In this episode, the people of Antium start provoking the Aequians and the Volscians into war with Rome by calling them COWARDS. How else could they respond but to say, “Nobody calls me chicken!”

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Episode 146 – Nobody Calls Me Chicken!

With the Antiates, Volscians and Aequians ganged up against them, the Romans decide it’s time for a dictator! Not all of the military tribunes were terribly happy with this decision. Ahala seems to have been the only magistrate who could put the state before his own ambitions.

As a reward for being such a dazzling military tribune, Ahala was chosen to serve as master of the horse, the assistant to the dictator.

Leaving his grumbling colleagues behind, Ahala and the dictator headed off to face the foe.

Tune in to hear how the Romans fare against THREE of their rivals.

Want to revisit a previous clash with Antium? Check out Episode 99 – Tusculum and Antium.

Things to Look Out For:

• Dodgy election tactics


• Whingy military tribunes with consular power


• Patricians resorting to incredibly desperate measures


• Smug tribunes of the plebs


• Dr G having a small identity crisis


• Armpit farts

A mosaic of roosters fighting. Nobody calls them chicken! Courtesy of Amphipolis on Flickr.

Our Players 408 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• C. Iulius Sp. f. Vopisci n. Iullus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 405


• P. Cornelius A. f. M. n. Cossus (Pat)


• C. Servilius P. f. Q. n. Ahala (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 407, 402.

Dictator

• P. Cornelius M. f. L. n. Rutilus Cossus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 405

Master of the Horse

• C. Servilius P. f. Q. n. Ahala (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 408, 407, 402

Our Sources

• Dr G reads the Fasti Capitolini and Diodorus Siculus 13.104.1, 13.108.2, 13.109.


• Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.56.


• Bradley, G. 2020. Early Rome to 290 BC (Edinburgh University Press).


• Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)


• Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)


• Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) 


• Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The rise of Rome. History of the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doi:10.4159/9780674919938. ISBN 978-0-674-65965-0. S2CID 239349186.


• Ogilvie, R. M. 1965. A Commentary on Livy: Books 1-5 (Clarendon Press). 

Sound Credits

Our music was composed by Bettina Joy de Guzman. Sound effects courtesy of Orange Free Sounds.

Automated Transcript.

This transcript was automatically generated by Otter AI.

Dr Rad 0:12
Welcome to the partial historians.

Dr G 0:15
We explore all the details of ancient Rome.

Dr Rad 0:20
Everything from political scandals to love affairs, the battles waged, and when citizens turn against each other. I’m Dr. Rad. And

Dr G 0:30
I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Roman saw it by reading different ancient authors and comparing their accounts.

Dr Rad 0:41
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr G 1:04
Hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of your favourite ancient Roman History podcast. The partial historians I am Dr. Rad

psych it’s a new year.

I’m Dr. G

Dr Rad 1:30
Excellent. And I am Dr Rad. I am a very confused little Dr Rad.

Dr G 1:36
I was just thinking, you know, new year we’ll switch it up. We’ll see if anybody notices you notice straight away though.

Dr Rad 1:43
Well, you know, it’s a fairly distinctive name. I’ve had it all my life.

Dr G 1:48
Well, well, well.

Dr Rad 1:52
Well, welcome back. Dr. G. We are indeed in a new year. It’s 2024.

Dr G 1:57
At time of recording, yes,

Dr Rad 2:01
it is a time of recording. And in terms of tracing the journey of room from the founding of the city. We had a very big episode last episode where we were talking about 409 BCE.

Dr G 2:16
Yeah, not only is this like the landmark year that marks this first century of the Roman Republic, but oh, boy, was it full of plebeian action.

Dr Rad 2:28
It was indeed, I believe that after some lengthy handwringing, and some classic conflict of the orders narrative, we did finally get a plebeian into the quaestorship.

Dr G 2:42
That’s madness. It’s crazy. I won’t stand for it.

Dr Rad 2:46
Please, well, just going to end I mean, that’s all equality ever really needs, isn’t it?

Dr G 2:51
It’s all over guys. I don’t know how the patricians are going to hold up anymore. There’s not enough fast cars or enough muscle to get them through this.

Dr Rad 3:00
They certainly did Look at it as a sign that the world was about to end,

Dr G 3:04
indeed, but I don’t think it has fallen apart completely. Because we’re here to talk about what happens after 409.

Dr Rad 3:11
We will the privilege maintain their position of privilege? Or will they have to concede more to whoever mysterious people that will be? And actually,

Dr G 3:25
I guess we’ll find out. The other thing that’s running parallel to this whole situation is what appears to be an expanded conflict with the Aequians and the Volscians. So Rome is going through a bit of a military upheaval.

Dr Rad 3:39
They are indeed I mean, we’ve talked about these guys on and off, you know, for a while now, but it does seem to be particularly flaring up at this point in the century.

Dr G 3:51
Indeed. So with that sort of background in place, I think we might be ready to step into 408 BC.

Dr Rad 4:00
408 BCE. Now, Dr. G, I’m presuming Dionysius is still keeping his distance from you.

Dr G 4:27
That man is hiding from me in his fragments, and I don’t know what is going on.

Dr Rad 4:33
Oh, Dr. G, has no narrative source material once again. I’ll bet you anything. She can tell us who the magistrates are for this year.

Dr G 4:42
Yeah, Look, I mean, it’s not so bad. I can tell you things like who’s who? I do have the Fasti Capitolini, which is the ultimate guide to who’s who as far as most of us are concerned. And I have some little snippets from Diodorus Siculus as well. So we’ll get to those in due course. Okay. Okay. But we start off with a year where military tribunes with consular power appear to have been voted in. Yes. And we have three of these guys this year. Yes, we have Gaius Iulius Vopisci Iullus. A patrician. We have Publius Cornelius Cossus a patrician. Yeah. And a Gaius Servilius Ahala, a patrician.

Dr Rad 5:31
Well, Dr. G, I can’t say that I’m surprised. But given the way the patricians were carrying on last time, I really thought that maybe this was going to be the year when finally we were going to slee or see a plebeian elected into this position. But now, once again, I am amazingly disappointed.

Dr G 5:53
It’s too soon. The quaestorship is one thing but how dare the plebeians attempt to make a grab for anything beyond this s