Gaius Valerius Flaccus (consul 93 BC)

Life and career

Valerius Flaccus was praetor, a senior administrative and judicial position, sometime before 95 BC, most probably in 96. An inscription from Claros (in modern Turkey) indicates that following his praetorship and before 95 he held a promagisterial, or senior military, command in the Roman province of Asia. Both he and his brother Lucius, who was a governor of Asia in the late 90s and again for 85, are honored as patrons of the city of Colophon in Ionia. The two are the first Roman governors known to be addressed as patrons of a free city, a practice that became common in the 60s BC.

Flaccus may have been a candidate for the consulship of 94, losing to the novus homo ("new man") Gaius Coelius Caldus, who is said to have run against two nobiles and beaten one of them. It was not unusual for a defeated candidate to run again the following year, as Flaccus did, often with success. Flaccus was successful in being elected as a consul in 93; his colleague was M. Herennius.

Proponent of citizenship

In 96, while praetor urbanus, the senior magistrate of the city of Rome, Flaccus sponsored legislation to grant citizenship to Calliphana of Velia, a priestess of Ceres. Julius Caesar, in his account of the Gallic Wars, identifies the Helvian Celt Caburus as another recipient of citizenship from Flaccus, during his time as governor of Gallia Transalpina. Caburus followed custom in assuming his patron's gentilic name Gaius Valerius. This interest in expanding citizenship may be viewed in the context of the family's moderate popularism and their relations with social inferiors. Ernst Badian noted that the Valerii Flacci "were given to taking up new men and families: inscriptions (Inschr. V. Magn. 144f.) reveal a policy of low-class connections."E. Badian, "Waiting for Sulla," Journal of Roman Studies (1962), as republished in Studies in Greek and Roman History (New York 1964), p. 222.

Hispania

Flaccus succeeded Titus Didius as proconsul of Hispania Citerior, a province in north east Hispania, in 92, and assumed his post before the conclusion of his consulship in order to deal with an uprising among the Celtiberi, the major native group of the central-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The historian Appian says the revolt was motivated by the exceptional cruelty and treachery of Didius, who had dealt with unrest and crime among the poor by promising them land to live on and then luring them into a trap. When the families had assembled within a Roman fort for the required registration, Didius slaughtered them all. While implying that the revolt against Didius was justified, Appian's account of the subsequent actions of Flaccus is not overtly critical. In an attempt to restore order, Flaccus engaged in armed conflicts that left 20,000 Celtiberi dead. At Belgida, however, the local senate refused to issue an official declaration of war against Rome, or were perhaps still deliberating. The rebels set fire to the structure and burned their own senators alive. The local reaction to the mass murder of their governing class was no doubt mixed. Flaccus appears to have been successful in halting large-scale violence, perhaps because he capitalized on any outrage or ambivalence within the community at the deaths of their senators and executed those responsible.

Flaccus remained in Hispania longer than any other Roman governor had up to that time, and he seems to have been in charge of Hispania Ulterior as well as Citerior. His extended command probably resulted from the disruptions of the Social War and its aftermath, and the civil wars of the 80s. After stabilizing the region, Flaccus appears to have governed prudently and with respect to legal authority.

Contrebian water rights

Flaccus remained in Hispania as governor at least until 87, as evidenced by the Tabula Contrebiensis, a bronze tablet on which are inscribed his civil laws pertaining to boundaries and water-rights arbitration. The document is written in Latin and based on Roman legal formulae, but the judges are the local senate of Contrebia Balaisca (near present-day Botorrita). Flaccus understood the legal issue as a distinction between ager publicus and ager privatus, publicly held and private land. He used a legal fiction to show how the principles of the two communities involved in the dispute could be applied mutually, and provided a Roman legal framework within which the Contrebians could cite precedent from Celtiberian law.

Gaul

At some point in the 80s Flaccus was appointed governor of Gallia Transalpina (Transalpina). The other Gallic province was Gallia Cisalpina (Cisalpina), the ethnically Celtic north of Italy. The two Gallic provinces were often governed jointly, and no other promagistrate is recorded for Cisalpina, for the period 87–82, so Flaccus may well have governed both provinces jointly. Scholars have been unable to determine the extent to which Flaccus's terms as governor in Hispania and Gaul were overlapping or sequential, as a continuous line of succession can rarely be traced for any province. A dual governorship of both provinces has been disparaged as "unprecedented", but no other promagistrate is documented for Hispania in this period, and since the senate only began assigning Transalpine Gaul as a regular provincia in the mid-90s, administrative arrangements were still evolving. By 85, Flaccus was "firmly installed" in Transalpina, though Cicero, as Badian notes, refrains from calling him the lawful governor there. He was acclaimed imperator and retained his province until he celebrated a triumph over Celtiberia and Gaul in 81. It is possible to argue that by the mid-80s, Flaccus was responsible for both Gallia Transalpina and Cisalpina, as well as Hispania Ulterior and Citerior.

The longevity of Flaccus's command has been cited as evidence that the prolongment of Julius Caesar's term in Gaul in the 50s, and the five-year proconsular commands granted to Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Crassus after their joint consulship in 55, were less exceptional than has sometimes been thought.

The case of Quinctius

In 83 BC, Flaccus was brought into a property dispute between Publius Quinctius and Naevius. Quinctius had inherited land in Transalpina from his brother, Gaius Quinctius, along with attached debts. Naevius, who had been the brother's business partner, tried to foreclose on the property, and ejected Quinctius by force. Flaccus ruled that Naevius had seized the property improperly and ordered restitution. Two years later, the case, still dragging on, helped launch the career of Cicero, who in 81 was a young advocate in his mid-twenties arguing on behalf of Quinctius: the speech survives as the extant pro Quinctio.

Role in civil war

If Flaccus governed both Hispanias and both Gauls, or any combination of the four provinces, the armed forces at his disposal were unmatched in the western empire. "The loyalty of these armies," it has been noted, "was crucial to the State." Until 85 BC or later, Flaccus either supported or acted in no way contrary to the interests of the Marian and Cinnan faction, which held the consulship from 87 to 82 BC. He appears to have been attempting to preserve legitimate authority while remaining neutral in the factional conflict, though the Valerii Flacci were generally popularist in their politics and had strong ties to Gaius Marius.

The death of Flaccus's brother, Lucius, marks a turning point. Lucius Valerius Flaccus was the suffect consul who completed Marius's term after his death in 86. He was sent as governor to the Roman province of Asia, where he was murdered in 85 by the mutinous Gaius Flavius Fimbria, who then took command of the troops assigned to Lucius. The Cinnan government failed to take action against Fimbria, who had been a particularly partisan supporter of the Marian faction. Lucius's son, also named Lucius, fled Asia and sought refuge with his uncle in Massalia (present-day Marseille), then still an independent Greek city-state. This nephew was the Lucius Valerius Flaccus defended by Cicero in his speech Pro Flacco two decades later.

No replacement for Flaccus was sent from Rome, but doubts about his allegiance were perhaps raised. Cinna was assassinated in 84; Sulla returned to Italy in 83, stormed and captured Rome and had himself declared dictator. The Marian-Cinnan faction, now led by the son of Gaius Marius, set about securing Hispania, which Flaccus, given the vastness of his command, could only have been administering through legates, high ranking, semi-autonomous, military officers, such as the disreputable Marcus Fonteius. That the armed forces of Hispania might ally with the Sullan forces now in Italy was a dangerous possibility for the besieged government. When the young Marcus Crassus, the future triumvir, had raised Spanish troops for Sulla in 84, Flaccus did nothing to stop him. Quintus Sertorius, impeccably loyal to the anti-Sullan cause, was sent overland to the Iberian Peninsula with a relatively small force in late 83 or early 82. Flaccus allowed Sertorius to march through Transalpina, and Sertorius likewise took no action against the authority of Flaccus. The Marians may have wished to secure their interests in the west without requiring Flaccus to take sides in a direct confrontation: "The government could ill afford to alienate the man even further when he had shown no actual sign of disaffection." Sertorius was a logical successor to govern Hispania because he had served there earlier, and to relieve Flaccus after such a prolonged term was reasonable rather than provocative.

No sources identify Flaccus as a Sullan, but the governor could have signalled his displeasure by withholding tax revenues. Flaccus tilts observably only after Sulla gained control of Cisalpine Gaul. Flaccus's cousin, the princeps senatus named Lucius Valerius Flaccus (also the name of his brother), may have been an influence in Gaius's shift toward Sulla. He sponsored the Lex Valeria, the legislation that made Sulla dictator at the end of 82 or the beginning of 81. Flaccus had his triumph under the dictatorship, an honor Sulla would hardly have permitted had Flaccus not supported his regime. Flaccus was in his mid-50s or older at the time.

Coinage

After Sulla emerged victorious, the senate authorized Flaccus to strike coinage to cover expenses for his final months in command. Many examples of this military issue have survived. In 82, to commemorate his victories, the mint in Massalia issued a denarius depicting a winged bust of Victory and a caduceus on the obverse. The reverse shows a legionary aquila flanked by military standards. The one on the left is marked with an H (for Hastati, spearmen), the one on the right P (Principes, also a term for spearmen). Below is EX.S.C, for ex senatus consulto, "by decree of the senate". On the left appears C.VAL.FLA, for the name Caius Valerius Flaccus, with IMPERAT (for imperator) on the right. Flaccus's coin is modeled after a Sullan type, and the symbolism of coins minted in Hispania and Gaul during the period frequently advertised "legitimacy and military success". The output has been estimated at 540,000 denarii coins.

References

Selected primary sources

• Cicero Pro Balbo 24
• Schol. Bob. ad Cic. p. Flacc. p. 233, ed. Orelli
• Appian, The Spanish Wars 100

Selected bibliography

• Badian, E. "Notes on Provincial Governors" and "Waiting for Sulla." As reprinted in Studies in Greek and Roman History. New York 1964.
• Brennan, T. Corey. The Praetorship in the Roman Republic. Oxford University Press, 2000. Limited preview online.
• Frier, Bruce W. "Sulla's Propaganda: The Collapse of the Cinnan Republic." American Journal of Philology 92 (1971) 585–604.
• Konrad, Christoph F. Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary. University of North Carolina Press, 1994. Limited preview online.
• Lovano, Michael. The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome. Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002. Limited preview online.

References

1. [[Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton. T.R.S. Broughton]], ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), pp. 9, 10 (note 4), 18, 58–59, 61, 64, 70, 77–78, 628.
2. Based on the date of his consulship and evidence from [[Cicero]], ''Pro Balbo'' 55, and [[Valerius Maximus]] 1.1.1; Broughton, ''Magistrates'', p. 10.
3. [[T. Corey Brennan]], ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic'' (Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 442 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BBYD6CmCshcC&dq=%22C.+Valerius+Flaccus+was+definitely+urban+praetor%22&pg=PA442 online] and p. 552 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BBYD6CmCshcC&q=Calliphana&pg=PA552 online].
4. Claude Eilers, ''Roman Patrons of Greek Cities'' (Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 79 [https://books.google.com/books?id=VyK7NgFw9gwC&dq=%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA334 online] and p. 137 [https://books.google.com/books?id=VyK7NgFw9gwC&dq=%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA334 online.] Lucius was murdered before he reached his province for the year of 85.
5. Richard Gordon with Joyce Reynolds, "Roman Inscriptions 1995–2000," ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 93 (2003), p. 225.
6. ''[[Commentariolum Petitionis]]'' 11.
7. [[T.R.S. Broughton]], "Candidates Defeated in Roman Elections: Some Ancient Roman 'Also-Rans'," ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'' 81 (1991), pp. 19–20 [https://books.google.com/books?id=dUsLAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22C.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+OR+%22G.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+-Argonautica&pg=PA20 online.]
8. David L. Vagi, ''Coinage and History of the Roman Empire'' (Taylor & Francis, 1999), vol. 1, p. 33 [https://books.google.com/books?id=WzOGycVVQLEC&dq=%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA33 online.] The election is discussed more fully by E. Badian, "Notes on Provincial Governors," ''Proceedings of the African Classical Associations'' (1958), as republished in ''Studies in Greek and Roman History'' (New York 1964), p. 94.
9. Cicero, ''Pro Balbo'' 55; [[Valerius Maximus]] 1.1.1; Brennan, ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic'', p. 472 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BBYD6CmCshcC&dq=Calliphana&pg=PA472 online.]
10. [[Julius Caesar]], ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico. Bellum Gallicum]]'' 1.47.4.
11. [[Appian]], ''Iberica'' 100 [https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_spain_20.html#%A7100 online.]{{Dead link. (July 2025)
12. Leonard A. Curchin, ''Roman Spain'' (Routledge, 1991), p. 42 [https://books.google.com/books?id=0sg9AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22C.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+OR+%22G.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+-Argonautica&pg=PA42 online]; Brennan, ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic'', p. 502 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BBYD6CmCshcC&q=Calliphana&pg=PA502 online.]
13. J.S. Richardson, ''Hispaniae: Spain and the Development of Roman Imperialism, 218–82 BC'' (Cambridge University Press, 1986, reprinted 2004), pp. 159–160 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rCXVeXrRrHAC&q=badian+%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA159 online.] One of the fullest discussions of Flaccus's provincial commands in Spain and Gaul is E. Badian, "Notes on Provincial Governors," pp. 88–96.
14. For an English translation, see Rabun Taylor, "The ''Tabula Contrebiensis''," in ''Public Needs and Private Pleasures: Water Distribution, the Tiber River and the Urban Development of Ancient Rome'' (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2000), pp. 121–122 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rqMGZr4yAkQC&dq=%22The+Tabula+Contrebiensis%22&pg=PA121 online.]
15. [[Andrew Lintott]], "The Roman Empire and Its Problems in the Late Second Century," in ''The Cambridge Ancient History: The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 B.C.'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000), vol. 9, pp. 22–23 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3yUkzNLiY4oC&dq=%22Contrebia+in+Celtiberian%22+intitle:Cambridge+intitle:Ancient+intitle:History&pg=PA22 online.]
16. [[Clifford Ando]], "The Administration of the Provinces," in ''A Companion to the Roman Empire'' (Blackwell, 2006), pp. 184–185 [https://books.google.com/books?id=xuekmwMwiBgC&dq=%22In+one+famous+case%22+intitle:companion+intitle:to+intitle:the+intitle:roman+intitle:empire&pg=PA184 online]; Andrew Lintott, ''Imperium Romanum: Politics and Administration'' (Routledge, 1993), p. 155 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ewoKFJ8PHtUC&dq=%22The+Tabula+Contrebiensis%22&pg=PA155 online.]
17. Leonard A. Curchin, ''Roman Spain'' (Routledge, 1991), p. 42.
18. E. Badian, "Notes on Provincial Governors," p. 95; that he was there in 83 is attested by Julius Caesar, ''Bellum Gallicum'' 1.47.4.
19. [[Granius Licinianus]], [http://www.attalus.org/translate/granius.html#book36 36.31.5.]
20. Cicero, ''[[Pro Quinctio]]'' 24 and 28; [[Bobbio Abbey#Library. Bobbio Scholiast]] 96 (in [[Thomas Stangl
21. Brennan, ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic'', p. 363 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BBYD6CmCshcC&dq=%22And+C.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+intitle:praetorship+intitle:in+intitle:the+intitle:Roman+intitle:Republic&pg=PA363 online.]
22. Ronald T. Ridley, "The Extraordinary Commands of the Late Republic: A Matter of Definition," ''Historia'' 30 (1981), p. 294, especially note 43.
23. Michael Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome'' (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002), p. 65 [https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m-b88G7T4C&dq=badian+%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA72 online.]
24. Andrew Lintott, ''Cicero as Evidence: A Historian's Companion'' (Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 51–55 [https://books.google.com/books?id=t4-dIAXbOS4C&q=%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA51 online.] Lintott presents an extensive discussion of the case pp. 43–59.
25. D.H. Berry, ''Cicero: Political Speeches'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. xiii [https://books.google.com/books?id=x_wUap1O7j4C&q=cicero+lost+civil+%22pro+quinctio%22 online.]
26. Christoph F. Konrad, ''Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1994), p. 86 [https://books.google.com/books?id=S-yVPY7TDUQC&dq=%22only+significant+military+forces%22+intitle:plutarch%27s+intitle:sertorius&pg=PA86 online.]
27. Bruce W. Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda: The Collapse of the Cinnan Republic," ''American Journal of Philology'' 92 (1971), p. 592; also Arthur Keaveney, ''Sulla, the Last Republican'' (Routledge, 1982, 2nd edition 2005), p. 100 [https://books.google.com/books?id=FZhbuCN3jz4C&dq=%22C.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+OR+%22G.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+-Argonautica&pg=PA100 online], where Gaius is erroneously identified as brother of the Lucius who was ''princeps senatus''.
28. Michael Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'' (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002), pp. 81 and 83; Lawrence Keppie, ''The Making of the Roman Army from Republic to Empire'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998), p. 224; Ronald T. Ridley, "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla," ''Historia'' (2000), p. 214.
29. Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 81.
30. [[Ernst Badian. E. Badian]], ''Studies in Greek and Roman History'' (New York 1964), p. 229; Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 82.
31. [[Ernst Badian. E. Badian]], ''Studies in Greek and Roman History'' (New York 1964), p. 229; Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 82.
32. Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 83 [https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m-b88G7T4C&dq=badian+%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA72 online.] Fonteius is later defended by Cicero in his speech ''[[Pro Fonteio]]'' for extortion in Transalpina.
33. [[Plutarch]], ''Crassus'' 6.1.
34. Bruce W. Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda," ''American Journal of Philology'' 92 (1971), p. 597.
35. [[Plutarch]], ''Sertorius'' 6.1–3; Appian, ''Bellum civile'' 1.86.392; Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 82; Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda," p. 597.
36. E. Badian, ''Studies in Greek and Roman History'' (New York 1964), p. 96; Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', pp. 83 and 85.
37. Christoph F. Konrad, ''Plutarch's Sertorius'', p. 86 [https://books.google.com/books?id=S-yVPY7TDUQC&dq=%22The+government+could+ill+afford+to+alienate+the+man%22&pg=PA86 online.]
38. Konrad, ''Plutarch's Sertorius'', pp. 86–87.
39. Lovano, ''The Age of Cinna'', p. 74.
40. Konrad, ''Plutarch's Sertorius'', p. 87.
41. The L. Valerius Flaccus who was ''[[princeps senatus]]'' is sometimes confused with the brother of the consul of 93 BC, as potentially in Arthur Keaveney, ''Sulla, the Last Republican'' (Routledge, 1982, 2nd edition 2005), p. 161.
42. Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda," ''American Journal of Philology'' 92 (1971), p. 597.
43. Michael H. Crawford, ''Roman Republican Coinage'' (Cambridge University Press, 1974), p. 80 [https://books.google.com/books?id=U86A9w9xiDcC&dq=badian+%22valerius+flaccus%22&pg=PA80 online.]
44. Lawrence Keppie, ''The Making of the Roman Army from Republic to Empire'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998), p. 224 [https://books.google.com/books?id=PJrWf09LoSoC&dq=%22C.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+OR+%22G.+Valerius+Flaccus%22+-Argonautica&pg=PA224 online.] For more on the [[Numismatics|numismatic]] significance of this coin, see David L. Vagi, ''Coinage and History of the Roman Empire'' (Taylor & Francis, 1999), vol. 1, pp. 33–34 [https://books.google.com/books?id=WzOGycVVQLEC&dq=%22Gaius+Valerius+Flaccus%22+intitle:coinage+intitle:and+intitle:history&pg=PA33 online.]
45. Frier, "Sulla's Propaganda," p. 602.
46. Harold B. Mattingly, "Coinage and the Roman State," in ''From Coins to History: Selected Numismatic Studies'' (University of Michigan Press, 2004), p. 271 [https://books.google.com/books?id=_aZ2qkbWeRIC&dq=%22M.+Minucius+Thermus%22&pg=PA180 online.] Mattingly states that 36 obverse dies were used for the issue.