Marcus Quinctilius Varus was a

consular tribune A consular tribune was putatively a type of magistrate in the early Roman Republic. According to Roman tradition, colleges of consular tribunes held office throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC during the so-called "Conflict of the Or ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

in 403 BC. Quinctilius belonged to the

Quinctilia gens The gens Quinctilia, also written Quintilia, was a patrician family at ancient Rome, dating from the earliest period of Roman history, and continuing well into imperial times. Despite its great antiquity, the gens never attained much historical im ...

, an obscure

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

of the Republic which had produced one consular previously, Sextus Quinctilius Varus, consul in 453 BC. Quinctilius relationship to this previous consular is unknown and later Quinctilia first appear in our sources again in 203 BC during the end of the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

Career

Quinctilius held the ''

imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from ''auctoritas'' and ''potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic an ...

'' in 403 BC as one of six consular tribunes. He shared the office with

Manius Aemilius Mamercinus Manius Aemilius Mamercinus was a three-time consular tribune, in 405, 403 and 401 and also consul in 410 BC, of the Roman Republic. Aemilius belonged to the Aemilia gens, one of the oldest and most prominent patrician gens of the early Republic. A ...

Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis (died 349 BC) was a Roman politician and general. According to the historian Livy, he delivered a speech to the senate in 368 BC unsuccessfully opposing the proposal to open the executive office of Roman cons ...

, Lucius Valerius Potitus. Lucius Julius Iulus and

Marcus Furius Fusus Marcus Furius Fusus was a Tribuni militum consulari potestate, consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 403 BC. Furius belonged to the Furia gens, an old and powerful Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician Gens, gentes of the Republic which had ris ...

. The college, with the exception of Aemilius and Valerius, were all first time consulars. Livy, when writing of this college, incorrectly includes the two censors Marus Furius Camillus and Marus Postumius Albinus Regillensis into the consular college. The year saw the continuation of the war started in 406 against the Veii with all consulars (including Quinctilius) leading armies against the Veii, with the exception of Claudius who remained in Rome. The long years of war and new payments towards the soldiers seems to have strained the economy of Rome and the two censors, Camillus and Postumius imposed new taxes targeting bachelors and orphans. Pinsent, John, ''Military Tribunes and Plebeian Consuls: The Fasti from 444 V to 342 V'', Steiner, 1975, pp.47

References

{{s-end 5th-century BC Romans Roman Republic Roman consular tribunes Quinctilii 403 BC

Career

See also

References