Publius Postumius Albus Regillensis, whom
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 ...
calls "Marcus", was a
patrician politician 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 (753–509 B ...
who was appointed one of four military
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 ...
s in 414 BC.
Around that year, he was given command against the
Aequi, and showed great energy and enterprise in quickly taking the
Aequian town of
Bolae, while promising his forces that any plunder or spoils captured would be distributed among the troops. Afterwards, he angered his soldiers by reneging on his promise; although some contemporary writers thought he had stayed true to his word, and suggested that his soldiers' anger came about because the town had been recently sacked and then repopulated by new settlers, and there were fewer valuables to be taken than Postumius had led them to expect (
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 ...
found this latter explanation unlikely).
Shortly afterwards Postumius made a minor scandal in Rome when at a public assembly he threatened to punish for his soldiers after it was suggested that
Bolae be given to them as settlers. When his men, furious at this new insult, assaulted a
quaestor
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 ...
who had attempted to calm the mutinous mood, Postumius punished them severely, and ordered several of his men to be
crushed to death. Several of his soldiers attempted to stop the executions by force, and when Postumius rushed to aid his
lictors and
centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...
s who were trying to break up the gathering, an angry mob of his men seized him and
stoned him to death.
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 ...
, iv. 49-50
See also
*
Postumia gens
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postumius Albus Regillensis, Publius
Roman consular tribunes
5th-century BC deaths
5th-century BC Romans
Postumius Regillensis, Publius
Ancient Roman murder victims
Year of birth unknown