Lucius Postumius Megellus (consul 305 BC)

Lucius Postumius Megellus (c. 345 BC – c. 260 BC) was a politician and general during the middle years of the Roman Republic. Reportedly an arrogant and overbearing man, he was elected consul three times, and was one of the principal Roman military leaders during the Third Samnite War.

A member of the patrician Postumia clan, a family reportedly at the forefront of the so-called Struggle of the Orders in their attempts to prevent the opening up of the political offices to the plebeian classes, Megellus’ career was marked by overbearing and oppressive behaviour in his dealings with his fellow magistrates and with the citizens of the Republic. His career was also closely entwined with the ongoing Samnite Wars, which allowed him the scope to ascend to the highest levels of political office, and use his victories to further his career, regardless of the law (such as his disregard of the Lex Genucia to claim the consulship for the third time in 291).

Megellus first came to prominence during his time as Curule Aedile, c. 307 BC, where he heavily fined (pecunia multaticia) any individuals who broke the Lex Licinia Sextia by encroaching on public land. With the amounts he had collected, Megellus promised to build a temple dedicated to Victory, a promise he fulfilled in 294 BC.

His election as consul for the first time in 305 BC saw him participate in the closing years of the Second Samnite War. Leading the armies of the Republic, according to Livy he defeated the Samnites at the Battle of Bovianum and took the town of Bovianum. Returning to Rome, Megellus and his consular colleague Marcus Fulvius Curvus Paetinus took the towns of Sora, Arpinum and Cerennia. Livy stated that Megellus received a triumph for his victory, but this is not corroborated by the Fasti Triumphales. The capture of Bovianum caused the Samnites to sue for peace in 304 BC, ending the Second Samnite War.

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