Spurius Servilius Structus was a

Roman consul 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 ...

in 476 BC.

Titus Livius Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a 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 traditional founding in ...

, ''

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 exp ...

'', ii. 51. Following their defeat of the Roman army at the

Battle of the Cremera A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in 477 BC, the Veientes marched on Rome and had occupied the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; it, Gianicolo ), occasionally the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among th ...

. There they remained at the beginning of Servilius' consulship. Both consuls, Servilius and his colleague

Aulus Verginius 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 ...

, remained in Rome to deal with the threat. The Veientes marched from the Janiculum and crossed the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...

, and assaulted the camp of Servilius. His force successfully repulsed the Veientes, who retreated to the Janiculum. The following morning Servilius' army took position at the foot of the Janiculum, and marched up the slope to attack the enemy. The battle went badly for the Romans, until a force led by the other consul Verginius attacked the Veientes from the rear, whereupon the Veientes were cut off and soundly defeated. In 475 BC, immediately after Servilius' term as consul had ended, the

tribunes Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

Lucius Caedicius and Titus Statius brought charges against him for his poor conduct of the war against the Veientes. According to Livy, Servilius spoke boldly in defence of the charges. In particular, Servilius upbraided the

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

for convicting Titus Menenius Lanatus the previous year, leading to his death from shame. Servilius' consular colleague, Verginius, also spoke in Servilius' defence, and Servilius was acquitted. In the same year Servilius served as

legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

under the consul

Publius Valerius Poplicola Publius Valerius Poplicola or Publicola (died 503 BC) was one of four Roman aristocrats who led the Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, overthrow of the monarchy, and became a Roman consul, the Collegiality#Collegiality in the Roman Republic, collea ...

. Broughton, vol i. pp.28

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Servilius Structus, Spurius 5th-century BC Roman consuls Structus, Spurius