Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas ( la, Lucius Aemilius L. f. L. n. Mamercinus Privernas) 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 ...

statesman who served as the

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 throu ...

in 341 and 329 BC, Magister Equitum in 342,

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 tim ...

in 335 and 316, and

Interrex The interrex (plural interreges) was literally a ruler "between kings" (Latin ''inter reges'') during the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic. He was in effect a short-term regent. History The office of ''interrex'' was supposedly created follow ...

in 326.

Family

Lucius Aemilius was the son of

Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

, consul in 366 and 363. He belonged to the ''

gens Aemilia The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices o ...

'', one of the oldest

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 ...

families 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 ...

Career

In 342, during the dictatorship of

Marcus Valerius Corvus Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370–270 BC) was a military commander and politician from the early-to-middle period of the Roman Republic. During his career he was elected consul six times, first at the age of twenty-three. He was appointed dictator ...

, Aemilius served as Magister Equitum. The following year he was elected to his first

consulship A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

with Gaius Plautius Venox Hypsaeus. Gaius Plautius led his troops to victories in

Priverno Priverno is a town, ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. It was called ''Piperno'' until 1927. It has a station of the Rome-Naples railway mainline. Nearby is the Monti Lepini chain. It was the birthplace of the canonist Reg ...

and

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 ...

, while Lucius Aemilius travelled to

Samnium Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The ...

where he received the region's ambassadors who demanded peace. The praetor laid the petition of the Samnites before the Senate, and the Senators voted to renew the treaty with them. After the peace was accepted by the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

, Lucius Aemilius left Samnium. The Roman army was at once recalled, after receiving a year's pay and rations for three months, which the consul had stipulated should be the price of a truce, to last until the envoys should return. According to

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 ...

, Aemilius was encouraged by his colleagues to resign before the end of his term of office because of the impending

Latin War The (Second) Latin War (340–338 BC)The Romans customarily dated events by noting the consuls who held office that year. The Latin War broke out in the year that Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus and Publius Decius Mus were consuls and ended ...

. In 335 he was appointed

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 tim ...

(''dictator comitiorum habendorum causa''). In 329 Aemilius was again elected to the

alongside Gaius Plautius Decianus. There was great alarm at Rome at this time because of a report that the Gauls were marching southward. Accordingly, while Decianus proceeded against

Privernum Priverno is a town, ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. It was called ''Piperno'' until 1927. It has a station of the Rome-Naples railway mainline. Nearby is the Monti Lepini chain. It was the birthplace of the canonist Reg ...

, which was continuing to resist the Romans, Lucius Aemilius began to levy a large army in order to oppose the Gauls. However, the report of the Gaulish invasion proved to be unfounded, so both consuls united their forces against Privernum. The town was taken and Mamercinus, as well as his colleague, obtained a triumph as a result. The capture of this town must have been regarded as a very glorious achievement since Mamercinus received the surname of Privernas. In 326 he was selected as

interrex The interrex (plural interreges) was literally a ruler "between kings" (Latin ''inter reges'') during the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic. He was in effect a short-term regent. History The office of ''interrex'' was supposedly created follow ...

. In 316 he again served as dictator (''dictator rei gerundae causa''). His primary mission as dictator was to fight the Samnites.

Bibliography

, ''

Ab urbe condita libri The work called ( en, From the Founding of the City), sometimes referred to as (''Books from the Founding of the City''), is a monumental history of ancient Rome, written in Latin between 27 and 9 BC by Livy, a Roman historian. The work ...

'', 8.1 and 8.2 *William Smith, ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...

'', vol. II, Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1867. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas, Lucius 4th-century BC Roman consuls Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Ancient Roman dictators Mamercinus Privernas, Lucius