The last years of the decline of the Roman Republic up to the rise of the Roman Empire

Since I find the topic of the decline absolutely fascinating, I am trying to expand my collection with denarii minted by moneyers who played a role between the years 90 BC and the rise of the Roman Empire.
Today I received several denarii that I bought at mrbcoins (Marc Breitsprecher).

The moneyer for this denarius was Manius Acilius Glabrio. When Glabrio was serving as a praetor in 70 BC, he presided over the trial of Verres. In 67 BC he was consul together with Gaius Calpurnius Piso. The two consuls proposed the Lex Acilia Calpurnia against bribery during canvassing for elections.
Acilius Glabrio was one of those who declared in favor of capital punishment for the Catilinarian conspirators.

Catilinas plan was to have his enemies in the Senate murdered. A young Senator, Gaius Cethegus was to organize the murder. One of the conspirators was Quintus Curius from an aristocrat family, who was expelled from the senate because of his scandalous behavior. He told his lover, Fulvia, that soon he would have available a lot of money and told her about the conspiracy. Fulvia, who didn’t give much credibility to Curius promises, thought she would be rewarded (which she was) by sharing her knowledge with Consul Cicero. In this way, Cicero had knowledge about the conspiracy, but he had also knowledge through his agents, and informed the Senate in October 71 BC.
In the night form November 6, 71 BC Catilina called the conspirators to a meeting, because they knew that their plans were known by the authorities. They decided that on November 7, Cicero should be murdered by Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura (consul in 71 BC) and Gaius Cethegus. When they arrived at Cicero’s house there were increased security measures in place and they could not proceed. Cicero called in the Senate and presented his first Catilinarian speech. Catilina and Gaius Manlius were declared “enemies of the homeland”. At first nothing was undertaken against the other leaders of the conspiracy who had remained in Rome. Then happened the episode with the Allobroges, a Celt tribe in today’s southeast France, episode that ended with the Senate ordering a thanksgiving celebration for Cicero and asking him to present the results of the conspirators’ interrogations and decisions. Cicero gave his third Catilinarian speech exactly on the Bona Dea day, December 3, 63 BC. On December 4, he called-in the Senate to reach a decision regarding the punishment of the conspirators. Cicero had the right, even the obligation, to intervene without further consultation with the Senate when the security of the state was at stake. But Cicero was not a man of action, and he needed support for the death sentence of the conspirators. On the other hand, the senate was unsure, and the senators were less numerous than in the previous sessions; obviously many didn’t want to be present when the fate of one of their kind was to be decided. The first one to speak was Decimus Junius Silanus who asked for the death penalty. But then Gaius Julius Caesar addressed the assembly and in a masterly speech, passed down to us by Sallust, that according to the “Laws of the venerable Republic” and its restrained moderation, he demanded to convict the guilty to prison in different cities in Italy and to confiscate their fortune. Two additional great speeches have come down to us: the fourth Catilinarian speech by Cicero and the speech by Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger). It is not known in which order these speeches were made. Cicero demanded the guilty verdict from the Senate. Cato’s speech was decisive for the verdict and probably for the development and crises of the Republic during the next decades. By the way, this was the first stenographic record that we know of, because Cicero had hired the best writers to register the speech. Cato's answer to the about seven years older Caesar was cold-blooded and even harsh: “I have a completely different opinion …” Longe mihi alia mens est … [C. Sallusti Crispi Bellum Catilinae]). Cato warns against the beautiful words Caesar’s and demands the death penalty in the way of their ancestors, which is: flogged and decapitated, and the Senate decides for this punishment.
Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, Caeparius were executed. Cicero stayed at the entrance of the Tulianum until the executions were over, and then stepping forward exclaimed “Vixerunt” (They have lived)
After suppressing the conspiracy, the other accomplices were put on trial. Most of the sentences of the trials were exile and confiscation, but not the death penalty. Among those convicted were: Gaius Cornelius Cethegus, Lucius Varguntejus, Marcus Porcius Laeca, Antonius Paeta and Servius Sulla.

Denarius, Rome, 50-49 BC; moneyer Manius Acilius Glabrio
3.77 g, 17.51 mm
Crawford 442/1a; RSC Acilia 8; Sydenham 922; BMCRR I Rome 3943, SRCV I 412;


Ob.: legend (SALVTIS) behind head (off flan); laureate head of Salus to r. wearing necklace (off-flan) and earring. Border of dots.
Rev.: MN•ACILIVS - III•VIR•VALETV, MN and TV ligatured; Valetudo standing l., resting l. elbow on column and holding a sacred snake in r. hand apparently gazing into its eyes. Border of dots.

It is off-center; nevertheless in my eyes the head of Salus is lovely and it is a coin from the time I was talking about before

 

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Man. Acilius Glabrio ( 49 B.C.)
AR Denarius
O: SALVTIS behind, laureate head of Salus right, wearing earring and necklace; hair in knot, falling down neck.
R: MN. ACILIVS III. VIR. VALETV, Valetudo (Salus) standing left, holding serpent, resting elbow on column.
Rome
18mm
3.9g
Sear 412; Crawford 442/1a; CRI 16; Sydenham 922

 

Mine isn’t pretty as it has a square nail hole but the hole allowed me to snag it cheaply.

 

even with a hole, it is a piece of history you have

 

kool story and info man...i have a book of Ciceros Letters..and Cato..the oratory...these were, in my eyes ,some of the best ancient lawyers/politicians of Western Civilization

 

Absolutely! I love it and the hole looks nearly as ancient as the coin, so lots of history in this one at the price of a lunch. Thanks for the great info, your coin is lovely as well!

 

Forgot to add, please share your knowledge about those days and coins of the people involved - Senators, Praetors, quaestors, moneyers.....

 

Manius Acilius Glabrio Ar Denarius 49 BC Obv Head of Salus right laureate. Rv. Valetudo standing left resting on column. Crawford 442/1a Sear CRI 16 3.92 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen
I am very impressed with Cmezners post This is a fascinating period of history and unlike many periods in ancient history we actually have multiple sources. One thing though I do not think that the republic went into decline. I think it was murdered.

 

An interesting type from an interesting time in Roman history!


Roman Republic, moneyer: Mn. Acilius, AR denarius, 49 BC, Rome mint. Obv: SALVTIS; laureate head of Salus r. Rev: MN·ACILIVS; III·VIR·VALETV; Valetudo standing left, resting l. arm on column and holding snake in r. hand. 19mm, 3.74g. Ref: RRC 442/1b.

 

RR Man Acilius Glabrio 49 BCE Salus Valetudo snake Craw 442-1a Sear 412

 

Here’s one more

 

This is a Denarius bearing the name P Laeca, Publius Porcius Laeca from teh Gens Porcia, Triumvir monetalis about 110 or 109 BC, his coins refer to the Lex de Porcia capita civium, which extended the right of Provocatio to Roman citizens in the provinces.

Rome, 110-109 BC
17.49 mm, 3.70 g
Crawford 301/1; Porcia 4; Sydenham 571
Ob.: P LAECA, AE ligatured; winged, helmeted head of Roma, X (mark of value) below chin
Rev.: PROVOCO in ex., on left, a citizen in toga is appealing the decision of a governor (centre), who had summoned an attendant with one rod in r. hand and two rods in l. hand, to punish him

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And continuing the story of the decline - if it is a too long read please skip the next part

One of the accomplices on trial was Marcus Porcius Laeca, also a member of the gens Porcia like the moneyer of the denarius above. Not to forget that Cato was also from the Gens Porcia...
It was at Marcus Porcius Laeca’s house that the conspirators gathered on November 6. Many of the accused were not even able to find a defending lawyer who would take care of their cause in court, so heavy was the burden of their ignominy. All the more it is admirable, and at the same time characteristic for Cicero, that he, jointly with the speaker Hortensius, assumed the defense of one of the accused, Publius Cornelius Sulla, whose affiliation to Catilina’s conspiration was well-known and commented in the city because he was a nephew of dictator Sulla.
Cicero, who as Consul in the past year, did his utmost to uncover Catilina’s plans and identify and apprehend the conspirators, made now his appearance in court not as prosecutor but as defending lawyer. Of course, Cicero received for this a “loan” of two million Sestertii. “Loan” was the expression used, because according to an old law (Lex Cincia 204 BC) the defense was forbidden to receive any compensation, but the Roman lawyers had circumvented this law for generations by accepting a “loan” or else a participation from an inheritance. Incidentally, shortly after this defense, Cicero bought from the richest man in Rome, Marcus Crassus, a luxurious villa on the Palatine, the preferred posh neighborhood of the aristocracy. The buying price: three and a half million Sestertii (Cicero, Epistulae ad familiars, V, 6, 2) December 62 BC: „…quod de Crasso domum emissem…“].

 

but the murder lasted decades..

 

A generation before...


RR M Porcius Laeca 125 BCE AR Den Roma - Libertas in Quadriga holding pileus and rod crowned by Victory flying S 146 Cr 270-1

* or X-bar, tariff value of 16 Denarii.

 

Beautiful, and historically very interesting; the pileus that Libertas is holding, the symbol of freedom, is a reference to the Lex Porcia passed by Publius Porcius Laeca, the tribune of 199 BC.

 

Thank you. The whole era after the 3rd Punic War to Caesar’s final murder of the Republic is very interesting to me. It was the Murder of the Republic by a Thousand Cuts.

 

From the 1964 Village Voice review of the very very bad Sophia Loren sword and sandals blockbuster, "The Fall of the Roman Empire":


I agree. The Roman Empire was over once the defeat of the existential threat of Carthage led to laziness and complacency.

Taking things to their illogical conclusion, Cato the Elder may have caused the end of the Empire through his constant cry "Carthago Delenda est"

 

A hole through a Republican denarius was one way the ancients condemned a coin as a counterfeit. Many fourrees have holes through them. Do we see copper beneath the silver around the hole?

 

The trial is a great and important story of corruption tolerated by senators because they benefited by bribery or hoped to benefit by that same sort of (bad) behavior when they got a province to govern.

Of course, the "Glabrio" of the coin from 49 BC is not the same Glabrio. A praetor in 70 BC would be far too old to be a moneyer in 49 BC. Crawford says of this type "The moneyer is perhaps Mn. Acilus Glabrio, sister's son to M. Aelilius Scarus, Pr. 56" and does not mention any connection with the Glabrio of the trial, although the name in common means they must be relatives of some sort. Harlan (Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins 63 BC - 49 BC) thinks the type is from 50 BC and SALVTIS refers to the near-fatal illness and eventual recovery of Pompey.

Here is my example:

Man. Acilus Glabrio, 49 BC.
18 mm. 3.72 grams.
Sear 412; Crawford 442/1a.