M. Fulvius Flaccus 58
vol. VII p.241-243
58) M. Fulvius Flaccus
According to the boundary stones, M. Fulvius Flaccus was M. f., and according to the Acta triumph. he was M. f. Q. n., which tells us that he was the son of nr. 57. His father’s shameful and perhaps much too harsh punishment may have been what first stirred up his fervent hatred for the ruling nobility, which lead him to becoming one of C. Gracchus’s most influential supporters. He may have been the Φλάβιος (instead of Φούλβιος) Φλάκκος ἀπὸ βουλῆς ἀνήρ who brought Tib. Gracchus news of the impending threat in 621 = 133 (Plut. Tib. Gracch. 18, 2). <60> Not long after Tib. died, in 624 = 130 at the latest, he formed part of the second triumviral agrarian commission with C. Gracchus and C. Papirius Carbo (Boundary stones CIL I 554f. = X 1024f. = Dessau 25. Liv. ep. LIX. Obseq. 28. Vell. II 6, 4. Auct. de vir. ill. 65, 4. Plut. C. Gracch. 10, 3. Appian. bell. civ. I 73), and since Scipio Aemilianus opposed the reforms, Fulvius was one of his harshest opponents right up until his death in 625 = 129 (Cic. de or. II 285. Liv. Obseq. Plut. 10, 4). <page break 241/242> In 629 = 125, he became consul with M. Plautius Hypsaeus (Chronogr. Idat. Chron. Pasch. Val. Max. IX 5, 1. Frontin. de aquis I 8. Oros. V 11, 1. Obseq. 30. Cassiod. Appian. I 87. 152. Phlegon mirab. 10 [cf. Diels Sibyllin. Blätter 3ff.]; Fulvius is almost always referred to as consularis at his death). <10> During his consulship, he was very determined to get citizenship granted to the Italians. This put him at sharp odds with his colleague and with the senate (Val. Max. Appian.), so people were glad to make use of any honourable pretext to get him out of Rome (Appian.). Sent off following a request for help by the Massaliotes, Fulvius took on the leadership of the first war in transalpine Gaul, and conquered the Ligurians, the Salluvii, and the Vocontii who lived there. <20> He was granted a triumph for this (Acta triumph. Liv. ep. LX. Obseq. Plut. C. Gracch. 15, 1; referred to as triumphalis in Vell. II 6, 4. Plut. 18; but despite the mention of the Salluvii, Flor. I 19, 5 refers to Q. Flaccus nr. 61 instead). Despite the fact that both consuls in the following year 630 = 124 went off to fight in Gaul, Fulvius was also kept there, since his triumph only took place in 631 = 123 (Acta triumph.). <30> As soon as that was done, he applied himself once more to helping pass the Gracchan reforms. Although it was rather unheard of for somebody to put themselves forward for tribune of the plebs after already serving in a much higher position (cf. Mommsen St.-R. I 552), he nevertheless campaigned for the tribunate of 632 = 122 as an ex-consul, and won it (Appian. I 90. 102. 153). <40> According to the same account (ibid. 102ff.), he also absolutely accompanied Gracchus to Africa to help carry out the founding of the colony of Carthage, but according to a different one (Plut. C. Gracch. 10, 3. 11, 1), while Gracchus was absent Fulvius fought with M. Livius Drusus in Rome over the question of Italian citizenship (cf. Ed. Meyer Untersuch. zur Gesch. der Gracchen 19, 5. Kornemann Klio Beiheft I 50, 2). <50> The accounts also differ on the details about the role that Fulvius played in the downfall of Gracchus in 623 = 121 (cf. Ed. Meyer loc. cit. 30. Kornemann loc. cit. 12f.); but they do generally agree that he was the one to organise the armed protest against the ruling class, to take hold of the Aventine, and to lead the battle (Vell. II 6, 4. 6. Oros. V 12, 5-8. Plut. C. Gracch. 12, 1. 13, 2. 14, 2f. 15, 1. 16, 1-3. Appian. I 112. 114f.). After it had become apparent that this was not going to plan, Fulvius tried to escape, hiding in some private building, but was killed there (Vell. Oros. Plut. 16, 3. Appian. I 118, cf. Diodor. XXXIV 29. 30). <60> He is often named alongside C. Gracchus as the most influential victim of the battle, and his two sons are often named as well, as in Cic. Cat. I 4. 29. IV 13; de domo 102. 114; Phil. VIII 14. Sallust. Iug. 16, 2. 31, 7. 42, 1. Liv. ep. LXI. Val. Max. VI 3, 1. Ascon. Pis. 15. Schol. Gronov. p. 412 Or. <page break 242/243> His head was cut off (Plut. 17, 3); his house on the Palatine, which he had decorated with trophies from his triumph (ibid. 15, 1) was razed to the ground (Cic. de domo 102. 114. Val. Max. VI 3, 1). Following Cichorius’s ingenious though indecisive conjecture (Untersuch. zu Lucilius 328ff.), Lucil. frg. 1104 may prove that his enemies’ hatred and scorn followed him into the grave. <10> When it comes to his children, the eldest, who was probably also called M., was killed alongside his father (Vell. II 6, 6. Oros. V 12, 6. 8. Plut. 16, 3); and the younger one, Quintus (Appian.), who was not yet eighteen years old (Cic. Vell.), was sent to the consul L. Opimius as a negotiator twice before the conflict proper broke out, but on the second time Opimius ordered him to be taken captive, and after the optimates had been victorious he was executed in prison (Cic. Cat. IV 13. Vell. II 7, 2. Oros. V 12, 9. Plut. 16, 1f. 17, 4. Appian. I 115f. 120), after his friend Herennius Siculus had shown him an example of a heroic death (Vell., cf. Val. Max. IX 12, 6). <20> According to Appian. 120, he was offered the choice of his manner of death (cf. Hirzel Archiv für Religionswissensch. XI 437, 1, also 248, 1). Fulvius was only survived by one daughter, who was married to L. Iulius Caesar, the consul of 664 = 90, which we know because his son of the same name refers to Fulvius as his grandfather (Cic. Cat. IV 13. Schol. Gronov. on p. 412 Or.), and Cic. de domo 114 refers to him as the step-father of the brother of Q. Catulus (who won a victory over the Cimbri): he and L. Caesar were both sons of the same mother, Popilia. <30> Fulvius was referred to as an average orator in Cic. Brut. 108.
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This article is referenced by: Q. Fulvius Flaccus (62),