"The Torquati were a distinguished patrician family. Their cognomen derived, or so the story went,' from an incident in 36I B.C. when an ancestor of the house killed a Celt in a duel and despoiled him of his torque. Between 244 and 164 B.C. Manlii Torquati appear frequently in the consular fasti. Thereafter,they produced no more consuls until 65 B.C.; there are few known Torquati in the last century of the Republic; and by the reign of Nero, the family appears to have died out."
- Jane F. Mitchell, The Torquati,T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus gained his name "Torquatus" in a fight in 361 BC against a Gaul:
"Then a Gaul of extraordinary size advanced upon the empty bridge, and making his voice as loud as possible, cried out, “Let him whom Rome now reckons her bravest man come out and fight, that we two may show by the outcome which people is the superior in war.
The young Roman nobles were for a long time silent. Ashamed to decline the challenge, they were loath to volunteer for a service of transcendent peril. Then Titus Manlius, the son of Lucius, who had rescued his father from the persecution of the tribune, left his station and went to the dictator. “Without your orders, General,” he said, “I would fain never leave my place to fight, not though I saw that victory was assured; but if you permit me, I would show that beast who dances out so boldly before the standards of the enemy, that I come of the family that hurled the column of Gauls from the Tarpeian Rock.” To whom the dictator made answer, “Success attend your valour, Titus Manlius, and your loyalty to father and to country! Go, and with Heaven's help make good the unconquerable Roman name.” The young man's friends then armed him; he assumed the shield of a foot-soldier, and to his side he buckled a Spanish sword, convenient for close fighting."
- Livy, The History of Rome, 7.9-10Although he seemed by his looks to be outmatched, Titus Manlius prevailed over his large enemy and in triumph took the necklace from his foe.
To the body of his fallen foe he offered no other indignity than to despoil it of one thing —a chain which, spattered with blood, he cast round his own neck. The Gauls were transfixed with fear and wonder, while the Romans, quitting their station, ran eagerly to meet their champion and brought him with praise and gratulation to the dictator. Amidst the rude banter thrown out by the soldiers in a kind of verse, was heard the appellation of Torquatus, and thereafter this was given currency as an honoured surname, used even by descendants of [14] the family. The dictator gave him, besides, a golden chaplet, and loudly extolled that fight of his in a public speech.
- Livy, The History of Rome, 7.10The battle was consequential and the Gauls retreated to Tibur, forming an alliance with the Tiburtes. Conflict with Rome continued (360-354 BC) and the Romans appointed a dictator, Quintus Servilius Ahala, who led a successful campaign against the Gauls and Tiburtes. The campaign concluded with a double triumph for the consul Poetelius over the Gauls and Tiburtes.
Titus Manlius Torquatus is also known as a strict disciplinarian who ordered the death of his own son (also T. Manlius) for abandoning his post to take on a Latin in combat during a battle at the foot of Vesuvius in 340 BC. Livy writes these words from the father:
"The soldiers mustered in large numbers and the consul began: ‘Since you, T. Manlius, have shown no regard for either the authority of a consul or the obedience due to a father, and in defiance of our edict have left your post to fight against the enemy, and have done your best to destroy the military discipline through which the Roman State has stood till now unshaken, and have forced upon me the necessity of forgetting either my duty to the republic or my duty to myself and my children, it is better that we should suffer the consequences of our offence ourselves than that the State should expiate our crime by inflicting great injury upon itself. We shall be a melancholy example, but one that will be profitable to the young men of the future. My natural love of my children and that proof of courage which from a false sense of honour you have given, move me to take your part, but since either the consuls' authority must be vindicated by your death or forever abrogated by letting you go unpunished, I would believe that even you yourself, if there is a drop of my blood in your veins, will not shrink from restoring by your punishment the military discipline which has been weakened by your misconduct."
-Livy, The History of Rome, VIII.7"The son of the Manlius Torquatus who was consul in 340 b.c. Just before the battle with the Latins at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius the consuls issued strict orders that no Roman should engage in single combat with a Latin on pain of death; but this youth could not resist the taunts of a Tusculan foe, and accepted his challenge. When he returned triumphantly with the spoils of his enemy, his father ordered his death."
-Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Footnote on Book 2.XXVIIManlian Orders (imperia manliana): The term has come to symbolize strict military discipline, inflexible command, and the importance of obeying orders without question, even in the face of personal bravery or merit.
This coin is one of a descendant of Titus Manlius - showing a "torque" as the frame of the obverse of this coin. The fight referenced on the obverse of Titus Manlius was fought on foot, so the horseman on the reverse must be a reference unrelated to the fight in 360 BC."
L. Torquatus, 113-112 BC, AR denarius (18mm, 3.85g, 6h), Rome
Obv: Head of Roma to right, wearing crested and winged helmet; behind, ROMA; to right, X (mark of value); all within torque.
Rev: L•TORQVA / EX•S•C Horseman galloping to left, holding spear in his right hand and shield in his left; to upper right, Q.
Ref: Babelon (Manlia) 2; Crawford 295/1; RBW 1135; Sydenham 545;
Notes: Lightly toned. A few minor deposits and the reverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, very fine.
This stemma (family tree) is proposed by Jane Mitchel in 1966 for the Torquati. With the green (78) the moneyer of this coin. The DPRR entry for this Lucius Manlius Torquatus is here: https://romanrepublic.ac.uk/person/1833/.
Grueber dates this coin to 99-84 BC, and in her stemma Mitchell assigned a date of circa 96 BS to the quaestorship. Crawford references Mitchell's stemma but dated the coin to 112/3 BC stating that the "the stemma is well suited by the date proposed here for the quaestorship". This Lucius Torquatus does not seem to have progressed further in his career but his son of the same name was the proquaestor referenced on this coin issued under Sulla in 82, and became consul in 65 BC.
This L. Manlius Torquatus (RE:79) held the consulship 65 which triggered the "First Catalinian Conspiracy". He issued coins with Sulla and served as a lieutenant under the command of the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the battle fought at the Battle of the Colline Gate, Lucius Cornelius Sulla's decisive victory in the Roman civil war over the Marian forces under the leadership of Gaius Marius the Younger and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo.
L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Cornelius Sulla, AR Denarius, military mint moving with Sulla, 82 BC.
Obv: Helmeted bust of Roma right, with peaked visor, cruciform earring and necklace, hair in three locks; L MANLI before; PRO•Q behind
Rev: Sulla, togate, driving triumphal quadriga right, holding branch and reins; above, Victory flying left crowning Sulla with laurel wreath; L•SVLLA•IM in exergue.
Ref: Crawford 367/5;
The circumstances under which the son of this L. Manlius Torquatus became consul were unusual. Broughton in MRR notes (linked for easy access to additional information):
"These Consuls (Cotta and Torquatus) were elected after securing the conviction of the Consuls Designate for bribery, and were the intended-victims of the so-called first Catilinarian conspiracy (Cicero Pro Sulla 11 and 49; Pro Murena 81; Sallust Bellum Catalinae 18-19; Livy Periochae 101.3; Asconius Pedianus on Ciciero's speeches 83, and 92C; Suetonius Divus Iulius 9; Cassius Dio 36.44.3-5)."References (in addition to those linked above):
Jane F. Mitchell, The Torquati, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , Jan., 1966, Bd. 15, H. 1 (Jan., 1966), pp. 23-31.
Broughton, T. Robert S. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (MRR). 3 vols. American Philological Association, 1951-1986.
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