A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

1. Q.ValeriusFalto, Q. F. P. N., was the first Praetor Perogrinus at Rome (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Praetor.) The occasion for a second praetorship was, that the war with Carthage required two commanders, and A. Postumius Albinus, one of the consuls for the year B. C. 242, being at the time priest of Mars, was forbidden by the Pontifex Maximus to leave the city. Falto was second in command of the fleet which, in that year, the last of the first Punic war, the Romans dispatched under C. Lutatius Catulus [CATULUS] against the Carthaginians in Sicily. After Catulus had been disabled by a wound at the siege of Drepanum, the active duties of the campaign devolved on Falto. His conduct at the battle of the Aegates so mulch contributed to the victory of the Romans that, on the return of the fleet, Falto demanded to share the triumph of Catulus. His claim was rejected, on the ground that an inferior officer had no title to the recompense of the chief in command. The dispute was referred to arbitration; and the arbiter, Atilius Calatinus, decided against Falto, alleging that, as in the field the consul's orders took precedence of the praetor's, and as the praetor's auspices, in case of dispute, were always held inferior to the consul's, so the triumph was exclusively a consular distinction. The people, however, thought that Falto merited the honour, and lie accordingly triumphed on the 6th of October, B. C. 241. Falto was consul in B. C. 239. (Liv. Epit. xix.; Fast. Capit.; V. Max. 1.1.2, 2.8.2.)