Potitus

• a Roman surname: C. Valerius Potitus, Liv. 4, 53.

vowed during an illness of Caligula, to sacrifice his life, if the emperor recovered, expecting to be rewarded for his devotion. But when Caligula got well, and Afranius was unwilling to fulfill his vow, the emperor had him decked out like a sacrificial victim, paraded through the streets, and then hurled down from the eminence (ex aggere) by the Colline gate. (D. C. 59.8; Suet. Cal. 27.)

Potitus was the name of one of the most ancient and most celebrated families of the Valeria Gens. This family, like many of the other ancient Roman families, disappears about the time of the Samnite wars; but the name was revived at a later period by the Valeria gens, as a praenomen: thus we find mention of a Potitus Valerius Messalla, who was consul suffectus in B. C. 29. The practice of using extinct family-names as praenomens was common to other gentes: as for instance in the Cornelia gens, where the Lentuli adopted, as a praenomen, the extinct cognomen of Cossus. [Cossus; Lentulus.]

1. L. Valerius Potitus, consul B. C. 483 and 470, the founder of the family, was a relation of the celebrated P. Valerius Publicola; but it is a matter of dispute whether he was his brother or his nephew. Dionysius, it is true, calls him (8.77) his brother; * Dionysius also calls him L. Valerius Publicola, but this is opposed to the Fasti, and is in itself improbable. but it has been conjectured by Glareanus, Gelenius, and Sylburg, that we ought to read ἀδελφιδοῦς or ἀδελφόπαις instead of ἀδελφός ; and this conjecture is confirmed by the fact that Dionysius elsewhere (8.87) speaks of him as the son of Marcus, whereas we know that the father of Publicola was Volusus. If Potitus was the son of Marcus, he was probably the son of the M. Valerius who was consul B. C. 505, four years after the kings were expelled, and who is described in the Fasti as M. Valerius Vol. f. Volusus. Moreover, seeing that Potitus was consul a second time B. C. 470, that is, thirty-nine years after the expulsion of the kings, it is much more likely that he should have been a nephew than a brother of the man who took such a prominent part in the events of that time. We may, therefore, conclude with tolerable certainty that he was the nephew of Publicola.

Potitus is first mentioned in B. C. 485, in which year he was one of the qwaestores parricidii, and, in conjunction with his colleague, K. Fabius, impeached Sp. Cassius Viscellinus before the people. [Viscellinus.] (Liv. 2.41; Dionys. A. R. 8.77.) He was consul in B. C. 483, with M. Fabius Vibulanus (Liv. 2.42; Dionys. A. R. 8.87), and again in 470 with Ti. Aemilius Mamercus. In the latter year he marched against the Aequi; and as the enemy would not meet him in the open field, he proceeded to attack their camp, but was prevented from doing so by the indications of the divine will. (Liv. 2.61, 62; Dionys. A. R. 9.51, 55.)

2. L. Valerius Potitus, consul with M. Horatius Barbatus, In B. C. 449. Dionysius calls him a grandson of the great P. Valerius Publicola, and a son of the P. Valerius Publicola, who was consul in B. C. 460, and who was killed that year in the assault of the Capitol, which had been seized by Herdonius (Dionys. A. R. 11.4); and hence we find him described as L. Valerius Publicola Potitus. But we think it more probable that he was the son or grandson of L.Valerius Potitus [No. 1]; first, because we find that Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius, invariably give him the surname of Potitus, and never that of Publicola, and secondly because the great popularity of Potitus would naturally give origin to the tradition that he was a lineal descendant of that member of the gens, who took such a prominent part in the expulsion of the kings.

The annals of the Valeria gens recorded that L. Valerius Potitus was the first person who offered opposition to the decemvirs; and whether this was the case or not, there can be no doubt that he took a leading part in the abolition of the tyrannical power. He and M. Horatius are represented as the leaders of the people against Ap. Claudius after the murder of Virginia by her father; and when the plebeians had seceded to the Sacred Hill, he and Horatius were sent to them by the senate, as the only acceptable members, to negotiate the terms of peace. In this mission they succeeded; the decemvirate was abolished, and the two friends of the plebs, Valerius and Horatius, were elected consuls, B. C. 449. Their consulship is memorable by the 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 curiae were necessary to give a plebiscitum the full force of a lex. [Comp. Philo, p. 298a.] 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 with 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 conjectures have been made on the point by modern writers (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. p. 368; Arnold, list. of Rome, vol. i. p. 319). After the enactmeat of these laws, the consuls proceeded to march against the foreign enemies of the state. The people flocked to the standards of the popular consuls, 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; whereupon the centuries conferred upon them this honour by their supreme authority, regardless of the opposition of the senate. (Liv. 3.39_41, 49_55,61-64 ; Dionys. A. R. 11.4, &100.45, &c.; Cic. de Rep. 2.31, 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. 11.22; respecting the statement in Tacitus, see Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Quaestor).

3. C. Valerius Potitus Volusus, described in the Capitoline Fasti as VOLUSI N., L. F., was consular tribune B. C. 415 (Liv. 4.49), and consul with M'. Aemilius Mamercinus, B. C. 410. In his 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 in B. C. 404. (Liv. 4.57, 61.)

4. L. Valerius Potitus, described in the Capitoline Fasti as L. F. P. N., consular tribune five times, namely in B. C. 414, 406, 403, 401, 398 (Liv. 4.49, 58, 5.1, 10, 14). He was also twice consul; first in B. C. 393, with P. Cornelius Maluginensis Cossus, in which year both consuls had to resign, through some fault in the auspices (vitio facli), 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. 5.31; Dionys. A. R. 1.74). In the same year Valerius was the third interrex appointed for holding the comitia (Liv. 5.31), 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. 5.48.)

5. P. Valerius Potitus Publicola, described in the Capitoline Fasti, as L. F. L. N., and consequently a son of No. 4, was consular tribune six times, namely, in B. C. 386, 384, 380, 377, 370, and 367. (Liv. 6.6, 18, 27, 32, 36, 42.)

6. C. Valerius Potitus, a son of No. 3, judging from his praenomen, was consular tribune, B. C. 370. (Liv. 6.36.)

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. 8.18). Orosius, who mentions Valerius (3.10), calls him simply Valerius Flaccus, without the cognomen of Potitus. It is probable that he was the first of the family who assumed the surname 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. 8.18.)

9. M. Valerius Maximus Potitus, consul B. C. 286. [Maximus, Valerius, No. 6.]