Plautia gens

The gens Plautia, sometimes written Plotia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear in history in the middle of the fourth century BC, when Gaius Plautius Proculus obtained the consulship soon after that magistracy was opened to the plebeian order by the lex Licinia Sextia. Little is heard of the Plautii from the period of the Samnite Wars down to the late second century BC, but from then to imperial times they regularly held the consulship and other offices of importance.[2] In the first century AD, the emperor Claudius, whose first wife was a member of this family, granted patrician status to one branch of the Plautii.

Denarius issued by Publius Plautius Hypsaeus in 60 BC. The obverse features a head of Neptune, while the reverse depicts the triumph of Gaius Plautius Decianus after his capture of Privernum.[1]

Origin

The Plautii of the later Republic claimed descent from Leucon, the son of Neptune and Themisto, the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths.[3] The coins minted by Publius Plautius Hypsaeus depict Neptune and Leucon.[1]

The nomen Plautius is derived from the common Latin surname Plautus, flat-footed.[4] Chase classifies the name among those gentilicia that were either native to Rome, or which occurred there and cannot be shown to have originated anywhere else.[5] However, other scholars have suggested that they may have come from Privernum, a city of southern Latium.[6] Several of the early Plautii appearing in the Fasti consulares carried on war against the Privernates.

Praenomina

The earlier Plautii mainly used the praenomina Lucius and Gaius, and occasionally Publius and Marcus. The later Plautii employed different names; the Laterani seem to have used only Aulus and Quintus, while the Silvani used Marcus and Tiberius.

Branches and cognomina

The only distinct family of the Plautii during the middle Republic bore the surname Venno or Venox, a hunter.[4] Frontinus describes a story, in which Gaius Plautius, censor in 312 BC, obtained the surname Venox by discovering the springs that fed the Aqua Appia, Rome's first aqueduct.[7] However, Venno occurs before this, and appears more often in the fasti. The first of this family to obtain the consulship bore the additional surname Hypsaeus, later spelled Ypsaeus on coins, which was evidently a personal cognomen, as it does not appear again for over a century, when this name replaces the older Venno.[8]

Proculus, which occurs as the surname of the first Plautius to obtain the consulship, also seems to have been a personal surname; it is not apparent whether this Plautius was part of the same family as the Vennones. Proculus was an old praenomen, which the Roman antiquarians supposed to have been given to a child born when his father was far from home, although morphologically it seems to be a diminutive of Proca, a name occurring in Roman mythology as one of the Kings of Alba Longa.[9]

Two families of Plautii were entangled in the affairs of the imperial family during the first century. The earlier of these, which first appears in the later years of the Republic, and flourished until the time of Nero, bore the surname Lateranus, at least in its later generations; this surname was probably inherited through a female line, and did not apply to the earlier members. This was the family of Aulus Plautius, the first Roman governor of Britain. The other family bore the cognomen Silvanus, originally referring to one who dwells in the forest. The imperial Plautii of the late second century may have been descended from one of these families through marriage, but were apparently descended from the Titii in the male line, and used Plautius because of its greater dignity.

Many of the Plautii bore no surname; these seem to have used the alternative spelling, Plotius, more than the others.[2]

Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Plautii Vennones et Hypsaei
  • Lucius Plautius Venno, the grandfather of Gaius Plautius Venno Hypsaeus, consul in 347 and 341 BC.[10]
  • Lucius Plautius L. f. Venno, the father of Gaius Plautius Venno Hypsaeus.[10]
  • Gaius Plautius L. f. L. n. Venno Hypsaeus, consul in 347 BC, and again in 341. In the latter year he defeated the Privernates, and forced a withdrawal of the Volsci, whose land he plundered.[16][10]
  • Lucius Plautius L. f. L. n. Venno, consul in 330 BC, fought against the Privernates and the Fundani.[17][18][10]
  • Lucius Plautius L. f. L. n. Venno, consul in 318 BC, received the hostages sent by Teate and Canusium, two towns in Apulia.[19][20][10]
  • Gaius Plautius C. f. C. n. Venox, censor in 312, with Appius Claudius Caecus. At the expiration of the traditional term of eighteen months, Plautius resigned his office, but Claudius refused to do the same, remaining in office as sole censor for the ancient term of five years.[21][7][10]
  • Lucius Plautius Hypsaeus, praetor in 189 BC, obtained the province of Hispania Citerior.[22]
  • Lucius Plautius Hypsaeus, triumvir monetalis between 194 and 190 BC, probably the son of Lucius Plautius Hypsaeus, praetor in 189 BC.[23]
  • Gaius Plautius Hypsaeus, praetor in 146 BC, was assigned the province of Hispania Ulterior. He was severely defeated twice by Viriathus, and forced into exile after returning to Rome.[24][25][26]
  • Lucius Plautius (L. f.) Hypsaeus, praetor in Sicily during the First Servile War, was defeated by the slaves. Broughton tentatively places his praetorship in 139 BC.[27][28][29]
  • Marcus Plautius Hypsaeus, consul in 125 BC, was appointed to redistribute portions of the ager publicus that had been illegally occupied. Cicero criticizes Plautius' understanding of the law.[30][31][32][33][10]
  • Gaius Plautius C. f. Hypsaeus, triumvir monetalis in 121 BC. His coins bear the inscription Pluti, the only instance of this spelling.[34]
  • Marcus Plautius Hypsaeus, praetor or propraetor in Asia in an uncertain year before 90 BC, and perhaps a legate under Sulla. He might be the same Plautius who took his own life on returning from Asia, only to learn of the death of his wife, Orestilla.[35][36]
  • Publius Plautius Hypsaeus, an ally of Gnaeus Pompeius, under whom he had served as quaestor. He was a candidate for the consulship in 54 BC, but at the trial of Titus Annius Milo, Hypsaeus' slaves confessed under torture that he had committed bribery in order to win election, and he was banished.[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]

Plautii Laterani

Plautii Silvani

Others
  • Publius Plautius Rufus
  • Novius Plautius, a skilled metalworker, who probably lived about the middle of the third century BC. Many of his caskets have been found at Praeneste.[74][75]
  • Plautius, a comic poet. According to Varro, he was frequently confused with Plautus, to whom his comedies were mistakenly attributed.[76]
  • Lucius Plotius Gallus, came to Rome from Cisalpine Gaul circa 88 BC, to establish the first school for Latin and rhetoric. He was very influential on the development of Roman rhetoric, and authored arguments for some of the leading advocates of his day. He was highly regarded by the young Cicero.[77][78][79][80][81][82]
  • Marcus Plotius, one of Caesar's envoys to the proconsul Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus in 48 BC, who urged him to leave Pompeius, but to no effect.[83]
  • Lucius Plautius Plancus, born Gaius Munatius Plancus, but adopted by one of the Plautii. He was the brother of Lucius Munatius Plancus, consul in 42, Titus Munatius Plancus Bursa, a partisan of Marcus Antonius, and Gnaeus Munatius Plancus, praetor in 43.[lower-roman 1] Plautius was proscribed by the triumvirs, and gave himself up to preserve the lives of his slaves, who were being tortured to reveal his hiding place.[84][85][86][87][88][89][90]
  • Plotius Numida, fought in the Cantabrian Wars. His safe return to Italy was celebrated by his friend, the poet Horace, in one of his odes.[91]
  • Gaius Plautius Rufus, one of the triumviri monetalis during the time of Augustus. He may be the same person as the conspirator.[92]
  • Plotius Tucca, a friend of the poets Horace and Virgil. Virgil named him one of his heirs, to whom he gave his unfinished writings, including the manuscript of the Aeneid.[93][94][95]
  • Plautius Rufus, one of those who conspired against Augustus. He may be the same as Gaius Plotius Rufus.[96]
  • Plotius Firmus, one of Otho's allies, who rose from humble beginnings to become praetorian prefect. He successfully quelled a mutiny through a combination of personal charisma and bribery, and encouraged the emperor to be brave and trust in his army.[97]
  • Plotius Griphus, one of Vespasian's supporters, appointed praetor in AD 70.[98]
  • Plautius, a notable jurist, who must have lived about the time of Vespasian.[99][100][101][102]
  • Plautius Quintillus, consul in AD 159, married Ceionia Fabia, the sister of Lucius Verus.
  • Lucius Titius Plautius Aquilinus, consul in AD 162.
  • Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus, consul in AD 177, with his brother-in-law, Commodus. He was an augur, and one of Commodus' trusted advisors, but escaped the wrath of his successors until 205, when Septimius Severus ordered his death.
  • Plautius M. f. Quintillus, son of Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus, and nephew of Commodus.
  • Plautilla Servilia, daughter of Quintillus, and niece of Commodus.
  • Marius Plotius Sacerdos, a late Latin grammarian, probably belonging to the fifth or sixth centuries, and the author of De Metris Liber, originally the third part of a treatise on grammar.[103]

Footnotes
  1. The Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, followed by Broughton, makes Gaius Munatius Plancus the same as Gnaeus Munatius Plancus, praetor in 43 BC, who would otherwise be his brother. However, this identification is very uncertain, as the only sources that name the praetor call him Gnaeus, while the only sources that name the proscribed Plancus call him Gaius or Lucius.

See also

References
  1. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 444, 445.
  2. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 405 ("Plautia Gens").
  3. Hyginus, Fabulae, 157.
  4. Chase, pp. 109, 110.
  5. Chase, pp. 129–132.
  6. Terrenato, "Private Vis, Public Virtus", pp. 44 ff.
  7. Frontinus, De Aquaeductu, i. 5.
  8. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 540, 541 ("Hypsaeus"), vol. III, p. 1237 ("Venno").
  9. Chase, p. 145.
  10. Fasti Capitolini, AE 1900, 83; 1904, 114.
  11. Livy, vii. 12, 15, 17.
  12. Livy, viii. 20, 22, ix. 29, 33.
  13. Diodorus Siculus, xx. 36.
  14. "Privernum", p. 45.
  15. Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. 1, p. 296.
  16. Livy, vii. 27, viii. 1.
  17. Livy, viii. 19.
  18. Diodorus Siculus, xvii. 82.
  19. Livy, ix. 20.
  20. Diodorus Siculus, xix. 2.
  21. Valerius Maximus, vi. 2. § 1.
  22. Livy, xxxvii. 47, 50.
  23. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 210, 211.
  24. Appian, Hispanica, 64.
  25. Diodorus Siculus, xxxiii, 2.
  26. Broughton, vol. I, p. 466.
  27. Florus, ii. 7. § 7.
  28. Diodorus Siculus, xxxiv-xxxv, 2 § 17.
  29. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 482, 483 (note 1).
  30. Valerius Maximus, ix. 5. § 1.
  31. Obsequens, 90.
  32. Phlegon, Peri Thaumasion, 10.
  33. Cicero, De Oratore, i. 36. § 166.
  34. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 296.
  35. Valerius Maximus, iv. 6. § 3.
  36. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 465, 484.
  37. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, i. 1. § 3, Epistulae ad Atticum, iii. 8, Pro Flacco, 9, Fragmenta, vol. iv, p. 456 (ed. Orelli).
  38. Dionysius, iv. 15.
  39. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 39.
  40. Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis Pro Milone, pp. 31, 36.
  41. Scholia Bobiensia, In Ciceronis Pro Milone, p. 381.
  42. Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 24.
  43. Plutarch, "The Life of Pompeius", 55.
  44. Valerius Maximus, ix. 5. § 3.
  45. Livy, Epitome, 107.
  46. SIG, 712.
  47. Broughton, vol. 1, p. 536.
  48. Appian, Bella Mithridatica, 95.
  49. Broughton, vol. II, p. 151 (note 17).
  50. Cicero, Pro Plancio, 7, 22, Epistulae ad Atticum, v. 15. § 1., Epistulae ad Familiares, xiii. 29.
  51. Dionysius, xxxix, 16.
  52. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 454, 455.
  53. Fasti Magistrorum Vici, CIL VI, 10286, 10287.
  54. Cassius Dio, lx. 19–21, 30.
  55. Suetonius, "The Life of Claudius", 24, "The Life of Vespasian", 4.
  56. Tacitus, Agricola, 14, Annales, xiii. 32.
  57. Fasti Ostienses, CIL XIV, 244, 245, 4531–4546, 5354, 5355.
  58. Cassius Dio, lviii. 26.
  59. Tacitus, Annales, vi. 40.
  60. Pliny the Elder, x. 2.
  61. Tacitus, Annales, xi. 30, 36, xiii. 11, xv. 49, 60.
  62. Arrian, Epicteti Diatribae, i. 1.
  63. Settipani, Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale, pp. 72, 223.
  64. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 35.
  65. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 34, 38 (note 5).
  66. Taylor, "Trebula Suffenas", p. 24.
  67. Fasti Cuprenses, CIL IX, 5289–5293.
  68. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 34, iv. 21, 22.
  69. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy, p. 418.
  70. Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Claudius", pp. 408, 424, "The Fasti for A.D. 70–96", pp. 188, 214.
  71. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, p. 480.
  72. Fasti Septempedani, AE 1998, 419; 2007, 106.
  73. Gallivan, "The Fasti for A.D. 70–96", pp. 189, 215.
  74. Winckelmann]], Geschichte der Kunst des Alterhums, b. viii. c. 4. § 7.
  75. Müller]], Handbuch der Archäologie der Kunst, § 173, note 4.
  76. Gellius, iii. 3.
  77. Suetonius, De Claris Rhetoribus, 2.
  78. Jerome, In Chronicon Eusebii, Ol. 173, 1.
  79. Quintilian, ii. 4. § 44, xi. 3. § 143.
  80. Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, ii. prooem.
  81. Scholia Bobiensia, In Ciceronis Pro Archia Poëta, p. 357 (ed. Orelli).
  82. Varro, De Lingua Latina, viii. 36.
  83. Caesar, De Bello Civili, iii. 19.
  84. Pliny the Elder, xiii. 3. s. 5.
  85. Valerius Maximus, vi. 8. § 5.
  86. Appian, Bellum Civile, iv. 12.
  87. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 67.
  88. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xvi. 16.
  89. Broughton, vol. II, p. 339.
  90. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 468.
  91. Horace, Odes, i. 36.
  92. Eckhel, vol. v, p. 278.
  93. Horace, Satirae, i. 5, 40, i. 10, 81.
  94. Donatus, The Life of Virgil, §§ 52, 53, 46.
  95. Poëtarum Latinorum Reliquiae, pp. 217 ff.
  96. Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 19.
  97. Tacitus, Historiae, i. 46, 82, ii. 46, 49.
  98. Tacitus, Historiae, iii. 52, iv. 39, 40.
  99. Digesta, 34. tit. 2. s. 8; 35. tit. 1. s. 43.
  100. Grotius, De Vitae Jurisconsultorum.
  101. Zimmern, Geschichte des Römischen Privatrechts, p. 322.
  102. Wieling, Jurisprudentia Restituta, p. 338.
  103. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 428 ("Plotius").

Bibliography
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