Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus

Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus was a Roman politician and general of the fourth century BC who served as consul three times, in 347, 344 and 340 BC, and as dictator three times, in 353, 349 and 320 BC. As a young military tribune in 361 BC he accepted a challenge from a giant Gaul during the Battle of the Anio River, killed him in single combat and took the torc from the corpse, which gave him the name Torquatus and passed it on to his descendants. In his third consulship, with Publius Decius Mus as colleague, he led Rome against the Latin League in the Latin War. He enforced the old discipline so strictly that he had his own son put to death for leaving his post to fight a duel, and Manlian discipline became a byword for harsh obedience. After Decius Mus gave his life at Vesuvius, Manlius pursued the Latin forces into Campania and ended the war at Trifanum. The ancient account comes largely from Livy and later Roman tradition.