Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens was a

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 ...

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 Ki ...

, a ''

novus homo ''Novus homo'' or ''homo novus'' ( Latin for 'new man'; ''novi homines'' or ''homines novi'') was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. W ...

'' ("new man") who was the first consul to come from his

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 ...

'' gens''. Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with the patrician

Appius Claudius Caecus Appius Claudius Caecus ( 312–279 BC) was a statesman and writer from the Roman Republic. The first Roman public figure whose life can be traced with some historical certainty, Caecus was responsible for the building of Rome's first road (t ...

. He took an active role in leading Roman forces during the Third Samnite War.

Background

According to Roman tradition, membership of 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 ...

, the city's magistracies, the offices of consul and various religious positions were restricted to patricians. Volumnius was a beneficiary of 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 pl ...

, when, during a 200-year struggle, plebeians gradually gained political equality and the right to hold all such offices.

Kurt Raaflaub Kurt Arnold Raaflaub (born 15 February 1941, Buea, Cameroon) is a Swiss historian and Emeritus Professor of Classics and History at Brown University, where he taught Greek and Roman history. He is the brother of conductor Beat Raaflaub. Raaflaub ...

, ed., ''Social Struggles in Archaic Rome: New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders'' (

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...

, 1986) The

Lex Licinia Sextia The Licino-Sextian rogations were a series of laws proposed by tribunes of the plebs, Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, enacted around 367 BC. Livy calls them ''rogatio'' – though he does refer to them at times as ''lex'' ...

of 367 BC had restored the consulship and sought to reserve one of the two consular offices for a plebeian, but in practice this failed to happen until the first election of Volumnius in 307. The Conflict of the Orders was finally resolved in 287 BC, when plebeians gained political equality.

Career

A new man, Volumnius was the first member of his family to become a consul. John Briscoe says of him "The first plebeian consul known to have presided was L. Volumnius Flamma Violens in 296 ." However, Mario Torelli says "...the famous P Volumnius Flamma Violens, cos. 307 and 296 BC, could be among the (plebeian) descendants of P. Volumnius Amintinus Gallus, cos. 461." Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with the patrician

. The Third Samnite War broke out in 298 BC. By the end of its second campaign, the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they f ...

, led by

Gellius Egnatius Gellius Egnatius (died 295 BC) was the leader of the Varriani, a leading clan of the Samnites during the Third Samnite War, which broke out in 298 BC. By the end of the second campaign the Samnites appeared completely defeated, however in the foll ...

, seemed defeated, but the next year Egnatius formed an alliance against Rome with Etruria. This had the effect of withdrawing Roman troops from Samnium, which according to Livy's

Ab Urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an ex ...

had been assigned to Volumnius as his sphere of action. In 296, a combined Etruscan and Samnite army invaded

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

, but was defeated by the combined armies of Volumnius and Claudius, in a battle near the River Volturnus.

Wife

Volumnius married Verginia, the daughter of Aulus Verginius, a patrician. She is one of the one hundred and six subjects of

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was som ...

's '' On Famous Women'' (''De mulieribus claris'', 1362 AD). Boccaccio, Giovanni, ''Concerning Famous Women'', translated by Guido A. Guarino ( Rutgers University Press, 1963) pp. 137–138 (

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

Catalogue Card Number 63-18945) In about 295 BC, the patrician ''matronae'' insulted Verginia by forbidding her access to the ceremony at the shrine of Pudicitia Patricia honouring the female virtue of '' pudicitia'' (modesty, or sexual virtue), on account of her having married a plebeian.Livy's History, Book X, 23 As a result, she erected an altar in her own house to ''Plebeia Pudicitia''. Boccaccio says: "Beginning at that time, and for long thereafter, the temple of Plebeia Pudicitia was equal in sanctity to the altar of the patricians, since no one could offer a sacrifice in it unless she were of singular chastity and had had only one husband..."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volumnius Flamma, Lucius Ancient Roman dictators Ancient Roman generals Ancient Roman jurists 4th-century BC Roman consuls 3rd-century BC Roman consuls Flamma, Lucius 340s BC births 270s BC deaths