Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1175

Rh TORQUATUS. TORQUA'TUS, C. BELLI'CIUS, consul under Hadrian in A. D. 143 with Ti. Claudius Atticus Herodes. (Fasti.) TORQUATUS, JU'NIUS. [Silanus.] TORQUA'TUS, LUCEIUS, a man of consular rank, slain by Commodus. He must have been TORQUATUS. 1163 one of the consules suffecti, as his name does not occur in the Fasti. (Lamprid. Commod. 7.) TORQUA'TUS, MA'NLIUS. The Torquati -were a patrician family of the Manila Gens. Their descent is given in the following genealogical table, which is to some extent conjecturaL STEMMA MANLIORUM TORQUATORUM. L. Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus, diet. b. c. 363. 1. T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, diet, b. c. 353, 349, cos. b. c. 344, 340. 2. T. Manlius Torquatus, slain by his father. T 3. T. Torquatus, cos. b. c. 299. I 4. L. Torquatus, legatus, b. c. 295. I 5. A. Torquatus Atticus, cos. b. c. 244, 241. 6. T. Torquatus, cos. 235, 224, diet. b. c. 208. 7. A. Torquatus. I 10. A. Torquatus, propr. b. c. 70. I 1 1. A. Torquatus, pr. b. c. 52. 8. T. Torquatus, cos. b. c. 165. 9. A. Torquatus, cos, b. c. 164. 12. T. Torquatus. 14. L. Torquatus, cos. b. c. QB. I I 13. T. Torquatus, 15. L. Torquatus, pr. b. c. 49, quaest, B, c. 43. slain b. c. 46. 1. T. Manlius L. p. A. n. Imperiosus Tor- quatus, the son of L. Manlius Capitolinus Impe- riosus, dictator in B. c. 363, was a favourite hero of Roman story. He possessed the characteristic virtues of the old Romans, being a brave man, an obedient son, and a severe father ; and he never allowed the feelings of nature or friendship to interfere with what he deemed his duty to his country. Manlius is said to have been dull of mind in his youth, and was brought up by his father in the closest retirement in the country. The tribune M. Pomponius availed himself of the latter circumstance, when he accused the elder Manlius in B. c. 362, on account of the cruelties he had practised in his dictatorship in the preceding year, to excite an odium against him, by represent- ing him at the same time as a cruel and tyrannical father. As soon as the younger Manlius heard of this, he hurried to Rome, obtained admission to Pomponius early in the morning, and compelled the tribune, by threatening him with instant death if he did not take the oath, to swear that he would drop the accusation against his father. Although the elder Manlius was no favourite with the people, and had received the surname Imperiosus on ac- count of his haughtiness, yet they were so delighted with the filial affection of the younger Manlius, that they not only forgave his violence to the tri- bune but elected him one of the tribunes of the soldiers in the course of the same year. In the following year, b. c. 361, according to Livy, though other accounts give different years, Manlius served under the dictator T, Quintius Pennus in the war against the Gauls, and in this campaign earned immortal glory by slaying in single combat a gigantic Gaul, who had stepped out of the ranks and chal- lenged a Roman to fight him. From the dead body of the barbarian he took the chain {torques) which had adorned him, and placed it around his own neck; his comrades in their rude songs gave him the sur- name of Torquatus, which he continued ever after- wards to bear, and which he handed down to his descendants. His fame became so great that he was appointed dictator in b. c, 353, before he had held the consulship, in order to carry on the war against the Caerites and the Etruscans. In b. c. 349 he was again raised to the dictatorship for the purpose of holding the comitia. Two years after- wards, B. c. 347, he was consul for the first time with C, Plautius Venno Hypsaeus ; during which year nothing of importance occurred, except the enactment of a law de fenore. He was consul a second time in b. c. 344 with C. Marcius Rutilus, and a third time in B. c. 340 with P, Decius Mus. In his third consulship Torquatus and his colleague gained the great victory over the Latins at the foot of Vesuvius, which established for ever the su- premacy of Rome over Latium. An account of this battle, which was mainly won by the self- sacrifice of Decius Mus, has been given elsewhere. [Mus, No, L] The name of Torquatus has be- come chiefly memorable in connection with this war on account of the execution of his son. Shortly before the battle, when the two armies were en- camped opposite to one another, the consuls pub- lished a proclamation that no Roman should engage in single combat with a Latin on pain of death. Notwithstanding this proclamation, the young Man- lius, the son of the consul, provoked by the insults of a Tusculaii noble of the name of Mettius Gerai-