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List of dictators and magistri equitum

6th and 5th centuries BC

4th century BC

3rd century BC

1st century BC

See also

Footnotes

1. ^The name of the first dictator is also given as Manius Valerius, but Livy rejects this in favor of Titus Larcius Flavus on the basis of the law that only consulars could be named dictator; Valerius had not yet been named consul. Broughton follows Livy in this.^[2]
2. ^No dictator is listed for this year in thefasti consulares, butLydus says that there was a dictator in the forty-eighth year of the Republic. Bendel links this with the story that the senate appointed a dictatorclavi figendi causa in 363 BC because that had worked to stop a pestilence a century earlier and concludes that Mamercus was this dictator. Broughton sees this as an insufficient reason to say that Mamercus was dictator in 463 BC, and suggests that Lydus has mistaken an interrex for a dictator.^[3]
3. ^Possibly the same individual asAppius Claudius Crassus Regillensis, rather than the consul of 349.^[4]
4. ^The name of the magister equitum is preserved in theFasti only as "SCA[.]VLA" or "SCA[.]V[.]LA", which some scholars have interpreted as "Scapula", based on the subsequent appearance of Publius Cornelius Scapula, consul in 328 BC. Broughton notes thatAttilio Degrassi's reading, indicating the second gap, would make "Scapula" improbable. "Scaevola", a surname of theMucia gens, is plausible, but no Mucius Scaevola is mentioned in the history of this period.^[5][6]
5. ^The names of the dictator and magister equitum for this year are missing from the consular fasti, and not explicitly stated by any ancient author. TheDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology inserts these names, although the basis for them is not stated.^[7][8]
6. ^^abcdThefasti consulares, but no other source, list four years in which there was a dictator but no consuls elected: 333, 324, 309, and 301. In each case, Livy includes the names of the dictator andmagister equitum under the previous year's consuls.^[9]
7. ^The sources for thecausa of this dictator conflict. Most historians accept that Cornelius carried on theLudi Romani games when thepraetor fell ill, and attempt to explain how an annalist would have altered the records to make this a dictatorrei gerundae causa.^[10]
8. ^Maenius is one of three dictators appointed in 320, none of whom is listed as having abdicated and been replaced by another dictator. Hartfield asserts that Maenius was not appointed forquaestionibus exercendis, to conduct a court of inquiry into conspiracies against the Republic, as described by Livy. Instead, she concludes that he must have had a religious function, although she cannot determine precisely whichcausa he had, except to excludeclavi figendi. Cornelius can only have been nominatedrei gerundae causa, due to the war with theSamnites, while Manlius must have been appointed to hold the elections for the next year's magistrates.^[11]
9. ^Livy and thefasti consulares suggest that Poetelius was dictatorrei gerundae causa, but Livy preserves a source who claims that one of the consuls that year instead captured the town Poetelius was said to have captured and that his dictatorship was insteadclavi figendi causa. Some modern historians do not dismiss this alternate account. Because a dictatorrei gerundae causa would not have hammered in the sacred nail, Hartfield adduces that he must have been appointed dictator twice this year, if he did so.Diodorus Siculus attributes the victories credited to Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus to "Κόιντος Φάβιος" (Quintus Fabius) instead.^[12]
10. ^Thefasti consulares list Gaius Sulpicius Longus as the dictatorrei gerundae causa and Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus as hismagister equitum, but Livy names the latter as dictator, without following his usual procedure of recording themagister equitum.^[13]
11. ^Three dictators are known only from various literary sources. Historians date them to a period for which thefasti consulares and Livy's history are missing but nothing about theircausa can be known.^[14] One of these was probably dictatorsuffectus after the death of Quintus Hortensius in 287 BC. Mommsen suggested that this was Claudius.^[15]
12. ^One of three dictators known from literary sources, but not found in the surviving portions of the consular fasti or Livy's history. Broughton concludes that they must have held office between 292 and 285 BC, and lists them under the latest possible date.
13. ^The third of three dictators known from literary sources, but not found in the surviving portions of the consular fasti or Livy's history. Although Broughton concluded that they must have held office between 292 and 285 BC, theDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology places Rufinus in 276, during thewar with Pyrrhus, noting, however, that Niebuhr placed his dictatorship in 280, after theBattle of Heraclea.^[16]
14. ^Nominated by the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher after the Senate had relieved him of his command following theBattle of Drepana. Glicia was a freedman and a scribe; as such he was considered wholly unsuitable for the office and compelled to resign even before he could name his magister equitum. The precise means by which his resignation was procured is unclear. Aulus Atilius Calatinus was appointed in Claudius' stead. Notwithstanding his humble origin, Glicia was recorded as dictator in the consular fasti, and continued to wear thetoga praetexta as a symbol of the honour. In 236 BC, he was alegate under the consul Gaius Licinius Varus, but after granting a treaty without permission from the Senate or the consul, was handed over to the enemy, who returned him unharmed; he was then imprisoned, banished, or put to death.^[17][18][19]
15. ^Livy says that Fabius was appointed dictator for the second time in 217. Broughton adduces that he must have been dictator during a gap in the Capitoline fasti from 221 to 219, and before Livy's history resumes in 218. Since Flaminius was censor in 220 and 219, Broughton places this dictatorship in 221.^[20]
16. ^Minucius, themagister equitum, vehemently opposed the dictator's delaying strategy against Hannibal, and induced a tribune of the plebs to propose a law granting him authority equal to that of the dictator. Some scholars therefore regard Minucius as a second dictator, while others describe him as amagister equitum with dictatorialimperium. Since ancient sources refer to Minucius as having been dictator, those who consider him merelymagister equitum during Fabius' dictatorship suggest that Minucius later held the office during a period for which Livy's history is missing, perhaps in order to hold thecomitia.^[21][22]
17. ^This is the only instance of thiscausa. The Senate appointed a dictator to enroll new senators after theBattle of Cannae, instead of holding elections for new censors to carry out the same task.

References

Bibliography