Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus

Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus ( late 4th century BC) was a three-time consul of the Roman Republic, thrice appointed dictator or magister equitum, and censor in 307 BC. In 311, he made a vow to the goddess Salus that he went on to fulfill, becoming the first plebeian to build a temple. The temple was one of the first dedicated to an abstract deity, and Junius was one of the first generals to vow a temple and then oversee its establishment through the construction and dedication process.

The desultory manner in which Junius Bubulcus survives in the historical record obscures the stature indicated by the number of high offices he held from 317 to 302 BC; it has been observed that he "cannot have been as colourless as he appears in Livy."

Junius was consul in 317 BC with the patrician Quintus Aemilius Barbula. The two were joint consuls again in 311. From the mid-4th century to the early 3rd century BC, several plebeian-patrician "tickets" repeated joint terms, suggesting a deliberate political strategy of cooperation. The Second Samnite War was a formative time in the creation of a ruling elite (the nobiles) that comprised both patricians and plebeians who had risen to power. As consul, Junius exerted force in central Italy to restore Roman control over the Vestini.

In 313 BC, as consul with Lucius Papirius Cursor in his fifth term, Junius is credited with the capture of Nola, Atina, and Calatia by some sources. The following year, he was appointed either dictator or magister equitum, and was sent with troops to the Marrucini, with some success.

In 311, Junius held command in Samnium. The Augustan historian Livy says that allied Etruscans attacked the colony of Sutrium, an exposed outpost, and Junius fought a battle that ended with nightfall rather than resolution. The outcome of the campaign seems ambiguous: "The sum total of his achievement apparently was to sack some otherwise unknown hamlets, Talium, Cataracta, and Ceraunilia." According to Livy, Junius regained Cluviae and captured Bovianum, a town of the Pentri, but this may be the propaganda of his gens.Diodorus gives a more laudatory report of Roman actions, while Zonaras gives a less favorable ending. The varying assessments of Roman success may indicate a slim and costly victory. Whatever the scale of his victories, Junius celebrated a triumph which featured praeda pecorum, booty in the form of cattle.

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