Ahala
- a Roman family name, e. g. C. Servilius Ahala, who slew the turbulent Maelius, Cic. Cat. 1, 1, 3; id. Sen. 16, 56.
the name of a patrician family of the Servilia Gens. There were also several persons of this gens with the name of Structus Ahala, who may have formed a different family from the Ahalae ; but as the Ahalae and Structi Ahalae are frequently confounded, all the persons of these names are given here.
1. C. Servilius Structus Ahala, consul B. C. 478, died in his year of office, as appears from the Fasti. (Liv. 2.49.)
2. C. Servilius Structus Ahala, magister equitum B. C. 439, when L. Cincinnatus was appointed dictator on the pretence that Sp. Maelius was plotting against the state. In the night, in which the dictator was appointed, the capitol and all the strong posts were garrisoned by the partizans of the patricians. In the morning, when the people assembled in the forum, and Sp. Maelius among them, Ahala summoned the latter to appear before the dictator; and upon Maelius disobeying and taking refuge in the crowd, Ahala rushed into the throng and killed him. (Liv. 4.13, 14; Zonaras, 7.20; Dionys. Exc. Mai, i. p. 3.) This act is mentioned by later writers as an example of ancient heroism, and is frequently referred to by Cicero in terms of the highest admiration (in Catil. i l, pro Mil. 3, Cato, 16); but it was in reality a case of murder, and was so regarded at the time. Ahala was brought to trial, and only escaped condemnation by a voluntary exile. (V. Max. 5.3.2; Cic. de Rep. 1.3, pro Dom. 32.) Livy passes over this, and only mentions (4.21), that a bill was brought in three years afterwards, B. C. 436, by another Sp. Maelius, a tribune, for confiscating the property of Ahala, but that it failed.
A representation of Ahala is given on a coin of M. Brutus, the murderer of Caesar, but we cannot suppose it to be anything more than an imaginary likeness. M. Brutus pretended that he was descended from L. Brutus, the first consul, on his father's side, and from C. Ahala on his mother's, and thus was sprung from two tyrannicides. (Comp. Cic. Att. 13.40.) The head of Brutus on the annexed coin is therefore intended to represent the first consul.
3. C. Servilius Structus Ahala, Q. F. C. N., consul B. C. 427. (Liv. 4.30.)
4. C. Servilius Structus Ahala, P. F. Q. N., consular tribune B. C. 408, and magister equitum in the same year; which latter dignity he obtained in consequence of supporting the senate against his colleagues, who did not wish a dictator to be appointed. For the same reason he was elected consular tribune a second time in the following year, 407. He was consular tribune a third time in 402, when he assisted the senate in compelling his colleagues to resign who had been defeated by the enemy. (Liv. 4.56, 57, 5.8, 9.)
5. C. Servilius Ahala, magister equitum B. C. 389, when Camillus was appointed dictator a third time. (Liv. 6.2.) Ahala is spoken of as magister equitum in 385, on occasion of the trial of Manlius. Manlius summoned him to bear witness in his favour, as one of those whose lives he had saved in battle; but Ahala did not appear. (4.20.) Pliny, who mentions this circumstance, calls Ahala P. Servilius. (H. N. 7.39.)
6. Q. Servilius Ahala, Q. F. Q. N., consul B. C. 365, and again B. C. 362, in the latter of which years he appointed Ap. Claudius dictator, after his plebeian colleague L. Genucius had been slain in battle. In 360 he was himself appointed dictator in consequence of a Gallic tumultus, and defeated the Gauls near the Colline gate. He held the comitia as interrex in 355. (Liv. 7.1, 4, 6, 11,17.)
7. Q. Servilius Ahala, Q. F. Q. N., magister equitum B. C. 351, when M. Fabius was appointed dictator to frustrate the Licinian law, and consul B. C. 342, at the beginning of the first Samnite war. He remained in the city; his colleague had the charge of the war. (Liv. 7.22, 38.)
Gaius . A Roman who, acting as magister equitum, in B.C. 439, slew Spurius Maelius in the Forum, because he refused to appear before the dictator, L. Cincinnatus. For this act, Ahala was tried, but escaped condemnation by a voluntary exile. See Maelius.