Lucius Papirius Cursor (c.365–after 310 BC) was a celebrated politician and general of the Roman Republic, who was five times consul, three times magister equitum, and twice dictator. He was the most important Roman commander during the Second Samnite War (327–304 BC), during which he received three triumphs.
He was a member of the patrician gens Papiria of ancient Rome. Cursor's strictness was proverbial; he was a man of immense bodily strength, while his bravery was beyond dispute. He was given the cognomen CursorLatin: cursor ("runner") from currō ("run") + -or (agentive suffix) from his swiftness of foot.Aurelius Victor, De viris illustribus, 3
Most of what is known of Cursor's life comes from the monumental History of Rome written by Livy during the reign of Augustus. Livy portrayed Cursor as an invincible hero, who avenged the humiliation of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC, when the Roman army had to pass under the yoke. In a famous digression, he even wrote that had Alexander the Great turned his army against Rome, he would have met his match with Cursor. With this narrative, Livy participated in the Roman propaganda sponsored by Augustus, which idealised several figures of the first part of the Republic. As a result, it is difficult to separate his life from the fiction elaborated by later Roman authors.
Family background Cursor belonged to the patrician gens Papiria. The first Papirii of importance were Gaius and Manius Papirius, respectively the first Pontifex Maximus and Rex Sacrorum of the Republic in 509.Broughton, vol. I, p. 4. However, there is some doubt of the authenticity of these offices, as they could have been invented by a later Papirius to enhance the prestige of his family.Rüpke, Fasti Sacerdotum, p. 826, who suggests the Papirius in question was Gaius Papirius Maso, pontifex in the middle of the 3rd century. The Papirii were one of the last patrician gentes to reach the consulship, with Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, only elected in 444.Broughton, vol. I, p. 53.Forsythe, Critical History of Early Rome, p. 166. Cursor's grandfather was censor in 393, then consular tribune in 387 and 385.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 91, 99, 101. Livy gives this man the cognomen Cursor, the first time it appears in history, but in a later statement says that the cognomen Cursor was first bestowed to his grandson because of his running speed.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. I, pp. 437, 438. It is therefore more likely that the cognomen of Cursor's grandfather was Mugillanus, the most important branch of the Papirii in the 5th and 4th centuries, because Cursor himself is sometimes called Mugillanus in ancient sources. The structure of Roman names was fluid at the time, and several contemporary changes of cognomen are recorded, such as Appius Claudius Caecus, initially named Crassus. Likewise, Cursor's initial name was probably Mugillanus.Münzer, RE, vol. 36, tome 2, pp. 1040, 1041.Etcheto, "Cognomen et appartenance familiale", p. 462.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. I, pp. 437, 438; vol. II, p. 664; vol. IV, p. 578. Oakley initially stated that the problem of Cursor's cognomen was "insoluble", but in his following volumes he accepts Münzer's theory that his initial cognomen was likely Mugillanus.
Cursor's father was named Spurius, but nothing is known on his life.Münzer, RE, vol. 36, tome 2, p. 1040. Robert Develin suggests that Cursor was born circa 365.Develin, Patterns in Office-Holding, p. 62.
Career
Magister equitum (340 BC) The first mention of Cursor in history took place in 340 with his appointment as Magister equitum by his cousin, the dictator Lucius Papirius Crassus.Broughton, vol. I, p. 136.Brennan, The Praetorship, p. 73. The reason for the appointment of a dictator was the death of the consul Publius Decius Mus while fighting the Latins, and the illness of the other, the famous Titus Manlius Torquatus. Since 341 Rome had been waging the Latin War against its former Latin allies.Tim Cornell, Cambridge Ancient History, vol. VII part 2, pp. 360, 361. Livy says that the dictator Crassus was supposed to repel an army from the city of Antium which was operating in southern Latium, but did not engage them.Livy, viii. 12. However, modern historians reject most of the details told by Livy on this war, as he made several anachronisms derived from the Social War of 91–87 BC.Cornell, Beginnings of Rome, p. 348.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, p. 517, accepts the historicity of this dictatorship.
Praetor (332 BC)
In 332, Cursor might have been the praetor who passed the law granting half-citizenship to the city of Acerrae in Campania, 16 km northeast of Naples.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, p. 593. Called lex Papiria de civitate Acerranorum, it is the oldest known law passed by a praetor.Graeber, Auctoritas patrum, p. 45. However, it is also possible that this man, only named "Lucius Papirius" by Livy,Livy, viii. 17. was the dictator of 340, or the future censor of 318, both named Lucius Papirius Crassus.Broughton, vol. I, p. 142 (note 2), favours one of the two Crassi.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. I, p. 50, makes Cursor the praetor for 332.Brennan, The Praetorship, pp. 725, 894, does not make a choice among the three possibilities. After its victory at the end of the Latin War, Rome overhauled its relationships with the cities under its domination, by using a range of different statuses. Campanian cities were given half-citizenship, called civitas sine suffragio ("citizenship without suffrage").Cornell, Beginnings of Rome, pp. 349–351. This policy was likely inspired by Quintus Publilius Philo, who was the leading proponent of the Roman expansion towards Campania, and also seating censor in 332.Staveley, "The political aims of Appius Claudius Caecus", p. 426.
Consul I (326 BC) The elections for 326 were subject to an intense political battle related to the Struggle of the Orders—the plebeians' campaign to obtain equal rights with the patricians, which took place during the fourth century. The consul elected first in the previous year, the plebeian Publilius Philo, was normally in charge of holding the elections, but as he was besieging Naples and could not come back to Rome, he appointed the plebeian Marcus Claudius Marcellus dictator for this purpose.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, p. 662, says that he was expected to appoint the other consul, the patrician Lucius Cornelius Lentulus. However, the all-patrician College of Augurs found that Marcellus had been faultily appointed and led to his resignation. This move was doubtless a political manoeuvre from the patricians, as by doing so the augurs forced the appointment of an interrex, who was always a patrician. Interreges typically occurred when a plebeian were in position to conduct the elections. However, Livy records 15 interreges in the elections for 326, the highest number ever in a single election, which means that the political struggle lasted for at least 70 days—as an interrex served for up to five days, and was replaced by another one if he could not succeed in holding the elections.Livy, viii. 23.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, pp. 661, 662, who says that Livy's story "seems wholly credible".
The 15th interrex was Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas, who presided over the elections of Cursor and the plebeian Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus. Poetelius was the consul prior, which means the Centuriate Assembly elected him before Cursor; it was the first time that a plebeian (Poetelius) was elected consul prior through an election held by a patrician.Taylor & Broughton, "The Order of the Two Consuls' Names", p. 6.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, pp. 20, 21. Some sources make Poetelius the same as the man who was already consul in 360 and 346,Broughton, vol. I, pp. 120, 131. but such a gap is improbable and Cursor's colleague was more likely his son.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, pp. 149, 150. Aemilius Privernas and Cursor possibly belonged to a group of patricians headed by the Aemilii that supported the demands of the plebeian elite, at the time championed by Publilius Philo.Münzer, Roman Aristocratic Parties, pp. 37, 38.Ferenczy, From the patrician state, pp. 52, 53.
Both consuls held command during the Second Samnite war, which had started the previous year after the Samnites took control of Naples.Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites, p. 218. Livy does not distinguish the consuls' activity; he says that they captured Allifae (modern Alife), Callifae (perhaps near Pratella), and Rufrium (likely Presenzano). All three cities are located in the valley of the Volturno in northern Campania.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, pp. 676, 677. However, the story can be doubted as Livy tells later that Allifae was still under Samnite control.Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites, pp. 219, 220.
The main feature of their consulship was the Lex Poetelia Papiria de nexis, which abolished nexum, a form of debt-bondage.
First dictatorship and the quarrel with Rullianus (325 BC) The next year, Cursor was appointed dictator by the consul Lucius Furius Camillus, who was too ill to lead the army against the Samnites.Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites, p. 6 (note1), thinks this illness is suspect as it could have been an invention by a later annalist.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, p. 695, says there is no good reason to suspect Camillus' illness was invented. Cursor in turn chose Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus as his magister equitum.Broughton, vol. I, p. 147.
Livy tells that while they were already campaigning in Samnium, Cursor learnt that the auspices had not been properly taken and he had to redo the process in Rome. He left Rullianus on the field, but forbade him to engage the enemy. Rullianus disobeyed when he heard of the presence of a reckless Samnite army, which he crushed at Imbrinium. He then burnt the spoils to prevent Cursor from using them in a triumph, and sent a letter to the senate about his victory.Livy, viii. 29. Once aware of his subordinate's disobedience, Cursor rushed to the camp and sentenced him to death. Despite supplications from the army, the senate, and the tribunes of the plebs, Cursor only withdrew his death order when Rullianus and his father Marcus Fabius Ambustus knelt and apologised before him.Livy, viii. 35.
The story is very elaborate and most details are invented. Several modern historians have suggested it is an anticipation of the rivalry between the dictator Fabius Maximus (Rullianus' grandson) and his magister equitum Marcus Minucius Rufus in 217 BC. However, it is possible that the bare event—that Cursor and Rullianus quarrelled—is historical.Oakley, Commentary on Livy, vol. II, p. 696 Livy mentions that the story was told by Fabius Pictor, the first Roman historian and a relative of Rullianus. Perhaps some details—such as the episode of the burnt spoils—come from family tradition, or private archives kept by the Fabii.Cornell et al., Fragments of the Roman Historians, vol. III, pp. 33, 34 (F17).