Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/527

POTITUS. enactment of the celebrated Valeriae et Horatiae Leges^ which secured" the liberties of the plebs, and gave them additional power in the state. 1. The first law is said to have made a plebiscitum binding on the whole people, but Niebuhr supposes that the sanction of the senate and the conhrmation of the curiae were necessary to give a plebiscitum the full force of a lex. [Comp. Philo, p. 298, a.] 2. The second law enacted that whoever should procure the election of a magistrate without appeal should be outlawed, and might be killed by any one Avith impunity. 3. The third law declared that, whoever harmed the tribunes of the plebs, the aediles, the judices, or the decemvirs, should be outlawed and accursed. It is doubtful who are meant by the judices and decemvirs : various conjec- tures have been made on the point by modem writers (Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. ii. p, 368 ; Arnold, Hist, of Rome, vol. i. p. 319). After the enact- ment of these laws, the consuls proceeded to march against the foreign enemies of the state. The people flocked to the standards of the popular con- suls, and fought with enthusiasm under their orders. They accordingly met with great success ; Valerius defeated the Aequi and the Volsci, Horatius the Sabines, and both armies returned to Rome covered with glory. The senate, however, refused to grant a triumph to these traitors to their order ; where- upon the centuries conferred upon them this honour by their supreme authority, regardless of the oppo- sition of the senate. (Liv, iii. 39 — 41, 49 — 55,61 — 64 ; Dionys. xi. 4, &c. 45, &c. ; Cic, de Rep. ii, 31, Brut. 14 ; Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. ii. pp. 345 — 376.) In b. c. 446 Valerius was chosen by the centuries one of the quaestores parricidii (Tac. Ann. xi. 22 ; respecting the statement in Tacitus, see Diet, of Aniiq. s. v. Quaestor). 3. C. Valerius Potitus Volusus, described in the Capitoline Fasti as L. F. VoLUSi N., was consular tribune b. c. 415 (Liv. iv. 49), and consul with M'. Aemilius Mamercinus, b. c. 410. In his consulship he distinguished himself by his opposition to the agrarian law of the tribune M. Maenius ; and he recovered the Arx Carventana, which had been taken by the Volsci, in consequence of which he entered the city in an ovation. He was consular tribune a second time in b. c. 407, and a third time inB.c. 404. (Liv. iv. 57, 61.) 4. L. Valerius Potitus, described in the Ca- pitoline Fasti as L. f. P. n., consular tribune five times, namely in b. c. 414, 406, 403, 401, 398 (Liv. iv. 49, 58, v. 1, 10, 14). He was also twice consul ; first in B.C. 393, with P. Cornelius Malu- ginensis Cossus, in which year both consuls had to resign, through some fault in the auspices (vitio facti), and L. Lucretius Flavus Tricipitinus and Ser. Sulpicius Camerinus were chosen in their stead ; and a second time in the following year, B. c. 392, with M. Manlius, in which year both the consuls celebrated the great games, which had been vowed by the dictator M. Furius, and also carried on war against the Aequi. In consequence of their success in this war, Valerius obtained the honour of a triumph, and Manlius of an ovation (Liv. v. 31 ; Dionys. i. 74). In the same year Valerius was the third interrex appointed for hold- ing the comitia (Liv. v. 31), and in B.C. 390, the year in which Rome was taken by the Gauls, he was magister equitum to the dictator M. Furius Camillus. (Liv. V. 48.) 5. P, Valerius Potitus Publicol a, described PRAETEXTATUS. 615 in the Capitoline Fasti, as L. f. L. N., and conse- quently a son of No. 4, was consular tribune six times, namely, in b. c. 386, 384, 380, 377, 370, and 367. (Liv. vi. 6, 18, 27, 32, 36, 42.) 6. C. Valerius Potitus, a son of No. 3, judg- ing from his praenomen, was consular tribune, b.c. 370. (Liv. vi. 36.) 7. C. Valerius Potitus Flaccus, probably son or grandson of No. 6, was consul B. c. 331, with M. Claudius Marcellus. Livy says, that in some annals Valerius appeared with the cognomen of Potitus, and in others with that of Flaccus (Liv. viii. 18). Orosius, who mentions Valerius (iii. 10), calls him simply Valerius Flaccus, without the cognomen of Potitus. It is probable that be was the first of the family who assumed the sur- name of Flaccus, and that his descendants dropped the name of Potitus. If this supposition is correct, the Flacci, who became afterwards a distinguished family of the Valeria gens, would be sprung from this Valerius Potitus. [Flaccus, Valerius.] 8. L. Valerius Potitus, probably a brother of No. 7, was magister equitum in b. c. 331, to the dictator Cn. Quintilius Varus. (Liv, viii. 18.) 9. M. Valerius Maxim us Potitus, consul B, c, 286. [Maximus, Valerius, No. 6.] POTO'NE. [Perictione.] PRACHIAS, artist. [Praxias.] PRAECI'LIUS, the name of a father and a son, whom Cicero recommended to Caesar in b. c 45. (Cic. ad Fam. xiii.) PRAECONI'NUS, L. VALE'RIUS, a legatus who was defeated and killed by the Aquitani a year before Caesar's legatus, P. Crassus, made war upon this people, B. c. 56 (Caesar, B. G. iii. 20). This defeat of Praeconinus is not mentioned by any other writer, and we know nothing of him or of the history of the war. PRAENESTI'NA, a surname of the Roman Fortuna, who had a temple and oracle at Praeneste. (Ov. Fast. vi. 62 ; Suet. Domit. 15 ; comp, For- tuna,) [L. S.] PRAESENS, BRU'TTIUS, to whom one of Pliny's letters is addressed {Ep. vii. 3.), was pro- bably the father of the following Praesens. PRAESENS, BRU'TTIUS, the father of Crispina, wife of the emperor Commodus. He is generally supposed to be the C. Bruttius Praesens who appears in the Fasti as consul for a. d. 153, and again for a. d. 180. There is also a C. Bruttius Praesens marked as having been consul for the second time in A. D. 139, and another as consul in A. D. 217. (Capitolin. M. Aurel. 27 ; Lamprid. Commod. 12 ; Censorin. 21.) [W. R.] PRAETEXTA'TUS, C. ASI'NIUS, consul A. D. 242, with C. Vettius Atticus. (Fasti ; Ca- pitol. Gord. 26.) PRAETEXTATUS, ATEIUS. [Ateius.] PRAETEXTA'TUS, SULPI'CIUS. 1. Q. Sulpicius Praetextatus consular tribune, b. c. 434. There was considerable difference in the annalists respecting the supreme magistrates for this year ; we learn from Livy that Valerius Antiaa and Q. Tubero made Q. Sulpicius one of the consuls for the year. (Liv. iv. 23 ; Diod. xii. 53.) 2. Ser. Sulpicius Praetextatus, four times consular tribune, namely in b. c. 377, 376, 370, 368. He married the elder daughter of M. Fabius Ambustus ; and it is said that the younger daugh- ter of Fabius, who was married to Licinius Stolo, urged, cn her husband to procure the consulship for L L 2