Tuditanus

• a surname in the gens Sempronia, Enn. ap. Cic. Brut. 15, 58 (Ann. v. 305 Vahl.); Cic. Sen. 4, 10; 14, 50 al.; cf. Fest. p. 252 Müll.

the name of a plebeian family of the Sempronia gens. The name was supposed by Ateius the philologist to have been originally given to one of the Sempronii, because he had a head like a tudes (tudit-is) or mallet. (Festus, p. 352, ed. Müller.)

1. M. Sempronius Tuditanus, C. F. M. N., consul B. C. 240 with C. Claudius Centho, and censor B. C. 230 with Q. Fabius Maximus. (Gel. 17.21; Cic. Brut. 18, Tusc. 1.1, de Senect. 14; Fasti Capit.)

2. Sempronius Tuditanus, was a tribune of the soldiers at the battle of Cannae in B. C. 216, and one of the few Roman officers who survived that fatal day. When the smaller of the two Roman camps in which he had taken refuge was besieged by the Carthaginians, he bravely cut his way through the enemy with six hundred men, reached the larger camp, and from thence marched to Canusium, where he arrived in safety. Two years afterwards (B. C. 214) Tuditanus was curule aedile, and in the next year (B. C. 213) praetor, with Ariminum as his province. He took the town of Aternum, and was continued in the same command for the two following years (B. C. 212, 211). He was censor in B. C. 209 with M. Cornelius Cethegus, although neither he nor his colleague had yet held the consulship. In B. C. 205 he was sent into Greece with the title of proconsul, and at the head of a military and naval force, for the purpose of opposing Philip, with whom however he concluded a preliminary treaty, which was readily ratified by the Romans, who were anxious to give their undivided attention to the war in Africa. Tuditanus had, during his absence, been elected consul for the year 204 together with M. Cornelius Cethegus, his colleague in the censorship. He received Bruttii as his province with the conduct of the war against Hannibal. In the neighbourhood of Croton Tuditanus experienced a repulse, with a loss of twelve hundred men; but he shortly afterwards gained a decisive victory over Hannibal, who was obliged in consequence to shut himself up within the walls of Croton. It was in this battle that he vowed a temple to Fortuna Primigenia, if he should succeed in routing the enemy. In B. C. 201 Tuditanus was one of the three ambassadors sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt. (Liv. 22.50. 60; Appian, Annib. 26; Liv. 24.43, 44, 47, 25.3, xxvi. I, 27.11, 38, 29.11, 12; Cic. Brut. 15, de Senect. 4; Liv. 29.13, 36, 31.2.)

3. M. Sempronius Tuditanus, one of the officers of Scipio at the capture of New Carthage in Spain. (Liv. 26.48.)

4. C. Sempronius Tuditanus, plebeian aedile B. C. 198 and praetor B. C. 197, when he obtained Nearer Spain as his province. He was defeated by the Spaniards with great loss, and died shortly afterwards in consequence of a wound which he had received in the battle. He was pontifex at the time of his death. (Liv. 32.27, 28, 33.25, 42; Appian, App. Hisp. 39.)

5. M. Sempronius Tuditanus, M. F. C. N., tribune of the plebs B. C. 193, proposed and carried a plebiscitium, which enacted that the law about money lent should be the same for the Socii and the Latini as for the Roman citizens. (Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Lex Sempronia de Fenore.) He was praetor B. C. 189, when he obtained Sicily as his province, and consul B. C. 185 with Ap. Claudius Pulcher. In his consulship he carried on war in Liguria, and defeated the Apuani, while his colleague was equally successful against the Ingauni. Tuditanus was an unsuccessful candidate for the consulship in B. C. 184, but was elected one of the pontifices in the following year. He was carried off by the great pestilence which devastated Rome in B. C. 174. (Liv. 35.7, 37.47, 50, 39.23. 32, 40, 46, 41.21.)

6. C. Sempronius Tuditanus, C. F., was one of the ten commissioners sent to L. Mummius in B. C. 146 in order to form Southern Greece into a Roman province. He has been confounded by Drumann (Gesckichte Roms, vol. iii. p. 81) with the following [No. 7], as he had been by Cicero, whose mistake was corrected by Atticus. This Tuditanus was the proavus or great grandfather of the orator Hortensius. (Cic. Att. 13.6.4, 13.33.3.)

7. C. Sempronius Tuditanus, C. F. C. N., the son of No. 6, was praetor B. C. 132, fourteen years after his father had been sent as one of the ten commissioners into Greece. (Cic. Att. 13.30.3, 13.32.3.) He was consul in B. C. 129, with M'. Aquilius. On the proposition of Scipio Africanus, the decision of the various disputes, which arose respecting the public land in carrying the agrarian law of Gracchus into effect, was transferred from the triumvirs who had been appointed under the law, to the consul Tuditanus; but the latter, perceiving the difficulty of the cases that were brought before him, avoided giving any decision by pleading that the Illyrian war compelled him to leave the city. In Illyricum he carried on war against the Iapydes, and at first unsuccessfully, but he afterwards gained a victory over them chiefly through the military skill of his legate. D. Junius Brutus, who had previously earned great glory by his conquests in Spain. [Brutus. No. 15.] On his return to Rome, Tuditanus was allowed to celebrate a triumph over the Iapydes. (Vell. 2.4; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 2.5; Appian. B. C. 1.19, Illyr. 10 ; Liv. Epit. 59 ; Fasti Capit.) Tuditanus was an orator and an historian, and in both obtained considerable distinction. Cicero says of him (Brut. 25) : --"Cum omni vita atque vietu excultus atque expolitus, turn ejus elegans est habitum etiam orationis genus." Dionysius (1.11 ) classes him with Cato the Censor as among λογιωτάτους τῶν Ῥωμαίων συγγραφέων. His historical work is likewise quoted by some of the other ancient writers. (Ascon. in Cornel. p. 76, ed. Orelli ; Gel. 6.4, 13.15; Macrob. 1.16; Krause, Vitae et Frag. Histor. Rom. p. 178, foll.) This Tuditanus was the maternal grandfather of the orator Hortensius, since his daughter Sempronia married L. Hortensius, the father of the orator.

8. Sempronius Tuditanus, was the maternal grandfather of Fulvia, the wife of Antonius the triumvir. He is described by Cicero as a madman, who was accustomed to scatter his money among the people from the Rostra. (Cic. Phil. 3.6, Acad. 2.28; V. Max. 7.8.1.)

(1) Publius, tribune of the soldiers at the battle of Cannae in B.C. 216, and one of the few Roman officers who survived that fatal day. In 214 he was curule aedile; in 213 praetor, with Ariminum as his province, and was continued in the command for the two following years (212, 211). He was censor in 209 with M. Cornelius Cethegus, although neither he nor his colleague had yet held the consulship. In 205 he was sent into Greece with the title of proconsul, for the purpose of opposing Philip, with whom, however, he concluded a treaty, which was ratified by the Romans. Tuditanus was consul in 204, and received Bruttii as his province. He was at first defeated by Hannibal, but shortly afterwards he gained a decisive victory over the Carthaginian general (Livy, xxii. 50, 60, xxiv. 43-47, xxvii. 11, xxix. 11-13, xxxi. 2; App. Annib. 26).

(2) Gaius, plebeian aedile 198, and praetor 197, when he obtained Nearer Spain as his province. He was defeated by the Spaniards with great loss, and died shortly afterwards of a wound which he had received in the battle (Livy, xxxii. 27, xxxiii. 42; App. Hisp. 39).

(3) Marcus, tribune of the plebs 193; praetor 189, when he obtained Sicily as his province; and consul 185. In his consulship he carried on war in Liguria, and defeated the Apuani, while his colleague was equally successful against the Ingauni. He was carried off by the great pestilence which devastated Rome in 174 (Livy, xxxix. 40, 46, xli. 21).

(4) Gaius, praetor 132, and consul 129. In his consulship he carried on war against the Iapydes in Illyricum, over whom he gained a victory chiefly through the military skill of his legate, D. Iunius Brutus. Tuditanus was an orator and an historian, and in both obtained considerable distinction (Vell. Pat. ii. 4; App. B. C. i. 19, Illyr. 10; Cic. Brut. 25; Dionys. i. 11).