Publius Cornelius Rutilus Cossus was a statesman and military commander from the early

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 ...

who served as

Dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

in 408 BC.

Family

Cossus belonged to the

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 ...

Cornelia, one of the most important

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

gentes of the Republic. His father was named Marcus, and his grandfather Lucius, but no magistracy is recorded for them. He was however the brother of the more famous

Aulus Cornelius Cossus __NOTOC__ Aulus Cornelius Cossus was a Roman general from the early Republic. He is most famous for being the second Roman, after Romulus, to be awarded the ''spolia opima,'' Rome's highest military honor, for killing the commander of an enemy arm ...

, one of the only three Romans awarded the ''

spolia opima The ''spolia opima'' ("rich spoils") were the armour, arms, and other effects that an ancient Roman general stripped from the body of an opposing commander slain in single combat. The ''spolia opima'' were regarded as the most honourable of the ...

'' for having killed the king of

Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the ...

Lars Tolumnius Lars Tolumnius ( Etruscan: Larth Tulumnes, d. 437 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan city-state of Veii, roughly ten miles northwest of Rome, best remembered for instigating a war with Rome that ended in a decisive Roman victory. ...

in single combat. Aulus was then

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 throug ...

in 428, and

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 ...

in 426. Publius' had at least two nephews: Gnaeus, consular tribune in 414 and consul in 409, and Publius, consular tribune in 408.

Aulus Aulus (abbreviated A.) is one of the small group of common forenames found in the culture of ancient Rome. The name was traditionally connected with Latin ''aula'', ''olla'', "palace", but this is most likely a false etymology. ''Aulus'' in fact p ...

, dictator in 385 and perhaps consul in 413, may have also been his nephew. The Cornelii Cossi were thus among the foremost families of the Republic at the end of the 5th century BC.

Career

In 408 BC, a large army comprising mainly

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

and

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early his ...

assembled at

Antium Antium was an ancient coastal town in Latium, south of Rome. An oppidum was founded by people of Latial culture (11th century BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium BC), then it was the main stronghold of the Volsci people until it was conquere ...

. When news of this reached Rome, the Senate, thinking the situation to be a dangerous one, called for the appointment of a dictator to lead the war effort. This caused consternation among two of the three

Consular tribunes 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 ...

, Gaius Julius Iulus and Publius Cornelius Cossus, who wanted the command to stay with them. The disagreement stoked the existing tensions in Rome during the

Conflict of the Orders The Conflict of the Orders, sometimes referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the plebeians (commoners) and patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC in which the plebe ...

, but

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

's narrative is confused on these events. The situation was only resolved when the third tribune, Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala, seeing that Iulus and Cornelius could not be persuaded, rose to nominate Rutilus Cossus, Cornelius' uncle.Livy, iv. 57. Rutilus Cossus then appointed Ahala as his

magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be nomi ...

, which is doubtless the result of a power-sharing negotiation between the consular tribunes. Rutilus Cossus and Ahala then led the army out to Antium. They defeated the Volscian coalition in one battle before laying waste to the countryside and storming the Volscian fortress at Lake Fucinus. As many as 3.000 Volsci were taken prisoner. When Cossus returned to the city, he lay down the office of dictator and, according to Livy, did not receive much acclaim for his success. Indeed, according to the ''

Fasti Triumphales The ''Acta Triumphorum'' or ''Triumphalia'', better known as the ''Fasti Triumphales'', or Triumphal Fasti, is a calendar of Roman magistrates honoured with a celebratory procession known as a ''triumphus'', or Roman triumph, triumph, in recognit ...

'', Rutilus Cossus was not awarded a triumph. Rutilus Cossus was elected as one of the consular tribunes for the year 406 BC, alongside Gnaeus Cornelius Cossus, his distant cousin,

Numerius Fabius Ambustus Numerius (or Gnaeus) Fabius Ambustus ( 406–390 BC) was an ancient Roman commander who was the son of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, and brother to Caeso and Quintus. In 406 BC, he and his forces captured the Volscian city of Anxur (modern Terracina ...

, and Lucius Valerius Potitus.Broughton, vol I, p. 79. The Senate ordered a new war on

, but the consular tribunes opposed it, arguing that the war against the Volsci was not over. Rutilus Cossus was given the command against the city of

Ecetra Ecetra was a town of the ancient Volsci tribe of central Italy. Its location is no longer known. It is mentioned by Livy in 495 BC in the context of the failed Volscian invasion of Rome. Livy says that after the Roman victory, the ambassadors o ...

, while Fabius took

Anxur Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...

.Livy, iv. 59. The consular tribunes then shared the booty with the soldiers, which improved the relations between plebeians and patricians. The Senate followed and ordered that citizens must be paid while serving, whereas they had to cover their own expenses before.

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

Ancient sources

, ''Ab Urbe Condita''. *

John the Lydian John the Lydian or John Lydus ( el, ; la, Ioannes Laurentius Lydus) (ca. AD 490 – ca. 565) was a Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects. Life and career He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognomen ...

,
de magistratibus
'' * ''

Fasti Consulares In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

''. *''

''.

Modern sources

* T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association, 1952–1986. Ancient Roman dictators 5th-century BC Romans Roman patricians