Gaius Plautius Venox was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

statesman and general who served as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 347 and 341 BC. Plautius was a member of the family of the Plautii, a relatively undistinguished plebeian gens who had only achieved their first consulship in 358 BC. Plautius' father and grandfather were both named Lucius and may have had a son named Gaius, who was the father of Gaius Plautius Venox, Censor in 312 BC.

Career

In 347 BC, Plautius served in his first consulship alongside

Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus was a famous politician and general of the Roman Republic. He had an outstanding career, being consul three times in 347, 344, and 340 BC, and dictator three times 353, 349, and 320 BC. He was one of the early ...

, an illustrious Roman general of the era. In his year in office there was tranquility both at home and abroad, a condition which was only increased by the consuls reducing the interest rates on debts from one percent to half a percent, which made debts far more payable to those who held them. In 341 BC, Plautius was elected consul for a second time, with

Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

as his colleague. Unlike his previous consular year, this year was one marred by war, of which there were three. Firstly, there was a war with the city of Privernum, who had just revolted against Rome, secondly there was a conflict with the Volscians of Antium, who had just raided Roman territory, and thirdly the

First Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

, which had begun two years prior, was still raging. In reaction to these conflicts, the senate assigned Plautius with the responsibility of combating the Volscians and Privernates, and gave the task of defeating the Samnites to Aemilius. Plautius firstly marched to Privernum, where he defeated the rebelling forces, took their city, and seized a significant portion of their territory in short order. Plautius then marched to

Satricum Satricum (modern Le Ferriere), an ancient town of Latium vetus, lay on the right bank of the Astura river some SE of Rome in a low-lying region south of the Alban Hills, at the NW border of the Pontine Marshes. It was directly accessible from Ro ...

where the Volscian force was encamped, and engaged the Volscians in pitched battle. The Volscians were far more difficult to repel than the Privernates, and due to their dogged efforts, the initial battle ended in a stalemate upon nightfall, with scores of both Volscians and Romans being slain. Despite their losses, the Romans under Plautius still formed to fight the Volscians the next morning, after which the Volscians, unwilling to face the Romans again after the previous day's losses, fled from the field. After achieving this victory, Plautius then plundered the Volscian territory with great vigor, even reaching the coast.Livy, VIII, 1

References

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 4th-century BC Roman consuls Venox Hypsaeus, Gaius {{AncientRome-politician-stub