Pacuvius Calavius (died c. 211 BC) was a Capuan aristocrat who served as the city's chief magistrate (medix tuticus) in 217 B.C.[1] His tenure was marked by widespread discontent due to Hannibal's military successes in the early stages of the Second Punic War, which culminated in the city's defection from Rome in 218 B.C. Initially opposed to severing the longstanding ties with Rome, Calavius switched sides after the Battle of Cannae and supported his successor Marius Blossius' treaty with the Carthaginians.[2] The main source for his life is Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.
Biography
editFamily background
editCalavius was a member of the noble Calavia gens, which was of Oscan origin and can be traced back to the mid-fourth century B.C. He was connected by marriage with some of the leading families of Rome; his wife, Claudia, was the daughter of Publius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 249 B.C., and his daughter, Calavia, married Marcus Livius Salinator, consul in 219 and 207 B.C.[3][4]
Chief magistracy
editIn 218 B.C., Hannibal invaded Italy, achieving major victories at the Battle of the Trebia, and the following year at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Throughout the year in which Calavius presided over the state, disaffection with Roman rule, stemming from a desire for regional hegemony, was exacerbated by the ineffectual military effort against Hannibal.[5] The major obstacles to secession were the familial ties of the Capuan and Roman aristocracy and the three hundred Capuan equites stationed in Sicily, who were effectively hostages.[6]
There is little extant information concerning Calavius' actions as chief magistrate. Livy presents him as a populist demagogue who attempted to swing the balance of power towards the plebes, but this is inconsistent with Calavius' links to the Roman aristocracy and his high office, and probably represents an attempt by Livy to bolster his theory that the rebellions against Rome during the Second Punic War were initiated by the lower classes.[7] According to Livy, in an attempt to seize power, he locked the senate inside the curia and offered the common people the opportunity to try the incumbents and elect members of their own class in replacement, a story generally dismissed as a fabrication by classicists.[3]
Defection of Capua
editAfter the Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C., many aristocrats such as Calavius, who had previously been opposed to defection, changed their minds. Calavius' support for defection is evidenced by his presence at a feast, partially organized by Marius Blossus, the chief magistrate, and attended by Hannibal as well as by other prominent Capuan nobles.[7] Calavius is unlikely to have been one of the main figures in the revolt, despite Livy's statements to the contrary, due to strong familial connections with Rome and an establishment background.[7] His son Perolla remained hostile to the Carthaginians, and in Livy's narrative, considered an assassination attempt on Hannibal before being dissuaded by his father. According to Diodorus Siculus, Pacuvius only switched sides because of the proximity of Hannibal's forces to the city, and the belief that Roman defeat was inevitable.[8] Calavius presumably was killed in the violent repercussions which occurred after the Romans retook Capua in 211 BC, during which, according to Livy, every member of the senate was executed.[9]
Legacy
editLivy's depiction of Calavius in Book XXIII of Ab urbe condita is briefly discussed in Niccolo Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, where he sympathizes with Calavius' supposed manipulation of the upper and lower classes in order to reach a mutually acceptable situation.[10] Michel de Montaigne cites the same story in his Essays, but as an example of the peculiar persistence of traditional institutions even when opportunities to revolt arise.[11]
References
edit- ^ Fronda 2007, pp. 84.
- ^ Fronda 2007, pp. 86–7.
- ^ a b Reid 1915, p. 112.
- ^ Fronda 2007, p. 85.
- ^ Fronda 2007, pp. 97.
- ^ Fronda 2007, pp. 92–3.
- ^ a b c Fronda 1986, p. 86.
- ^ Fronda 2007, p. 90.
- ^ Reid 1915, p. 118.
- ^ Coby 1999, p. 86.
- ^ Heitsch 2000, p. 121.
Sources
edit- Coby, Patrick (1999). Machiavelli's Romans: liberty and greatness in the discourses on Livy. Lanham: Lexington books. ISBN 9780739100707.
- Fronda, Michael P. (2007). "Hegemony and Rivalry: The Revolt of Capua Revisited". Phoenix. 61 (1): 83–108.
- Fronda, Michael P. (2010). Between Rome and Carthage: Southern Italy During the Second Punic War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521516945.
- Heitsch, Dorothea B. (2000). Practising reform in Montaigne's Essais. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 9789004116306.
- Reid, J.S. (1915). "Problems of the Second Punic War: III. Rome and Her Italian Allies". The Journal of Roman Studies. 5: 87–124.