opima spolia

OPI´MA SPO´LIA[SPOLIA]

Spoils taken by a Roman general from a general of the enemy whom he had slain in battle. They were dedicated to Iupiter Feretrius and suspended in his temple. These spoils were obtained only thrice before the fall of the Republic. The first by Romulus, who slew Acron, king of the Caeninenses; the next by A. Cornelius Cossus, who slew Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, B.C. 436; and the third by M. Claudius Marcellus, who slew Viridomarus, a king of the Gauls, B.C. 224.