Editing Gaius Volusenus

{{Short description|Late Roman Republic-era military officer}}
{{Other people|Volusenus}}
'''Gaius Volusenus Quadratus''' (''[[floruit|fl.]]'' mid-1st century BC) was a distinguished military officer of the [[Roman Republic]]. He served under [[Julius Caesar]] for ten years, during the [[Gallic Wars]] and the [[Caesar's civil war|civil war of the 40s]]. Caesar praised him for his strategic sense and courageous integrity.<ref>''Vir consilii magni et virtutis'' (''Bellum Gallicum'' 3.5.2).</ref>

==Italian origin==
The name Volusenus may be [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] in origin (as ''Volasenna''), but some scholars have attributed an [[Umbri]]an origin to the family, based on [[epigraphy|inscriptional]] evidence.<ref>[[Elizabeth Rawson]], ''Roman Culture and Society: Collected Papers'' (Clarendon Press, 1991), p. 321.</ref>

==Military service==
During the [[Gallic War]] Volusenus served as ''[[tribune|tribunus militum]]'' in the [[Legio XII Fulminata|12th Legion]] under the ''[[legatus legionis]]'' [[Servius Sulpicius Galba (praetor 54 BC)|Servius Galba]], and distinguished himself in battle when Galba was defeated by the [[Nantuates]] in 57 BC.<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+3.5 3.5]</ref>

In 55 BC Volusenus was sent out by Caesar in a single warship to undertake a week-long survey of the coast of south eastern [[Great Britain|Britain]] prior to [[Caesar's invasions of Britain|Caesar's invasion]].<ref>''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+4.21 4.21]</ref> He probably examined the [[Kent]] coast between [[Hythe, Kent|Hythe]] and [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]]. However, when Caesar arrived at [[Dover]] with his forces he saw that landing would be impossible. Instead, he travelled north and landed on an open beach, probably near [[Walmer]]. Volusenus had evidently failed to find a suitable harbour, which would have prevented the damage Caesar's exposed ships would suffer at high tide. The great natural harbour at [[Richborough]], a little further north, was used by [[Claudius]] in his invasion just 100 years later, but we do not know whether Volusenus travelled that far, or indeed whether it existed in a suitable form at that time (our knowledge of the [[geomorphology]] of the [[Wantsum Channel]] that created that haven is limited).

Volusenus later became ''Praefectus Equitum'' (cavalry commander). In 53 BC, during the revolt of [[Ambiorix]], he was sent ahead by Caesar with cavalry to relieve [[Quintus Tullius Cicero|Quintus Cicero]], who was besieged by the [[Sugambri]] in Atuatuca, but found it difficult to convince the terrified defenders that the rest of Caesar's army was not far behind.<ref>''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+6.41 6.41]</ref>

When the [[legatus|legate]] [[Titus Labienus]] suspected [[Commius]], the formerly loyal king of the [[Atrebates]], of conspiring against them in the winter of 54 or 53 BC, he invited him to a meeting and sent Volusenus and some [[centurion]]s to execute him for his treachery. Commius escaped, but sustained a wound to the head.<ref>''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+8.23 8.23]</ref>

In 51 BC Volusenus was serving as commander of cavalry under [[Mark Antony]], and in the winter of that year was ordered by Antony to pursue Commius, who was conducting a campaign of agitation and [[guerrilla warfare]]. He defeated him in several skirmishes, and finally destroyed Commius's forces in a single engagement, although at the cost of a spear-wound to the thigh. S.P. Oakley sees this encounter as an unusual example of single combat in the [[Roman Republic#Late Republic (147 BC - 30 BC)|Late Republic]], echoing duels between Romans and physically superior Celts in the [[Roman Republic#Early Republic (458 BC - 274 BC)|Early Republic]].<ref>Like those in which [[Titus Manlius Torquatus (347 BC)|T. Manlius Torquatus]] and [[Marcus Valerius Corvus|M. Valerius Corvus]] earned their respective ''[[cognomen|cognomina]]''; S.P. Oakley, "Single Combat in the Roman Republic," ''Classical Quarterly'' 35 (1985), p. 396.</ref> Commius himself escaped and later sued for peace on the condition that he never again had to meet a Roman.<ref>''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+8.48 8.48]</ref>

In 48 BC, during the [[Caesar's civil war|Civil War]], an attempt to assassinate Volusenus was made by [[Aegus and Roscillus]], two noble brothers of the [[Celts|Celtic]] [[Allobroges]] who had served in Caesar's cavalry throughout the Gallic Wars. The brothers had been caught defrauding their comrades of pay and decided to defect to [[Pompey]]'s side. The death of Volusenus was meant to render Pompey useful service, but the task proved too difficult, and they were forced to defect without any such token.<ref>Julius Caesar, ''[[Commentarii de Bello Civili]]'' [[wikisource:The Civil War (Caesar)/Book 3#59|3.59-61]]</ref>

[[Ronald Syme]] noted that Volusenus's decade-long tour of duty might have been uncommon for a man of his [[equestrian order|equestrian social rank]], many of whom "owed their commissions less to merit than to the claims of friendship and influence or the hope of procuring gain and political advancement."  The exemplary career of Volusenus, like that of [[Decidius Saxa]], indicates that even in the Late Republic an equestrian might choose to excel as a career officer rather than as a [[publicani|publican]] or businessman.<ref>[[Ronald Syme]], ''The Roman Revolution'' (Oxford University Press, 1939, reissued 2002), pp. 70–71 [https://books.google.com/books?id=LliyGzhAo1wC&dq=Volusenus+intitle%3ARoman+intitle%3ARevolution&pg=PA70 online] and 355.</ref> Volusenus is one of only three ranking officers to whom Caesar ascribes the quality of ''[[Virtus (virtue)|virtus]]''.<ref>The other two are [[Quintus Tullius Cicero|Quintus Cicero]] and [[Titus Labienus]]; Myles Anthony McDonnell, ''Roman manliness:'' virtus ''and the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 308 [https://books.google.com/books?id=v2vefi2_ojYC&dq=Volusenus+CIcero&pg=RA11-PA308 online.]</ref>

==Political career?==
Based on a [[Textual criticism|"hopelessly corrupt" reading]]<ref>John R. King, ''The Fourteen Philippic Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero'' (Oxford, 1878), p. 262 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vO06AAAAcAAJ&dq=Volusenus+%22The+reading+in+this+sentence+is+hopelessly+corrupt%22&pg=PA261 online.]</ref> of one of Cicero's speeches against [[Mark Antony]],<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Philippics'' 14.3.</ref> Volusenus was sometimes identified by 19th-century scholars as a [[tribune]] of the ''[[plebs]]'' in 43 BC.<ref>[[Johann Caspar von Orelli|Orelli]] conjectured that the passage should read ''alii praetorem, tribunum Volusienum, ego''. "It has been assumed that this man is C. Volusenus Quadratus … but this is mere guessing," notes [[George Long (scholar)|George Long]], ''M. Tullii Ciceronis orationes'' (London, 1858), vol. 4, p. 704 [https://books.google.com/books?id=pBVBAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22but+this+is+mere+guessing%22+intitle%3ATullii+intitle%3ACiceronis+intitle%3Aorationes&pg=PA704 online.]</ref> The passage, and Volusenus's documented loyalty to Caesar, was thus interpreted to mean that he was a supporter of [[Mark Antony]], but two other manuscripts indicate that the proper noun is in fact a verb ''(voluissent)'' and neither Cicero nor any other source mentions Volusenus among Antony's followers.<ref>John Richard King, ''The Philippic Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1878, 2nd ed.), p. 336 [https://books.google.com/books?id=zTjRAAAAMAAJ&dq=Volusenus+inauthor%3ACicero&pg=PA336 online.]</ref> [[T.R.S. Broughton]] does not record a plebeian tribunate for Volusenus in ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', confirming only that Volusenus was a military tribune in 56<ref>Caesar, ''Bellum Gallicum'' 3.5.2.</ref> and held the rank of ''praefectus equitum'' in 52–51<ref>[[Aulus Hirtius]], ''Bellum Gallicum'' 8.48; [[Cassius Dio]] 40.43.1.</ref> and again in 48.<ref>[[T.R.S. Broughton|Broughton]] reassessed Volusenus's career in light of Syme's observations ''(see above)'' for the publication of volume 3 of ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'' (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1984), p. 224. See also ''MRR''<sup>2</sup> (1952), pp. 212, 239, 246 (where the ''nomen'' is incorrectly given as Volusius), and 284. Broughton originally had counted the Volusenus who was tribune in 56 and  the prefect Volusenus Quadratus as two different men. He excludes the vexed passage in the ''Phillippics''.</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Roman Republican soldiers]]
[[Category:Ancient Romans in Britain]]
[[Category:Roman people of the Gallic Wars]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Romans]]