Curius Dentātus, Manius
A Roman, celebrated for his warlike achievements, and also for the primitive simplicity of
his manners. In his first consulship (B.C. 290) he triumphed twice, once over the Samnites and
then over the Sabines, and in this same year also he obtained an ovation for his successes
against the Lucanians. He afterwards (B.C. 275), in his third consulship, triumphed over
Pyrrhus and the Samnites. It was on this occasion that the Roman people first saw elephants
led along in triumph (
Flor. i. 18;
Plin.
H. N. viii. 6; Eutrop. ii. 14), and it was this victory that drove
Pyrrhus from Italy. The simple manners of this distinguished man are often referred to by the
Roman writers. When the ambassadors of the Samnites visited his cottage, they found him,
according to one account, sitting on a bench by the fireside, and eating out of a wooden
bowl (Val. Max. iv. 3, 5), and, according to Plutarch, boiling turnips. On their attempting to
bribe him with a large sum of gold, he at once rejected their offer, exclaiming that a man who
could be content to live as they saw him living had no need whatever of gold, and that he
thought it more glorious to conquer the possessors of it than to possess it himself. His
scanty farm and humble cottage, moreover, were in full accordance with the idea which Curius
had formed of private wealth; for, after so many achievements and honours, he declared that
citizen a pernicious one who did not find seven acres (
iugera) sufficient
for his subsistence (
Plin. xviii. 3). According to Pliny , Dentatus
was so named because born with teeth (
cum dentibus) (
H. N. vii. 15).
