Triumphus
（
θρίαμβος). A solemn procession in which a victorious Roman
general entered the city in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was preceded by the captives
and spoils taken in war, and was followed by his troops; and, after passing in state along the
Via Sacra, ascended the Capitol to offer sacrifice in the Temple of Iupiter Capitolinus. From
the early days of the Republic down to the extinction of liberty a regular triumph (
iustus triumphus) was recognized as the climax of military glory, and was the
cherished object of ambition to every Roman general. A triumph might be granted for successful
achievements either by land or sea, but the latter were comparatively so rare that we may for
the present defer the consideration of the naval triumph. After any decisive battle had been
won, or a province subdued by a series of successful operations, the imperator forwarded to
the Senate a laurel-wreathed despatch (
litterae laureatae) containing an
account of his exploits. If the intelligence proved satisfactory, the Senate decreed a public
thanksgiving. (See
Supplicatio.) After the war
had been concluded, the general with his army repaired to Rome, or ordered his army to meet
him there on a given day, but did not enter the city. A meeting of the Senate was held without
the walls, usually in the temple of either Bellona or Apollo, that he might have an
opportunity of urging his pretensions in person, and these were then scrutinized and discussed
with the most jealous care. The following rules were for the most part rigidly enforced,
although the Senate assumed the discretionary power of relaxing them in special cases: (
a) That no one could be permitted to triumph unless he had held the office of
dictator, of consul, or of praetor. The honours granted to Pompey, who triumphed in his
twenty-fourth year (B.C. 81), before he had held any of the great offices of the State, and
again ten years afterwards, while still a simple knight, were altogether unprecedented. (
b) That the magistrate should have been actually in office both when the
victory was gained and when the triumph was to be celebrated. This regulation was insisted
upon only during the earlier ages of the commonwealth. Its violation commenced with Q.
Publilius Philo, the first per son to whom the Senate ever granted a
prorogatio imperii after the termination of a magistracy, and thenceforward proconsuls
and propraetors were permitted to triumph without question. (
c) That
the war should have been prosecuted or the battle fought under the auspices and in the
province and with the troops of the general seeking the triumph. Thus, if a victory was gained
by the
legatus of a general who was absent from the army, the honour of
it did not belong to the former, but to the latter, inasmuch as he had the auspices. (
d) That at least 5000 of the enemy should have been slain in a single
battle, that the advantage should have been positive, and not merely a compensation for some
previous disaster, and that the loss on the part of the Romans should have been small compared
with that of their adversaries. Nevertheless, we find many instances of triumphs granted for
general results, without reference to the numbers slain in any one engagement. (
e) That the war should have been a legitimate contest against public foes, and not a
civil contest. Hence Catulus celebrated no triumph over Lepidus, nor Antonius over Catiline,
nor Cinna and Marius over their antagonists of the Sullan party, nor Caesar after Pharsalia;
and when he did subsequently triumph after his victory over the sons of Pompey, it caused
universal disgust. (
f) That the dominion of the State should have been
extended, and not merely something previously lost regained. The absolute acquisition of
territory does not appear to have been essential. (
g) That the war
should have been brought to a conclusion and the province reduced to a state of peace, so as
to permit of the army being withdrawn, the presence of the victorious soldiers being
considered indispensable in a triumph.
The Senate claimed the exclusive right of deliberating upon all these points, and of giving
or withholding the honour sought, and it for the most part exercised the privilege without
question, except in times of great political excitement. The sovereignty of the people,
however, in this matter was asserted at a very early date, and a triumph is said to have been
voted by the tribes to Valerius and Horatius, the consuls of B.C. 446, in direct opposition to
the resolution of the senators, and in a similar manner to C. Marcius Rutilus, the first
plebeian dictator; while L. Postumius Megellus, consul B.C. 294, celebrated a triumph although
resisted by the Senate and by seven out of the ten tribunes. Moreover, we read of a certain
Appius Claudius, consul B.C. 143, who, having persisted in celebrating a triumph in defiance
of both the Senate and the people, was accompanied by his daughter (or sister) Claudia, a
Vestal Virgin, and by her interposition saved from being dragged from his chariot by a
tribune. A disappointed general, however, seldom ventured to resort to such violent measures,
but satisfied himself with going through the forms on the Alban Mount (
triumphus in
Monte Albano), a practice first introduced by C. Papirius Maso. If the Senate gave
its consent, it at the same time voted a sum of money towards defraying the necessary
expenses, and one of the tribunes
ex auctoritate Senatus applied for a
plebiscitum to permit the imperator to retain his imperium on the day when
he entered the city. This last form could not be dispensed with either in an ovation or a
triumph, because the imperium conferred by the Comitia Curiata did not
include the city itself; and when a general had once gone forth
paludatus, his military power ceased as soon as he re-entered the gates, unless the
general law had been previously suspended by a special enactment. In this manner the
resolution of the Senate was, as it were, ratified by the plebs. For this reason, no one
desiring a triumph ever entered the city until the question was decided, since by so doing he
would
ipso facto have forfeited all claim. We have a remarkable example
of this in the case of Cicero, who, after his return from Cilicia, lingered in the vicinity of
Rome day after day, and dragged about his lictors from one place to another, without entering
the city, in the vain hope of a triumph.
In later times these pageants were marshalled with extraordinary pomp and splendour, and
presented a most gorgeous spectacle. Minute details would necessarily be different according
to circumstances, but the general arrangements were as follows: All the temples were thrown
open, garlands of flowers decorated every shrine and image, and incense smoked on every altar.
Meanwhile the imperator called an assembly of his soldiers, delivered an oration (
contio) commending their valour, and concluded by distributing rewards to the
most distinguished, and a sum of money to each individual, the amount depending on the value
of the spoils. He then ascended his triumphal car and advanced to the Porta Triumpha
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Imperator in Triumphal Car. (From a marble in Seville.)
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lis, where he was met by the whole body of the Senate, headed by the magistrates.
The procession then defiled in the following order:
1.
the Senate, headed by the magistrates;
2.
a body of trumpeters;
3.
a train of carriages and frames or litters loaded with spoils, those articles which were
especially remarkable either on account of their beauty or rarity being disposed in such a
manner as to be seen distinctly by the crowd. Boards were also borne aloft on
fercula, on which were painted in large letters the names of vanquished nations and
countries. Here, too, models were exhibited in ivory or wood of the cities and forts
captured, and pictures of the mountains, rivers, and other great natural features of the
subjugated region, with appropriate inscriptions, gold and silver in coin or bullion, arms,
weapons, and cavalry trappings of every description, statues, pictures, vases, and other
works of art, precious stones, elaborately wrought and richly embroidered stuffs, and every
object which could be regarded as valuable or curious.
4.
A body of flute players.
5.
The white bulls or oxen destined for sacrifice, with gilded horns, decorated with
infulae and
serta, attended by the slaughtering priests
with their implements, and followed by the Camilli bearing in their hands
paterae and other sacred vessels and instruments.
6.
Elephants or any other strange animals peculiar to the conquered districts.
7.
The arms and insignia of the leaders of the foe.
8.
The enemy's leaders themselves, and such of their kindred as had been taken prisoners,
followed by the whole band of inferior captives in fetters.
9.
The crowns (
coronae) and other tributes of respect and gratitude
bestowed on the imperator by allied kings and States.
10.
The lictors of the imperator in single file, their fasces wreathed with laurel.
11.
The imperator himself in a circular chariot of a peculiar form, drawn by four horses, which
were sometimes, though rarely, white. He was attired in a goldembroidered robe (
toga picta) and a flowered tunic (
tunica palmata), and
bore in his right hand a laurel bough, and in his left a sceptre. His brows were encircled
with a wreath of Delphic laurel, in addition to which, in ancient times, his body was painted
bright red. He was accompanied in his chariot by his children of tender years, and sometimes
by very dear or highly honoured friends, while behind him stood a public slave, holding over
his head a golden Etruscan crown ornamented with jewels. The presence of a slave in such a
place at such a time seems to have been intended to avert
invidia and
the influence of the evil eye, and for the same purpose a
fascinum (q.
v.), a little bell, and a scourge were attached to the vehicle. Tertullian (
Apol. 33) tells us that the slave ever and anon whispered in the ear
of the imperator the warning words “
Respice post te, hominem memento
te,” but this statement is not confirmed by early writers, though mentioned
in Arrian.
12.
Behind the chariot, or on the horses which drew it, rode the sons of the imperator,
together with the
legati, the
tribuni, and the
equites, all on horseback.
13.
The rear was brought up by the whole body of the infantry in marching order, their spears
adorned with laurel, some shouting “Io Triumphe!” and singing hymns to
the gods, while others proclaimed the praises of their leader or indulged in keen sarcasms
and coarse ribaldry at his expense, for the most perfect freedom of speech was granted and
exercised. Just as the procession was ascending the Capitoline Hill, some of the hostile
chiefs were led aside into the adjoining prison and put to death, a custom so barbarous that
we could scarcely believe that it existed in a civilized age, were it not attested by the
most unquestionable evidence. Pompey, indeed, refrained from perpetrating this atrocity in
his third triumph, and Aurelian on a like occasion spared
Zenobia (q.v.), but these are quoted as exceptions to the general rule. When it was
announced that these murders had been completed, the victims were then sacrificed, an
offering from the spoils was presented to Iupiter, the laurel wreath was deposited in the lap
of the god, and the imperator was entertained at a public feast along with his friends in the
temple. When he returned home in the evening he was preceded by torches and pipes, and
escorted by a crowd of citizens. The whole of the proceedings, generally speaking, were
brought to a close in one day; but when the quantity of spoil was very great, and the troops
very numerous, a longer period was required for the exhibition,
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Triumph of Marcus Aurelius. (Relief in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.)
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as when the triumph of Flaminius continued for three days in succession.
But the glories of the imperator did not end with the show, nor even with his life. It was
customary to provide him at the public expense with a site for a house, such mansions being
styled
triumphales domus. After death his kindred were permitted to
deposit his ashes within the walls, and laurel-wreathed statues standing erect in triumphal
cars, displayed in the vestibulum of the family mansion, transmitted his fame to posterity.
A Triumphus Navālis appears to have differed in no
respect from an ordinary triumph, except that it must have been upon a smaller scale, and
would be characterized by the exhibition of beaks of ships (
rostra) and
other nautical trophies. The earliest upon record was granted to C. Duilius, who laid the
foundation of the supremacy of Rome by sea in the First Punic War; and who was so elated by
his success that during the rest of his life, whenever he returned home at night from dinner,
he caused flutes to sound and torches to be borne before him. A second naval triumph was
celebrated by Lutatius Catulus for his victory off the Insulae Aegates (B.C. 241); a third by
Q. Fabius Labeo (B.C. 189) over the Cretans; and a fourth by C. Octavius over Perseus,
without captives and without spoils.
Triumphus Castrensis was a procession of the soldiers through the
camp in honour of a tribune or any officer inferior to the general, who had performed some
brilliant exploit. After the extinction of freedom, the emperor being considered as the
supreme commander of all the armies of the State, every military achievement was understood
to be performed under his auspices, and hence, according to the forms of even the ancient
constitution, he alone had a legitimate claim to a triumph. This principle was soon
fully recognized and acted upon; for although Antonius had granted triumphs to his
legati, and his example had been freely followed by Augustus in the early
part of his career, yet after the year B.C. 14 he entirely discontinued the practice, and
from that time forward triumphs were rarely, if ever, conceded to any except members of the
imperial family. But to compensate in some degree for what was then taken away, the custom
was introduced of bestowing what were termed
triumphalia
ornamenta—that is, permission to receive the titles bestowed upon the
imperator of republican times and in the robes worn by him, with the right to bequeath
triumphal statues to their descendants. See Peine,
De Ornamentis
Triumphalibus (Leipzig, 1885).
