The Four Horsemen

This episode, we are dealing with 422 and 421 BCE. The previous year had been a very dramatic for Rome. They seem to have come perilously close to a disastrous military defeat. Luckily, they had the four horsemen on their side…

“The Four Horsemen” is our affectionate name for the group of cavalry commanders who dismounted and led the Roman army on foot when everything turned against them during the battle against the Volsci in 423 BCE. The most notable amongst them was a plebeian hero Sextus Tempanius.

In 422 BCE, these men were elected to serve as plebeian tribunes. But will they continue to be exalted by the Roman people? Or will they demand change from the patricians and become just as troublesome as many of their predecessors?

Join us as we explore the fallout from the Volscian conflict.

Episode 138 – The Four Horsemen

Things to Listen Out For:

• Bad Italian accents
• Aequians coming out of nowhere
• Angry patricians acting like your parents
• Too many interreges to count (or name apparently)
• Moderatio everywhere

Need a more detailed recap of Sempronius' misdeeds? Check out our previous episode on 423 BCE.

Our Players 422 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• L. Manlius – f. – n. Capitolinus (Pat)
• Q. Antonius (T.f. – n.) Merenda
• L. Papirius (L.?f. – n.) Mugillanus (Pat) Cos. 427

Tribunes of the Plebs

• (Ti.) Antintius
• (M.) Asellius
• (Ti.) Spurillius
• Sex. Tempanius
• L. Hortensius

Ex-Consul

• C. Sempronius – f. – n. Atratinus (Pat)

Our Players 421 BCE

Consuls

• Cn. (or N.) Fabius Q.f.M.n. Vibulanus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 415, 407
• T. Quinctius T.f.L.n. Capitolinus Barbatus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 405

Interrex

• Lucius Papirius Mugillanus

The “Horses of Saint Mark”, also known as the “Triumphal Quadriga” or “Horses of the Hippodrome of Constantinople”. The bronze sculptures are thought to date to the second or third centuries CE and modelled on much earlier statues from classical Greece c. fourth century BCE. The precise date is uncertain. Photo credit to Tteske via Wikimedia Commons.

Our Sources

• Dr G reads Fasti Capitolini for 422 and 421 BCE; Festus 174L; Tacitus Annals 11.22; Val. Max. 6.5.2.
• Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.42-43.
• Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)
• Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)
• Drogula, Fred K (2015). Commanders & command in the Roman republic and early empire. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-2314-6. OCLC 905949529.
• Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) 
• Holloway, R. Ross (2008). “Who Were the Tribuni Militum Consulari Potestate?”. L'Antiquité Classique. 77: 107–125. doi:10.3406/antiq.2008.3716. ISSN 0770-2817. JSTOR 41812945. Archived from the original on 2022-03-17.
• Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The rise of Rome.