The Kidnapping of Titus Quinctius
and Livy’s Characterization of Corvinus

Stacie Kadleck (Indiana University)

Livy tells his reader that the ancient sources mention a mutiny, which led to the Genucian Law of 342 B. C.; he admits, however, that these sources agree neither on the place nor on the participants. Despite the ambiguity in the tradition, Livy chooses to devote four chapters of narrative to the version in which the dictator Marcus Valerius Corvus solves the crisis. In this account, after the consuls discover that Roman soldiers have been plotting to seize Capua, the soldiers, in their desperation, force the patrician Titus Quinctius Poenus, a retired military hero, to lead them in a march on Rome. In the end, however, the soldiers cannot bring themselves to fight their own country; and Corvinus succeeds in persuading them to make peace.

By dramatizing this version of the mutiny, Livy creates a structural link between Titus Manlius Torquatus and Corvinus, in that they dominate the first and last episodes of Book Seven, respectively. These two young heroes, each of whom wins glory for challenging and defeating a Gaul in single combat, identify with one another: it is Torquatus’ famous victory which inspires the young Corvinus to challenge the Gaul, and it is Torquatus who calls Corvinus the “rival of his glory” (aemulum decoris sui, 7.26.12). Thus, the structural parallel reinforces a similarity which the action of the narrative has already suggested.

In addition, the kidnapping of Quinctius evokes Torquatus’ treatment of the plebeian tribune Marcus Pomponius. Torquatus defends his father from persecution by forcing Pomponius, at knife-point, to abandon the trial. Although this tension between the orders provides a third, thematic link between the stories of Corvinus and Torquatus, nevertheless only Torquatus is an aggressor, whose act of force only increases plebeian resentment. This paper argues that Livy narrates the role of Corvinus in the mutiny both in order to explore the tension between patricians and plebeians and in order to highlight the differences between the two heroes. Torquatus fights for his family’s honor; Corvinus fights to preserve the Roman state in a time of crisis. In the context of the war with the Samnites, the most powerful enemy yet to confront Rome, the Romans need a leader who, like Corvinus, can succeed both as a warrior and as a statesman.