Gaius Servilius Glaucia (died late 100 BC) 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 letter ...

politician who served as

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

in 100 BC. He is most well known for being an illegal candidate for the consulship of 99 BC. He was killed during riots and political violence in the year 100 BC while pursuing consular candidacy.

Career

Glaucia was probably descended from consular ancestors, making him one of the ''

nobiles The ''nobiles'' ( ''nobilis'') were members of a social rank in the Roman Republic indicating that one was "well known". This may have changed over time: in Cicero's time, one was notable if one descended from a person who had been elected Roman c ...

''. His public career started with his holding the

quaestorship A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

some time before 109 BC. In the year 104 or 101 BC ( T. R. S. Broughton, in ''Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', expresses both years as possibilities but prefers 101 BC; Ernst Badian asserts 101 BC), Glaucia served as

plebeian tribune Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...

. His tribunate, regardless, was held one year before that of

Lucius Appuleius Saturninus Lucius Appuleius Saturninus (died late 100 BC) was a Roman populist and tribune. He is most notable for introducing a series of legislative reforms, alongside his associate Gaius Servilius Glaucia and with the consent of Gaius Marius, during the l ...

, though the specifics cannot be easily pinned down due to a lack of clarity in

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

's account. During his tribunate, he passed legislation transferring the jury pool in the permanent court on extortion (the ''quaestio de repetundis'') from the senatorial class to the

equites The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian o ...

. In the law, he also provided for recovering extorted funds from the ultimate recipients rather than just those who had been convicted; the law also barred convicts from addressing public assemblies. More scandalously, when presiding over the elections of successors, a successful candidate named Nunnius or Nonius was murdered and Saturninus was elected as replacement. The censor of 102 BC,

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus (c. 155 BC – 91 BC) was an ancient Roman statesman and general, he was a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. He was a bitter political opponent of Gaius Marius. He was consul ...

, attempted to expel Glaucia from the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

but was unsuccessful. The next year, Glaucia was elected praetor for 100 BC. In this year, he was allied with the consul Gaius Marius and Saturninus. Saturninus started a legislative programme which sought to expand grain subsidies, establish veteran colonies in the provinces, give Marius powers to grant Roman citizenship, and redistribute land seized from the

Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...

(a Germanic tribe the Romans had defeated the previous year). The legislation, carried largely by violence and in violation of religious law, was further scandalised by Saturninus winning re-election to the tribunate also through violence.

Death

The date of Glaucia's death is disputed. Appian claims that both he and Saturninus died on 10 December 100 BC. Some modern historians, including

Ernst Badian Ernst Badian (8 August 1925 – 1 February 2011) was an Austrian-born classical scholar who served as a professor at Harvard University from 1971 to 1998. Early life and education Badian was born in Vienna in 1925 and in 1938 fled the Nazis wit ...

and Emilio Gabba, believe this to be erroneous and that Appian's claims are incompatible with Roman electoral procedure. That Appian's narrative is here flawed is now generally accepted. Regardless, the narrative of Glaucia's death provided in Appian is largely incompatible with Cicero's more reliable description of the events of 100 BC. Glaucia attempted that year to stand for the consulship and, if his candidacy had been accepted, would have won due to his immense popularity. But his candidacy was rejected by the presiding officer, almost certainly Marius in this case. Appian instead reports that Glaucia was in the process of losing that election to a competitor, Gaius Memmius; Appian claims that, to secure election, Glaucia had Memmius murdered during the ''comitia'' in full view of the people. Badian believes it more likely that, given Cicero's claims of Glaucia's popularity, Saturninus and Glaucia sought instead to pass a plebiscite to overturn Marius' decision and order acceptance of Glaucia's candidacy. After Saturninus had Memmius murdered, probably while fleeing a sudden riot disrupting the ''comitia'', he took the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. Th ...

and convened a popular assembly there to enact such legislation. At the instigation of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, then ''

princeps senatus The ''princeps senatus'' ( ''principes senatus'') was the first member by precedence on the membership rolls of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the ''cursus honorum'' and possessing no ''imperium'', this office conferred prestige on t ...

'', the senate passed the ''

senatus consultum ultimum The ''senatus consultum ultimum'' ("final decree of the Senate", often abbreviated to SCU) is the modern term given to resolutions of the Roman Senate lending its moral support for magistrates to use the full extent of their powers and ignore th ...

''; Marius raised a levy and then marched on the hill. Saturninus surrendered but was lynched by a mob after being confined in the senate house. Around the same time, Glaucia was possibly killed after being dragged from a certain Claudius' house. Alternatively, he may have been with Saturninus on the Capitoline where he was lynched shortly after Marius' forces took the hill.. However, at no time were all the ''seditiosi'' taken to the senate house and lynched en bloc, per Appian. Such a view is "certainly incorrect". .

References

Citations

Modern sources

* * * * *

Ancient sources

, ''Bell. civ.'' i. 28–32 *

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

, ''Verr.'', 2.1.26, ''Brut.'', 224, ''De oratore'', ii.263, iii.164 * Florus, ''Epit.'', 2.4.4 *

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), t ...