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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Larcius, Titus

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20141721911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 16 — Larcius, Titus

LARCIUS (less accurately Lartius), TITUS, probably surnamed Flavus, a member of an Etruscan family (cf. Lars Tolumnius, Lars Porsena) early settled in Rome. When consul in 501 B.C. he was chosen dictator (the title and office being then introduced for the first time) to command against the thirty Latin cities, which had sworn to reinstate Tarquin in Rome. Other authorities put the appointment three years later, when the plebeians refused to serve against the Latins until they had been released from the burden of their debts. He opposed harsh measures against the Latins, and also interested himself in the improvement of the lot of the plebeians. His brother, Spurius, is associated with Horatius Cocles in the defence of the Sublician bridge against the Etruscans.

See Livy ii. 10, 18, 21, 29; Dion. Halic. v. 50-77, vi. 37; Cicero, De Re Publica, ii. 32.