I Decii oltre la devotio

The gens of the Decii is notoriously famous for the devotiones performed by the Decii Mures. However, some lesser known members of the gens played a prominent political role as tribunes of the plebs in important phases of Rome's republican history. The article focuses on the analysis of this political theme which, although secondary to the famous theme of devotio, is however characteristic of some members of the gens. In particular, the story of M. Decius is analysed: he was tribune of the plebs in 491 b.C. and protagonist, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, of the first tribunal trial in the history of Rome, towards the patrician Coriolanus. The image of this 5th century tribune and various aspects of his battle in favor of the rights of the plebs seem to be delineated on the model of another tribune of the plebs, member of the gens of the Decii, P. Decius. He was responsible, in 120 b.C., of having sued, with the accusation of having illegally killed C. Gracchus, L. Opimius, the executor of the first senatus consultum ultimum of the history of Rome. It follows an image of the Decii as defenders of the rights of the people which is also confirmed by the events of other members of the gens and which may have been emphasized by a popularis historiography. This theme marginally affects also the famous P. Decius Mus, who performed the devotio in 295 b. C. However, this character and his father, who performed the devotio in 340 b.C., are presented by Livy mainly as models of pietas of the early Republican age, while the political theme is decidedly marginal in Livy's books.