or Oscan names, as were all of the persons known to have borne them. No attempt seems to have been made to revive either of them at Rome, either as praenomen or cognomen. Numa seems to be related to Numitor, the name of one of the ancient Kings of Alba Longa, and the grandfather of Romulus, and may share a common root with the praenomen Numerius, which remained in use at Rome for many centuries; Chase suggests a meaning related to "arranger" or "orderer", which would suit both Numa Pompilius and his kinsman, Numa Marcius. For Ancus, otherwise known only from the legendary founder of the Publician gens, he suggests the meaning of "servant", perhaps in the religious sense.[5]

Branches and cognomina

The only surname associated with the patrician Marcii was Coriolanus, which does not seem to have represented a distinct family of the Marcian gens. During the time of the Republic, the plebeian Marcii bore the cognomina Censorinus, Crispus, Figulus, Libo, Philippus, Ralla, Rex, Rufus, Rutilus, Septimus, Sermo, and Tremulus. Those of Censorinus, Libo, and Philippus are found on coins.[1]

Coriolanus, the earliest cognomen of the Marcii, and the only one generally believed to have belonged to any of the patrician Marcii, was the personal surname of Gaius Marcius, a young soldier whose brilliant charge through the gates of Corioli resulted in the capture of that town from the Volscians. We are told that he had two young sons, from whom one might imagine that the later Marcii were descended; but all of the later Marcii known to history were plebeians. If any of them were descendants of Coriolanus, then they must have stepped down or been removed from the patrician order. The surname Coriolanus does not appear to have been passed down to later generations of the Marcii.[6][7]

The earliest family of the plebeian Marcii bore the surname of Rutilus, meaning "reddish", probably signifying that the first of this family had red hair.[8] It through this family that the Marcii emerge from obscurity, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened the consulship to the plebeians. The son of Gaius Marcius Rutilus, the first plebeian censor, was himself censor twice, and took the name Censorinus, which was thereafter passed down in this family for several centuries.[9]

After this family, the next cognomen of the Marcii was Philippus, a Greek name, which first appears as the surname of Quintus Marcius, the consul of 281 BC; but this may anticipate the adoption of the name by his descendant, for a certain Lucius Marcius of this family is said to have had some connection with Philip V of Macedon; his son, Quintus Marcius Philippus, was consul in 186 BC, and it may therefore have been Lucius who was the first to obtain the cognomen. Philippus means "lover of horses", and the name had for centuries been associated with the Macedonian kings; Philip II was the father of Alexander the Great. So wide was the fame of this dynasty, that it is not entirely impossible that the name had reached Rome at an earlier date.[10][11]

Ralla seems to be the next surname of the Marcii, first appearing toward the close of the third century BC. It may mean "scraper", and Chase suggests a common origin with the radula, or "scraper", a standard carpentry tool. This family is only found in history for a brief period.[7][12]

The next surname of the Marcii was Rex, meaning "king", an unmistakable allusion to the family's traditional descent from Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius.[13]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
  • Marcus Marcius, a kinsman of Numa Pompilius, who together with Numa's father, Pompo, persuaded him to accept the Roman Kingdom.[14]
  • Numa Marcius M. f., the son of Marcus, was an intimate friend of Numa Pompilius, and accompanied him to Rome, where he was enrolled in the Senate, and created the first Pontifex Maximus. According to Plutarch, when the king died, after a reign of forty-three years, Numa Marcius contended with Tullus Hostilius for the throne, but being defeated he starved himself to death.[15][16]
  • Numa Marcius Numae f. M. n., the son of Numa Marcius, served as praefectus urbi under Tullus Hostilius. He married Pompilia, daughter of Numa Pompilius, and was the father of Ancus Marcius.[15][17][18]
  • Ancus Marcius Numae f. Numae n., the fourth King of Rome, according to tradition restored many religious ceremonies that Tullus Hostilius had neglected, but also ably defended the city in times of war. To him are credited many improvements in and around the city of Rome, including the fortification of the Janiculum, the building of a bridge over the Tiber, and the settling of captured Latins on the Aventine Hill.[i][15][20][21][22][23]
  • Gaius Marcius Coriolanus,[ii] a legendary Roman soldier who led the charge that captured the Volscian town of Corioli. He subsequently became a fierce opponent of the plebeians, urging that they surrender the hard-won office of Tribune of the Plebs before grain could be purchased for them during a famine. Rather than face trial for his effrontery, he fled into exile among the Volsci, then led a Volscian force against Rome, withdrawing only at the pleas of his mother and sister. He was the subject of one of Shakespeare's history plays.[24][25][26][27][28]

Marcii Rutili et Censorini

Denarius of Gaius Marcius Censorinus, depicting Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius, with a desultor on the reverse.
Further information: Marcii Censorini

Marcii Philippi

  • Quintus Marcius, grandfather of the consul of 281 BC.
  • Quintus Marcius Q. f., father of the consul.
  • Quintus Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, consul in 281 BC, triumphed over the Etruscans. In 263 he was nominated magister equitum by the dictator Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumalus.[63]
  • Lucius Marcius Q. f. Philippus, father of the consul of 186 BC, was connected in some manner with Philip V of Macedon, although the circumstances are not known. He may have been the first member of this family to bear the surname Philippus, rather than the consul of 281.[64][65]
  • Quintus Marcius L. f. Q. n. Philippus, praetor in 188 BC, received the province of Sicily. He was consul in 186 BC, during which Rome was embroiled in a panic over the discovery of the Bacchanalia. He and his colleague were sent against the Ligurians, but Marcius was badly defeated. Consul for the second time in 169, he had the conduct of the war in Macedonia. He was censor in 164.[66][67][68][69]
  • Quintus Marcius Q. f. L. n. Philippus, son of the consul in 186 and 169 BC, served under his father in Macedonia.[70]
  • Quintus Marcius Philippus, according to Cicero, was condemned, and went into exile at Nuceria, where he became a citizen. He might possibly be the same as the son of the consul of 186 and 169 BC.[71]
  • Lucius Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, a powerful orator of the late Republic. As tribune of the plebs in 104 BC, his attempt to bring about agrarian reform as was blocked. He was consul in 91, and found himself in violent opposition to Marcus Livius Drusus, who had him arrested; but so strongly did public opinion sway that Philippus subsequently had all of Drusus' laws nullified. He maintained neutrality during the civil war between Marius and Sulla, and was censor in 86; after Sulla's death he became a supporter of Gnaeus Pompeius.[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]
  • Lucius Marcius L. f. Q. n. Philippus, consul in 56 BC, maintained neutrality during the Civil War, remaining on good terms with both Caesar and Cicero. He married Atia, and became the step-father of Gaius Octavius, afterward the emperor Augustus, whom he tried to dissuade from becoming Caesar's heir, and was sent by the Senate to negotiate with Antonius. At Augustus' request, he helped construct a number of public buildings. His daughter was the second wife of Cato the Younger.[81][82][83][84][85][86]
  • Quintus Marcius Philippus, proconsul of Asia in 54 BC.[87]
  • Lucius Marcius L. f. L. n. Philippus, the step-brother of Augustus, was tribune of the plebs in 49 BC, praetor in 44, and consul in 38.[88][89]
  • Marcia L. f. L. n., wife of Cato the Younger, by whom she had several children; she lived for several years with the orator Quintus Hortensius, but returned to Cato after the latter's death. When Cato fled Rome on the outset of the Civil War, in BC 49, he left his family and property in her care.[90][91][92]
  • Marcia, the wife of Paullus Fabius Maximus, consul in 11 BC, who is said to have spoken to his wife of the secret visit of Augustus to his grandson, Agrippa, in AD 13. According to Tacitus, Marcia disclosed this fact to the empress Livia, leading in some fashion to the death of Fabius shortly thereafter.[93][94]

Marcii Rallae

Marcii Reges

Marcii Figuli

Marcii Bareae

Others

Footnotes

  1. ^ Niebuhr proposes that the descendants of these captives formed the origin of the plebeians.[19]
  2. ^ His praenomen is Gnaeus in some manuscripts, but this was not a name used by the Marcii in historical times, while Gaius was one of their favoured praenomina.
  3. ^ His praenomen is uncertain; Gnaeus was not a typical praenomen of the Marcian gens, or of this family. He may have been Gaius.
  4. ^ This identification per Münzer, referring to a fragment of Valerius Antias mentioned by Aulus Gellius, in which a tribune of the plebs named Licinius asks a praetor named Marcus Marcius to set a date for a trial of perduellio. Münzer notes that Ralla is the only Marcus Marcius known to have been praetor, and that Pleminius would have likely have been the defendant. Other authorities, however, have suggested that the trial referred to occurred at a much later date, around BC 73.[95]
  5. ^ His colleague, Lucius Caecilius Metellus, died at the beginning of his year of office, and was not replaced, for which reason Marcius is described as "sole consul" in the fasti.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 940 ("Marcia Gens").
  2. ^ Livy, i. 35.
  3. ^ Livy, i. 41.
  4. ^ Chase, pp. 131, 158, 159.
  5. ^ Chase, p. 144.
  6. ^ Livy, ii. 40.
  7. ^ a b Chase, p. 113.
  8. ^ Chase, p. 110.
  9. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 682 ("Gaius Marcius Rutilus").
  10. ^ Chase, p. 114.
  11. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 285 ("Marcius Philippus", nos. 1–3).
  12. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 640 ("Ralla").
  13. ^ Chase, p. 112.
  14. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Numa", 5–7.
  15. ^ a b c Plutarch, "The Life of Numa", 21.
  16. ^ Livy, i. 20.
  17. ^ a b c Plutarch, "The Life of Coriolanus", 1.
  18. ^ Tacitus, Annales, vi. 11.
  19. ^ Niebuhr, vol. i, p. 352 ff.
  20. ^ Livy, i. 32, 33.
  21. ^ Dionysius, iii. 36–45.
  22. ^ Cicero, De Republica ii. 18.
  23. ^ Arnold, vol. i, p. 19.
  24. ^ Livy, ii. 34–40.
  25. ^ Dionysius, vii. 20–viii. 59.
  26. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Coriolanus".
  27. ^ Niebuhr, vol. ii, pp. 94–107, 234–260.
  28. ^ Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus.
  29. ^ Livy, vii. 16, 17, 21, 22, 28, 38, 39.
  30. ^ Niebuhr, vol. iii, p. 556.
  31. ^ Kamm, p. 13.
  32. ^ Livy, ix. 33, 38, x. 9, 47, Epitome 16.
  33. ^ Diodorus Siculus, xx. 27.
  34. ^ Eutropius, ii. 18.
  35. ^ Valerius Maximus, iv. 1. § 3.
  36. ^ Appian, Punica, 75–90, 97–99.
  37. ^ Livy, Epitome 49.
  38. ^ Florus, ii. 15.
  39. ^ Eutropius, iv. 10.
  40. ^ Orosius, iv. 22.
  41. ^ Velleius Paterculus, i. 13.
  42. ^ Zonaras, ix. p. 463.
  43. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 15, 27; Epistulae ad Atticum, xii. 5; Academica Priora, ii. 32.
  44. ^ Valerius Maximus, vi. 9. § 10.
  45. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 517.
  46. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Sulla", 5.
  47. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, i. 71, 88, 90, 92, 93.
  48. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 67, 90.
  49. ^ "Sulla" in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9, pp. 178, 193.
  50. ^ McGushin, vol. I, p. 101.
  51. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, i. 2. § 4.
  52. ^ Cicero, Philippicae, xi. 5, 14, xii. 8, xiii. 2.
  53. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Antonius", 24.
  54. ^ Cassius Dio, xlviii. 34.
  55. ^ Cassius Dio, lv. 5.
  56. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, xxxiii. 10. s. 47.
  57. ^ Suetonius, "The Life of Horatius".
  58. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, xvi. 6. § 2.
  59. ^ Suetonius, "The Life of Horace".
  60. ^ Velleius Paterculus, ii. 102.
  61. ^ Syme, "C. Marcius Censorinus in the East".
  62. ^ Eilers, p. 236.
  63. ^ Fasti capitolini
  64. ^ Livy, xlii. 38.
  65. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 285 ("Marcius Philippus", no. 2).
  66. ^ Livy, xxxviii. 35, xxxix. 6, 14, 20, 48, xl. 2, 3, 42; xlii. 37–47, xliii. 13, xliv. 1–16.
  67. ^ Polybius, xxiv. 4, 6, 10, xxvii. 1, xxviii. 10 ff.
  68. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, vii. 60.
  69. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 20.
  70. ^ Livy, xliv. 3.
  71. ^ Cicero, Pro Balbo, 11.
  72. ^ Cicero, Pro Plancio, 21; De Officiis, ii. 21; Pro Gaio Rabirio, 7; De Oratore, ii. 78; iii. 1; De Provinciis Consularibus, 9; De Legibus, ii. 12; De Lege Agraria contra Rullum, ii. 16; De Domo Sua, 32; Epistulae ad Atticum, viii. 3; Pro Lege Manilia, 21; Philippicae, xi. 6; Brutus, 47, 64, 95; Fragmenta, vol. iv. p. 449 (ed. Orelli).
  73. ^ Asconius, In Cornelio, p. 68.
  74. ^ Quintilian, viii. 3. § 89.
  75. ^ Valerius Maximus, vi. 2. §§ 2, 8, ix. 5. § 2.
  76. ^ Florus, iii. 17.
  77. ^ Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, 66.
  78. ^ Sallust, Historiae, i. 18, 19.
  79. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Pompeius", 4, 17.
  80. ^ Horace, Epistulae, i. 7. 46.
  81. ^ Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 8.
  82. ^ Velleius Paterculus, ii. 59, 60.
  83. ^ Cicero, Philippicae, iii. 6, viii. 10, ix. 1; Epistulae ad Familiares, xii. 4.
  84. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, iii. 10, 13.
  85. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Cicero", 41.
  86. ^ Caesar, De Bello Civili, i. 6.
  87. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, xiii. 73, 74.
  88. ^ Caesar, De Bello Civili, i 6.
  89. ^ Cicero, Philippicae, iii. 10.
  90. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 99.
  91. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Cato the Younger", 25, 39, 52.
  92. ^ Lucan, Pharsalia, ii. 329 ff.
  93. ^ Tacitus, Annales, i. 14.
  94. ^ Ovid, Fasti, vi. 802; Ex Ponto, i. 2.
  95. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 306, 310.
  96. ^ Livy, xxix. 11, 13, xxx. 38.
  97. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 306, 318.
  98. ^ Livy, xxxiv. 52, xxxv. 41.
  99. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 346, 352.
  100. ^ Livy, xxxiii. 25.
  101. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 336.
  102. ^ Livy, xliii. 1.
  103. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 418.
  104. ^ Frontinus, De Aquaeductu, 12.
  105. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, xxxi. 3. s. 24.
  106. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 471, 472.
  107. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, ii. 31.
  108. ^ Aulus Gellius, xiii. 19.
  109. ^ Livy, Epitome, 62.
  110. ^ Orosius, v. 14.
  111. ^ Fasti Capitolini.
  112. ^ Valerius Maximus, v. 10. § 3.
  113. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 527.
  114. ^ Suetonius, "The Life of Caesar", 6.
  115. ^ Cassius Dio, xxxv. 4, 14, 15, 17, xxxvi. 26, 31.
  116. ^ Cicero, In Pisonem, 4; Epistulae ad Atticum, i. 16. § 10.
  117. ^ Sallust, Historiae, 5; Bellum Catilinae, 30, 32–34.

Bibliography

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