Marcius Censorinus was a name used by a branch of the

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins o ...

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

Marcia'' of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

. The ''

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became her ...

'' Censorinus was acquired through

Gaius Marcius Rutilus Gaius Marcius Rutilus (also seen as "Rutulus") was the first plebeian dictator and censor of ancient Rome, and was consul four times. He was first elected consul in 357 BC, then appointed as dictator the following year in order to deal with an inv ...

, the first plebeian censor, whose son used it. The ''gens Marcia'' claimed descent from both

Ancus Marcius Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth king of Rome, who traditionally reigned 24 years. Upon the death of the previous king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex, who in turn called a session of the assembly of the people wh ...

, a

king of Rome The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 ...

, and symbolically from Marsyas the satyr, who was associated with free speech and political liberty; see further discussion at Prophecy and free speech at Rome. The Marcii Censorini were consistent ''

populares Optimates (; Latin for "best ones", ) and populares (; Latin for "supporters of the people", ) are labels applied to politicians, political groups, traditions, strategies, or ideologies in the late Roman Republic. There is "heated academic dis ...

'', supporting Marius, Cinna, Julius Caesar, and

Antonius Antonius is a masculine given name, as well as a surname. Antonius is a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish name used in Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, part of the Republic of Karelia, Estonia, Belgium, Netherl ...

Members

Lucius Marcius Censorinus 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 see ...

was

curule aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...

in 160 BC,

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 ...

by 152,

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 th ...

in 149, and censor in 147. He was the son of a Gaius Marcius Censorinus. * Gnaeus Marcius Censorinus was a tribune of the ''plebs'' in 122 BC. * Gaius Marcius Censorinus was a ''

triumvir monetalis The ''triumvir monetalis'' ( ''tresviri'' or ''triumviri monetales'', also called the , abbreviated IIIVIR A. A. A. F. F.) was a moneyer during the Roman Republic and the Empire, who oversaw the minting of coins. In that role, he would be respo ...

'' ''ca.'' 88 BC. In 87, as a

military tribune A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone t ...

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

, he commanded the cavalry that attacked and killed the consul Gnaeus Octavius, then brought his head to Cinna; the historian

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

remarks that this was the first time a consul's head was displayed on the

Rostra The rostra ( it, Rostri, links=no) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the Roman Republic, republican and Roman Empire, imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium tow ...

, but unfortunately not the last. In 82, near the end of the civil war between

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla ha ...

and the

Marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places *Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

-Cinnan faction, Carbo sent Censorinus with eight legions to the aid of the besieged

Praeneste Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

, but he was ambushed by

Pompeius Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

near Sena Gallica. After Carbo fled to Africa, Censorinus was among the officers who made a last-ditch effort to break Sulla's line that culminated in defeat at the

Battle of the Colline Gate The Battle of the Colline Gate, fought on 1 November 82 BC, was the decisive battle of the civil war between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the Marians, notably led by Carrinas and Damasippus. A large part of the Marians' forces were made of It ...

* Lucius Marcius Censorinus was a moneyer ''ca.'' 82 BC, and an officer, perhaps

of the

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England *The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beac ...

, in 70; see also

Denarius of L. Censorinus In 82 BC, a denarius was minted by Lucius Marcius Censorinus picturing Apollo and Marsyas the satyr. The coin has attracted several interpretations because of the ambiguity of its symbolism. Coin description On the obverse of this coin is a rep ...

''(pictured above)''. *

Censorinus Censorinus was a Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer from the 3rd century AD. Biography He was the author of a lost work ''De Accentibus'' and of an extant treatise ''De Die Natali'', written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus ...

, a friend of Publius Crassus who died with him fighting at Carrhae, was almost certainly a Marcius. *

, whose father had the same name, was praetor in 43 BC and a partisan of

Marcus Antonius Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the aut ...

. He was

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

of the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

and

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...

42–40 BC. In 39 BC he was consul with

Calvisius Sabinus The gens Calvisia was an ancient Roman family, which first rose to prominence during the final decades of the Republic, and became influential in imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calvisius Sabinus in 39 ...

, and one of the ''

quindecimviri sacris faciundis In ancient Rome, the were the fifteen () members of a college (''collegium'') with priestly duties. They guarded the Sibylline Books The ''Sibylline Books'' ( la, Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek he ...

'' in 17 BC. * Gaius Marcius Censorinus was consul in 8 BC. He was proconsul of the province of Asia ''ca.'' 3 BC, and was honored as patron and benefactor by the people of Miletus. He died in his province in A.D. 2.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

, '' Antiquitates Judaicae'' 16.165;

Velleius Paterculus Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the pe ...

2.101;

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Rom ...

, "C. Marcius Censorinus in the East," in ''Anatolica'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. 302–307, limited previe
online.
/ref>

References

Unless otherwise noted, dates, offices and citations of ancient sources are from T.R.S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'' (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1; vol. 2 (1952); vol. 3 (1986); abbreviated ''MRR''. {{Reflist Ancient Roman prosopographical lists Roman stirpes Moneyers of ancient Rome