TRĬUMPHUS (θρίαμβος), a solemn procession, in which a victorious
general entered the city in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was
preceded by the captives and spoils taken in war, was followed by
his troops, and after passing in state along the Via Sacra, ascended
the Capitol to offer sacrifice in the temple of Jupiter. From the
beginning of the republic down to the extinction of liberty a regular
triumph (_justus triumphus_) was recognised as the summit 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 shall 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 dispatch (_literae laureatae_),
containing an account of his exploits. If the intelligence
proved satisfactory, the senate decreed a public thanksgiving.
[SUPPLICATIO.] After the war was 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 either of Bellona or
Apollo, that he might have an opportunity of urging his pretensions
in person, and these were then scrutinised 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. 1. 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
24th year (B.C. 81) before he had held any of the great offices of
state, and again ten years afterwards, while still a simple eques,
were altogether unprecedented. 2. 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 person 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. 3. 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. 4. 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. But still we find many instances of triumphs granted
for general results, without reference to the numbers slain in any
one engagement. 5. 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. 6.
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. 7. 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 giving or withholding the honour sought,
and they 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 fathers, 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 seven out of the ten tribunes. Nay, more, 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 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, a practice first introduced by
C. Papirius Maso. If the senate gave their consent, they 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; and 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. The
temples were all 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
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 Triumphalis, 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 laden 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
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 horse furniture 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 holy
vessels and instruments. 6. Elephants or any other strange animals,
natives of the conquered districts. 7. The arms and insignia of the
leaders of the foe. 8. The leaders themselves, and such of their
kindred as had been taken prisoners, followed by the whole band of
inferior captives in fetters. 9. The 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 gold-embroidered robe
(_toga picta_) and flowered tunic (_tunica palmata_): he 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, a little bell, and a
scourge were attached to the vehicle. Tertullian 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 any earlier writer. 12. Behind the chariot or on
the horses which drew it rode the grown-up 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 pomp 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 civilised age, were it
not attested by the most unquestionable evidence. Pompey, indeed,
refrained from perpetrating this atrocity in his third triumph, and
Aurelian on like occasion spared Zenobia, 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 Jupiter, the laurel wreath
was deposited in the lap of the god, the imperator was entertained
at a public feast along with his friends in the temple, and returned
home in the evening 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 plunder
was very great, and the troops very numerous, a longer period was
required for the exhibition, and thus 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 (we know not if the practice was invariable) 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
NAVALIS appears to have differed in no respect from an ordinary
triumph, except that it must have been upon a smaller scale, and
would be characterised by the exhibition of beaks of ships and
other nautical trophies. The earliest upon record was granted to C.
Duillius, who laid the foundation of the supremacy of Rome by sea
in the first Punic war; and so elated was he by his success, that
during the rest of his life, whenever he returned home at night from
supper, 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 King Perseus, without captives and without spoils.--TRIUMPHUS
CASTRENSIS was a procession of the soldiers through the camp in
honour of a tribunus or some officer inferior to the general, who
had performed a brilliant exploit. After the extinction of freedom,
the emperor being considered as the commander-in-chief 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 recognised 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 and to appear
in public with the robes worn by the imperatores of the commonwealth
when they triumphed, and to bequeath to descendants triumphal
statues. These _triumphalia ornamenta_ are said to have been first
bestowed upon Agrippa or upon Tiberius, and ever after were a common
mark of the favour of the prince.
[Illustration: Triumphal Procession. (Zoega, Bassi-rilievi, tav. 9,
76.)]
TRĬUMVĬRI, or TRESVĬRI, were either ordinary magistrates or officers,
or else extraordinary commissioners, who were frequently appointed
at Rome to execute any public office. The following is a list of the
most important of both classes.