392 BCE, the year that went down in history for “a campaign in no way memorable”. Ah, that Livy, he paints quite a picture, doesn’t he?

All About the Consuls

The campaign in question involved our consuls for the year. Yep, consuls! The plebeians were still in a blissful mood after receiving some of the land from Veii in the previous year and so they didn’t fight for military tribunes.

The consuls took care of a few domestic matters, such as holding the Great Games promised by Camillus during the siege against Veii and dedicating the temple to Juno (another of Camillus’ promises).

Once the gods had been satisfied, the Romans were off to fight the Aequians at Mount Algidus in the titular “campaign in no way memorable.” Come on Aequians, put up a proper fight! The decisive victory (and possible capture of the city of Liphoecua) earned the consul Valerius a triumph as he slaughtered so many of the fleeing enemy. His colleague, Manlius, was given the lesser honour of an ovation. Guess he didn’t kill as many men who were running away in terror! You can’t reward that kind of behaviour in Ancient Rome.

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"></figure>

An image of a triumph from the Arch of Titus. Courtesy of World History Encyclopedia.

Kicking the Romans when they were really down

War found the Romans again in 392, this time with the Etruscan people of Volsinii and the Sappinates (which we presume was near Volsinii). The Romans could not respond with their typical vigour as they were hit by a horrific plague. Famine and pestilence were rampant in their part of the world, thanks to drought and a heatwave. These are the same environmental crises and disease mentioned by Dionysius of Halicarnassus for the previous year, which goes to show how the dating for this period is a tad confused.

With the Romans too ill to fight, they send angry messages to their new enemies that they will get their revenge… just as soon as they can stop vomiting.

Good Censors are like Waffles

No one was immune from the pestilence. Censors had been elected in 393 BCE, but now one of those elected, Gaius Julius, died in office and was replaced with Marcus Cornelius. Spoiler alert, but we are only a couple of years away from the Gallic sack of Rome. This happened in the same lustrum as events such as the death of Gaius Julius. Livy asserts that the way he was replaced caused issues with the gods, and that the Romans would ensure the partner of deceased stepped down from office and two brand new colleagues would be placed in office in the future. This may not be accurate, but it certainly shows that the Romans were committed to the idea of collegiality.

The Scourge of the Plague

When the consuls also fell ill, they decided the Romans needed some fresh auspices. It was time for an interregnum! The consuls stepped down from office, and power was shared amongst the interreges until military tribunes with consular power were elected.

We know what you’re thinking – why interreges? This was a position created to deal with the transfer of powers between kings. It’s interesting that the Romans continue to use this position long into the Republic. The last time we saw interreges was only a few years earlier in 396 BCE.  

We do mention a couple of Latin terms in this episode, so here is your handy glossary in case you need it!

• The pomerium – the sacred boundary of the city. This was religious in nature. The pomerium set the bounds within which the auspices could be taken.





• Reference to the lustrum – a lustratio was a purification ceremony. The lustrum condere was conducted at the end of a census by one of the censors.

Things to Look Out For:

• What is becoming Dr G’s regular segment ‘Meanwhile in Sicily…’ featuring Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse!





• A slight ice cream theme with the mention of Aussie favourites, Gelato Messina and Cornetto (and no, we’re sadly not sponsored by either)





• The renaming of an ancient source. We now pronounce thee Diodorus of Fully Siculus!  





• A slightly confused Partial Pick

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"></figure>

Coin of Syracuse (Dionysius I: 405-367 BC) – Head of the Nymph Arethusa between the dolphins; Quadriga and weapons – Naples, Archaeological Museum. Courtesy of Carlo Raso on Flickr.

Our Players 392 BCE

Consuls

• L. Valerius L. f. P. n. Potitus (Pat) Cos. 393, Mil. Tr. c.p. 414, 406, 403, 401, 398





• M. Manlius T. f. A. n. Capitolinus (Pat)

Relevant Players 393 BCE

Censors

• L. Papirius (-f. -n. Cursor) (Pat) Mil. Tri. c.p. 387, 385





• C. Iulius Sp. f. Vopisci n. Iullus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c.p. 408, 405

Censor Suffectus

• M. Cornelius P. f. M. n. Maluginensis (Pat)

Relevant Players 391 BCE

Interreges

• M. Furius Camillus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 401, 398, 394, 386, 384, 381





• P. Cornelius Scipio (Pat) Mil. Tr. c.p. 395, 394?





• L. Valerius Potitus (Pat) Cos. 393, 392, Mil. Tr. c.p. 414, 405, 403, 401, 398

Other Notables

• DIONYSIUS the tyrant of Syracuse





• THEARIDES, the brother of Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse





• HELORIS the Syracusan, general of Croton

Our Sources

• Dr Rad reads Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 5.31.





• Dr G reads Diodorus Siculus, 14.103-106; Fasti Capitolini; Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1.74.5-6; 13.1-4.





• Bernard, Seth. “Rome from the Sack of Veii to the Gallic Sack.” In Building Mid-Republican Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190878788.003.0003.





• 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)





• Bruun, Patrick. “Evocatio Deorum: Some Notes on the Romanization of Etruria.” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 6 (1972): 109–20. https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67073.





• 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) 





• Digital Prosopography of the Roman Republic – https://romanrepublic.ac.uk/





• Duff, T. E. 2010. ‘Plutarch’s Themistocles and Camillus’. In N. Humble, ed., Plutarch’s Lives: parallelism and purpose (Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, 2010), pp. 45-86.





• Eder, W. (. (2006). Triumph, Triumphal procession. In Brill’s New Pauly Online. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1221100 





• Elvers, K. (., Courtney, E. (. V., Richmond, J. A. (. V., Eder, W. (., Giaro, T. (., Eck, W. (., & Franke, T. (. (2006). Furius. In Brill’s New Pauly Online. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e416550





• Gowing, Alain M. 2009. “The Roman exempla tradition in imperial Greek historiography: The case of Camillus in Feldherr, A., ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.





• Graf, F. (. O., & Ley, A. (. (2006). Iuno. In Brill’s New Pauly Online. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e603690





• Kraus, C. S. 2020. ‘Urban Disasters and Other Romes: The Case of Veii’ in Closs, V. M., Keitel, E. eds. Urban Disasters and the Roman Imagination (De Gruyter), 17-31.





• Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The rise of Rome. History of the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doi:<a href="https://doi.or