Gnaeus Manlius Vulso

Who is Gnaeus Manlius Vulso?

Gnaeus Manlius Vulso was consul in 474 BC. with Lucius Furius Medullinus Fusus, and the first of his family to obtain the consulship.

Manlius marched against the Veientes, and concluded a forty years' truce with them without fighting, in consequence of which he obtained the honour of an ovation on his return to Rome. In the following year, Manlius and his colleague were accused by the tribune Gnaeus Genucius, because they had not carried into effect the agrarian law of Spurius Cassius Viscellinus; but the accusation fell to the ground in consequence of the assassination of Genucius.

The historian Livy calls him Gaius. Most modern writers refer to him as Aulus, assuming him to be the same as the decemvir of 451, who is called Aulus in the Capitoline Fasti. However, the chronology of this family makes this extremely improbable, leading to the conclusion that he was in fact Gnaeus, the father of the decemvir. The praenomina Gnaeus and Gaius were often confused in early records, which would account for the appearance of that name in Livy's history. His father's name was Publius.