MANIUS CURIUS

DENTATUS  , Roman general, conqueror of the Samnites and Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was born of humble parents, and was possibly of Sabine origin . He is said to have been called Dentatus because he was born with his teeth already grown (Pliny, Nat . Hist. vii . 15) . Except that he was tribune of the people, nothing certain is known of him until his first consul-ship in no B.C. when, in conjunction with his colleague P . Cornelius Rufinus, he gained a decisive victory over the Samnites, which put an end to a war that had lasted fifty years . He also reduced the revolted Sabines to submission; a large portion of their territory was distributed among the Roman citizens, and the most important towns received the citizenship without the right of voting for magistrates (civitas sine sufjragio) . With .the proceeds of the spoils of the war Dentatus cut an artificial channel to carry off the waters of Lake Velinus, so as to drain the valley of Reate . In 275, after Pyrrhus had returned from Sicily to Italy, Dentatus (again consul) took the field against him . The decisive engagement took place near Beneventum in the Campi Arusini, and resulted in the total defeat of Pyrrhus . Dentatus celebrated a magnificent triumph, in which for the first time a number of captured elephants were exhibited . Dentatus was consul for the third time in 274, when he finally crushed the Lucanians and Samnites, and censor in 272 .

In the latter capacity he began to build an

aqueduct to carry the waters of the Anio into the city, but died (27o) before its completion . Dentatus was looked upon as a model of old Roman simplicity and frugality . According to the well-known anecdote, when the Samnites sent ambassadors with costly presents to induce him to exercise his influence on their behalf in the senate, they found C him sitting on the hearth and preparing his simple meal of roasted turnips . He refused their gifts, saying that earthen dishes were good enough for him, adding that he preferred ruling those who possessed gold to possessing it himself . It is also said that he died so poor that the state was obliged to provide dowries for his daughters . But these and similar anecdotes must be received with caution, and it should be remembered that what was a competence in his day would have been considered poverty by the Romans of later times . Livy, epitome, 11-14 ; Polybius ii . 19 ; Eutropius ii . 9, 14; Florus i . 18 ; Val . Max. iv . 3, 5, vi .

3, 4 ;

Cicero, De senectute, 16 ; Juvenal xi . 78 ; Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 25 .