Marcia (gens)

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus reproached by his mother, Veturia, and wife, Volumnia, before the walls of Rome.

The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.^[1]

Origin

The Marcii are supposed to have been Sabines, descended from a certain Marcus Marcius of Cures, a kinsman of Numa Pompilius, and his son, Numa Marcius, a childhood friend of Pompilius, who accompanied him to Rome and served as his chief advisor. His son, the younger Numa Marcius, was urban prefect under Tullus Hostilius, and his grandson was Ancus Marcius, the fourth King of Rome.^[1]

Although the Roman monarchy was not strictly hereditary, tradition holds that the sons of Ancus Marcius hoped to succeed their father, but were prevented from doing so when his chief advisor, the Etruscan Lucius Tarquinius, took advantage of their absence at the time of the king's death to solicit support for his own claim, and was elected king.^[2]

After biding their time for many years, the sons of Marcius gained their revenge by engineering the assassination of Tarquin, but they were again prevented from claiming the throne by a ruse of Tanaquil, the Roman queen, who installed her stepson, Servius Tullius, as regent, until he had sufficient support to rule on his own. The later Marcii claimed descent from Ancus Marcius, but nothing further is recorded of his sons or the generations between them and the Marcii of the early Republic.^[1][3]

The nomen Marcius is a patronymic surname, based on the common praenomen Marcus. There is no reason to doubt that both names are in turn derived from the god Mars, although the precise linguistic process by which this occurred is complex and uncertain.^[4]

Praenomina

Denarius of L. Marcius Philippus, minted in 56 BC. The obverse is a portrait of Ancus Marcius, the legendary 4th king of Rome and founder of the gens. The reverse depicts the Aqua Marcia, built by Q. Marcius Rex in 144 BC, who also had his statue on the aqueduc.^[5]

The Marcii were relatively conservative with respect to praenomina, with only three names accounting for nearly all of the Marcii of the Republic. Most branches of the family used Lucius, but preferred either Gaius or Quintus, seldom if ever using both in the same branch. There were isolated instances of Publius, Marcus, and perhaps one instance of Gnaeus, although this case is doubtful. All were very common names throughout Roman history; but there was also at least one Septimus, a praenomen that was quite rare at Rome.

The ancient praenomina Numa and Ancus evidently passed out of use some time before the establishment of the Republic. Both are likely Sabine or Oscan names, as were all of the persons known to have borne them. No attempt seems to have been made to revive either of them at Rome, either as praenomen or cognomen. Numa seems to be related to Numitor, the name of one of the ancient Kings of Alba Longa, and the grandfather of Romulus, and may share a common root with the praenomen Numerius, which remained in use at Rome for many centuries; Chase suggests a meaning related to "arranger" or "orderer", which would suit both Numa Pompilius and his kinsman, Numa Marcius. For Ancus, otherwise known only from the legendary founder of the Publician gens, he suggests the meaning of "servant", perhaps in the religious sense.^[6]

Branches and cognomina

The only surname associated with the patrician Marcii was Coriolanus, which does not seem to have represented a distinct family of the Marcian gens. During the time of the Republic, the plebeian Marcii bore the cognomina Censorinus, Crispus, Figulus, Libo, Philippus, Ralla, Rex, Rufus, Rutilus, Septimus, Sermo, and Tremulus. Those of Censorinus, Libo, and Philippus are found on coins.^[1]

Coriolanus, the earliest cognomen of the Marcii, and the only one generally believed to have belonged to any of the patrician Marcii, was the personal surname of Gaius Marcius, a young soldier whose brilliant charge through the gates of Corioli resulted in the capture of that town from the Volscians. We are told that he had two young sons, from whom one might imagine that the later Marcii were descended; but all of the later Marcii known to history were plebeians. If any of them were descendants of Coriolanus, then they must have stepped down or been removed from the patrician order. The surname Coriolanus does not appear to have been passed down to later generations of the Marcii.^[7][8]

The earliest family of the plebeian Marcii bore the surname of Rutilus, meaning "reddish", probably signifying that the first of this family had red hair.^[9] It through this family that the Marcii emerge from obscurity, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened the consulship to the plebeians. The son of Gaius Marcius Rutilus, the first plebeian censor, was himself censor twice, and took the name Censorinus, which was thereafter passed down in this family for several centuries.^[10]

After this family, the next cognomen of the Marcii was Philippus, a Greek name, which first appears as the surname of Quintus Marcius, the consul of 281 BC; but this may anticipate the adoption of the name by his descendant, for a certain Lucius Marcius of this family is said to have had some connection with Philip V of Macedon; his son, Quintus Marcius Philippus, was consul in 186 BC, and it may therefore have been Lucius who was the first to obtain the cognomen. The initial cognomen of the family may have been Tremulus, since the filiations given in the Fasti link Quintus Marcius Tremulus, consul in 306, and his probable son Quintus Marcius Philippus, consul in 281. Philippus means "lover of horses", and the name had for centuries been associated with the Macedonian kings; Philip II was the father of Alexander the Great. So wide was the fame of this dynasty, that it is not entirely impossible that the name had reached Rome at an earlier date. The Philippi were proud of this association since Lucius Marcius Philippus, the consul of 91, even put the portrait of Philip V of Macedon on the denarii he minted.^[11][12][13]

Ralla seems to be the next surname of the Marcii, first appearing toward the close of the third century BC. It may mean "scraper", and Chase suggests a common origin with the radula, or "scraper", a standard carpentry tool. This family is only found in history for a brief period.^[8][14]

The next surname of the Marcii was Rex, meaning "king", an unmistakable allusion to the family's traditional descent from Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius.^[15]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Early Marcii

Denarius of Lucius Marcius Philippus, circa 113 BC. The obverse depicts Philip V of Macedon. The reverse displays a triumphator, either Quintus Marcius Tremulus, who triumphed in 306 BC, or Quintus Marcius Philippus, who triumphed in 281.^[13]

• Marcus Marcius, a kinsman of Numa Pompilius, who together with Numa's father, Pompo, persuaded him to accept the Roman Kingdom.^[16]
• Numa Marcius M. f., the son of Marcus, was an intimate friend of Numa Pompilius, and accompanied him to Rome, where he was enrolled in the Senate, and created the first Pontifex Maximus. According to Plutarch, when the king died after a reign of forty-three years, Numa Marcius contended with Tullus Hostilius for the throne, but being defeated he starved himself to death.^[17][18]
• Numa Marcius Numae f. M. n., the son of Numa Marcius, served as praefectus urbi under Tullus Hostilius. He married Pompilia, daughter of Numa Pompilius, and was the father of Ancus Marcius.^[17][19][20]
• Ancus Marcius Numae f. Numae n., the fourth King of Rome, according to tradition restored many religious ceremonies that Tullus Hostilius had neglected, but also ably defended the city in times of war. To him are credited many improvements in and around the city of Rome, including the fortification of the Janiculum, the building of a bridge over the Tiber, and the settling of captured Latins on the Aventine Hill.^{[lower-roman 1][17][22][23][24][25]}
• Gaius Marcius Coriolanus,^{[lower-roman 2]} a legendary Roman soldier who led the charge that captured the Volscian town of Corioli. He subsequently became a fierce opponent of the plebeians, urging that they surrender the hard-won office of Tribune of the Plebs before grain could be purchased for them during a famine. Rather than face trial for his effrontery, he fled into exile among the Volsci, then led a Volscian force against Rome, withdrawing only at the pleas of his mother and sister. He was the subject of one of Shakespeare's history plays.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}
• Manius Marcius, plebeian aedile circa 440 BC, offered corn to the people for one as per modius, a very low price. The date of this magistrate is uncertain and still debated.^[31][32]
• Gnaeus (or Gaius) Marcius, tribune of the plebs in 389 BC, prosecuted Quintus Fabius Ambustus, one of three brothers who were sent as ambassadors to the Gauls at Clusium, but who instead of negotiating joined the citizens of Clusium in attacking the Gauls, precipitating the Gallic sack of Rome in 390.^[33]

Marcii Rutili et Censorini

Denarius of Gaius Marcius Censorinus minted in 88 BC, depicting Numa Pompilius and Ancus Marcius, with a desultor on the reverse.^[34]

Further information: Marcii Censorini

• Gaius Marcius Rutilus, grandfather of the consul.
• Lucius Marcius C. f. Rutilus, father of the consul.
• Gaius Marcius L. f. C. n. Rutilus, consul in 357 BC, and the first plebeian dictator in 356, triumphed over the Etruscans. He was consul for the second time in 352, and became the first plebeian censor in 351 BC. He was consul again in 344 and 342, on the latter occasion the Samnite Wars#First Samnite War, during which he quelled a conspiracy among the Roman troops.^{[10][35][36][37]}
• Gaius Marcius C. f. L. n. Rutilus Censorinus, tribune of the plebs in 311 BC, he and his colleague, Lucius Atilius, succeeded in passing a law requiring the military tribunes to be elected by the people. He was consul in 310 BC, during the Second Samnite War, together with Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus. While Fabius campaigned against the Etruscans, Marcius fought against the Samnites, and captured the town of Allifae, but was seriously wounded in a subsequent battle. He was one of the first plebeian pontiffs in 300 BC, and served as censor in 294; elected censor a second time in 265, he is said to have brought forward a law precluding anyone from holding the censorship twice in the future.^{[38][19][39][40][41]}
• Gaius Marcius Censorinus, grandfather of Lucius Marcius Censorinus, consul in 149.
• Gaius Marcius C. f. Censorinus, father of the consul of 149.
• Lucius Marcius C. f. C. n. Censorinus, consul in 149 BC, the year of the Third Punic War. He was given command of the Roman fleet, and together with his colleague, Manius Manilius, laid siege to the city; but Marcius had to return to Rome to hold elections for the following year. He was censor in 147.^{[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]}
• Gnaeus Marcius Censorinus, tribune of the plebs in 122 BC, he proposed a law relating to the election of military tribunes.^[51]
• Gaius Marcius Censorinus, an orator, and a partisan of Gaius Marius, who took a leading role in the proscriptions of 87 BC. He personally slew the consul Gnaeus Octavius, and delivered his head to Cinna. He and his forces were routed in the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82, and put to death.^{[52][53][54][55][56]}
• Lucius (Marcius) Censorinus, evidently a triumvir monetalis in 82 BC, may have been an officer in the Roman fleet in 70.^[57]
• (Marcius) Censorinus, a friend of Quintus Tullius Cicero during his administration of Asia in 59 BC.^[58]
• (Marcius) Censorinus, a friend of Publius Licinius Crassus; the two were killed at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.
• Lucius Marcius L. f. C. n. Censorinus, a partisan of Marcus Antonius, was praetor in 43 BC, and consul in 39, receiving a triumph for his military successes in Macedonia. In 17 BC, he was one of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis in 17 BC.^[59][60][61]
• Gaius Marcius L. f. L. n. Censorinus, consul in 8 BC, and afterward governor of Asia. He died in there in AD 2. The people of Miletus viewed him as their patron and benefactor, and Velleius Paterculus calls him vir demerendis hominibus genitus.^{[62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]}

Marcii Tremuli et Philippi

Denarius of Quintus Marcius Philippus, 129 BC. The obverse depicts a head of Roma; on the is a horseman, behind whom is a Macedonian royal helmet.

• Quintus Marcius, grandfather of Quintus Marcius Tremulus, the consul of 306 BC.
• Quintus Marcius Q. f., father of the consul of 306 BC.
• Quintus Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Tremulus, consul in 306 BC, defeated the Hernici and Anagnini, and celebrated a triumph. He was likely the father of Quintus Marcius Philippus, since their filiation match and they were the first two Marcii to use the cognomen Quintus.^[70][71][72]
• Quintus Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, consul in 281 BC, triumphed over the Etruscans. In 263 he was nominated magister equitum by the dictator Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumalus.^[73]
• Lucius Marcius Q. f. Philippus, father of the consul of 186 BC, was connected in some manner with Philip V of Macedon, although the circumstances are not known. He may have been the first member of this family to bear the surname Philippus, rather than the consul of 281.^[74][75][72]
• Quintus Marcius L. f. Q. n. Philippus, praetor in 188 BC, received the province of Sicily. He was consul in 186 BC, during which Rome was embroiled in a panic over the discovery of the Bacchanalia. He and his colleague were sent against the Ligurians, but Marcius was badly defeated. Consul for the second time in 169, he had the conduct of the war in Macedonia. He was censor in 164.^{[76][77][78][79]}
• Quintus Marcius Q. f. L. n. Philippus, son of the consul in 186 and 169 BC, served under his father in Macedonia.^[80]
• Quintus Marcius Philippus, according to Cicero, was condemned, and went into exile at Nuceria, where he became a citizen. He might possibly be the same as the son of the consul of 186 and 169 BC.^[81]
• Quintus Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, triumvir monetalis in 129 BC. His coins feature a helmet with goat's horns, usually worn by Macedonian kings, an allusion to his cognomen.^[82]
• Lucius Marcius Q. f. Q. n. Philippus, a powerful orator of the late Republic. As tribune of the plebs in 104 BC, his attempt to bring about agrarian reform as was blocked. He was consul in 91, and found himself in violent opposition to Marcus Livius Drusus, who had him arrested; but so strongly did public opinion sway that Philippus subsequently had all of Drusus' laws nullified. He maintained neutrality during the civil war between Marius and Sulla, and was censor in 86; after Sulla's death he became a supporter of Gnaeus Pompeius.^{[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91]}
• Lucius Marcius L. f. Q. n. Philippus, consul in 56 BC, maintained neutrality during the Civil War, remaining on good terms with both Caesar and Cicero. He married Atia, and became the step-father of Gaius Octavius, afterward the emperor Augustus, whom he tried to dissuade from becoming Caesar's heir, and was sent by the Senate to negotiate with Antonius. At Augustus' request, he helped construct a number of public buildings. His daughter was the second wife of Cato the Younger.^{[92][93][94][95][96][97]}
• Quintus Marcius Philippus, proconsul of Asia in 54 BC.^[98]
• Lucius Marcius L. f. L. n. Philippus, the step-brother of Augustus, was tribune of the plebs in 49 BC, praetor in 44, and consul in 38.^[99][100]
• Marcia L. f. L. n., wife of Cato the Younger, by whom she had several children; she lived for several years with the orator Quintus Hortensius, but returned to Cato after the latter's death. When Cato fled Rome on the outset of the Civil War, in BC 49, he left his family and property in her care.^{[101][102][103]}
• Marcia, the wife of Paullus Fabius Maximus, consul in 11 BC, who is said to have spoken to his wife of the secret visit of Augustus to his grandson, Agrippa, in AD 13. According to Tacitus, Marcia disclosed this fact to the empress Livia, leading in some fashion to the death of Fabius shortly thereafter.^[104][105]

See also

• List of Roman gentes
• Aqua Marcia
• Marcia (given name)

Footnotes

References

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