Manius Valerius Maximus

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After the armies' return to Rome, Valerius requested the senate to deal with the ongoing debt issues which were afflicting the people. The senate declined to act, and the dictator was outraged. He said before the senate:

You will not let me recommend concord. Trust me, before long you will wish that the people of Rome had patrons similar to me. For my part, I will neither further disappoint my fellow citizens, nor will I be dictator to no purpose. Internal divisions and foreign wars caused the republic to require such a magistrate. Peace has been secured abroad, it is impeded at home. I will be a witness to these disturbances as a private citizen rather than as dictator.

Manius Valerius Maximus, Livy, Ab urbe condita , 2.31

He resigned his commission, and went to his house, greeted by the applause of the people. [3] In some traditions, following his dictatorship, he was first elected augur in 494 BC and then princeps senatus during the census of 493 BC. He would remain an augur until his death in a pestilence in 463 BC. [4]

Legacy

In AD 2, a statue of Manius Valerius Maximus was erected in the Forum of Augustus alongside other "great men of Rome", under which was an elogia.

Conflicting identification and death

Festus identifies Manius Valerius Maximus as a son of Marcus Valerius Volusus and puts him as Rome's first dictator in 501 BC. [5] Similarly there is some confusion regarding the Valerius who was chosen as Augur in 494 BC, which can be either identified as the former consul Marcus Valerius Volusus, his son, the previously mentioned Manius Valerius Maximus, or this Manius Valerius Maximus, the dictator of 494 BC. If it was either of the brothers to Poplicola (both described as elderly) they would have been extremely old by 463 BC when this Augur is said to have succumbed during a large pestilence in Rome. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Livy, Ab urbe condita , 2.30
  2. E. A. Judge (1 January 2008). The First Christians in the Roman World: Augustan and New Testament Essays. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 178–. ISBN   978-3-16-149310-2.
  3. 1 2 Livy, Ab urbe condita , 2.31
  4. 1 2 Broughton, vol i, pp.14 (see note 1 for his discussion on the name), 35. Livy, 3.7.6. Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6.39.2
  5. Broughton, vol i, pp.9, [note 3, pp.10). Festus, 216 L
Manius Valerius Maximus
Dictator of the Roman Republic
In office
494 BC 494 BC