A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

a distinguished patrician in the times immediately following the enactment of the Licinian laws. He was censor B. C. 366, the year in which a plebeian consul was first elected; and two years afterwards, B. C. 364, he was consul with C. Licinius Calvus Stolo, the proposer of the celebrated Licinian laws. In this year a fearful pestilence visited the city, which occasioned the establishment of ludi scenici for the first time. In B. C. 362 he served as legate in the army of the plebeian consul, L. Genucius, and after the fall of the latter in battle, he repulsed the Hernici in an attack which they made upon the Roman camp. In the following year, B. C. 361, Peticus was consul a second time with his former colleague Licinius : both consuls marched against the Hernici and took the city of Ferentinum, and Peticus obtained the honour of a triumph on his return to Rome. In B. C. 358, Peticus was appointed dictator in consequence of the Gauls having penetrated through the Praenestine territory as far as Pedum. The dictator established himself in a fortified camp, but in consequence of the murmurs of the soldiers, who were impatient at this inactivity, he at length led them to battle against the Gauls, whom he eventually conquered, but not without difficulty. He obtained a triumph in consequence of this victory, and dedicated in the Capitol a considerable quantity of gold, which was part of the spoils. In B. C. 35-5 he was one of the interreges for holding the elections, and in the same year was elected consul a third time with a patrician colleague, M. Valeriuls Poplicola, in violation of the Licinian law. In B. C. 353 he was consul a fourth time with the same colleague as in his last consulship. In B. C. 351 he was interrex, and in the same year obtained the consulship for the fifth time with T. Quinctius Pennus Capitolinus. (Liv. 7.2, 7, 9, 12-15, 17_19, 22.)