Lucius Valerius Flaccus (died 85 BC) became suffect consul of the Roman Republic in 86 BC when Gaius Marius, the consul prior (leading consul), unexpectedly died. He was elected to complete Marius's term in office. Marius had fought a series of civil wars against Lucius Cornelius Sulla, both leaders of their respective factions: the populares and the optimates. Flaccus was considered a staunch supporter of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna; the leaders of the Marian-Cinna faction within the populares. Cinna was Marius's consular collegae and succeeded Marius as faction leader.

In 85 BC, Flaccus was assigned the governorship of the Roman province of Asia and the command of the war against Mithridates VI of Pontus. He mustered two legions and marched towards his province through Northern-Macedonia and Thrace. He was murdered at Nicomedia during a mutiny fomented by one of his senior subordinates, Gaius Flavius Fimbria.

Flaccus is also known for the Lex Valeria de aere alieno, his legislation on debt reform during the Roman economic crisis of the 80sBC. This legislation resolved the pressing economic crisis to the benefit of debtors by cancelling three-quarters of all outstanding debts, to the great disadvantage of their creditors.

Family Lucius Valerius Flaccus was the younger brother of Gaius Valerius Flaccus, who served as consul in 93 BC. Flaccus's son, also named Lucius Valerius Flaccus, was praetor in 63 BC and was defended by Cicero in the speech Pro Flacco.Cicero, Pro Flacco 55–57. He was a cousin of the older Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who was consul in 100 BC and princeps senatus in 86 BC.T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), pp. 6–7, 66–68, 76, 79.

Inscriptional evidence has been found at Magnesia, but it could pertain either to Flaccus or his son, who was also a governor of Asia. The inscription describes a marriage to a daughter of Lucius Saufeius and a daughter named Valeria Paullina. His mother, a Baebia, is also commemorated. Flaccus is called ἀνθύπατος (anthupatos), a Greek term for proconsul.T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), p. 178, note 2.

Life and career Flaccus was a military tribune, a senior military position, sometime before 100 BC. In 99 BC, he was curule aedile, a junior political position.Cicero, Pro Flacco 77; Bobbio Scholiast 95 and 105 (Stangl). On completion of his term he was unsuccessfully prosecuted by Gaius Appuleius Decianus.Cicero, Pro Flacco 51, 70ff. on the Deciani father and son. The charges were vague, and could be one of several politically motivated prosecutions in the 90s BC. The prosecutions continued the political unrest of the preceding decade, moving away from violence and to the law courts.Erich S. Gruen, "Political Prosecutions in the 90's BC," Historia 15 (1966), pp. 36–37 The trial did little to slow Flaccus's career.Michael Charles Alexander, The Case for the Prosecution in the Ciceronian Era (University of Michigan Press, 2002), p. 80 online. By 92 BC he was elected praetor. He was a praetor or propraetor in Asia around 92–91 BC, only a few years after his brother Gaius held the same post.T. Corey Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 555.

Governor of Asia

Before the First Mithridatic War, during Flaccus's governorship of Asia, collections were made for games and a festival in his honour. The money was deposited at Tralles, but seems not to have been spent as planned. Cicero claims the town lent out the funds at interest for its own profit.For discussion of the nature and purpose of the festival, see T. Corey Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 553–554 online. Three decades later, Flaccus's son Lucius was governor of the same province. Cicero defended him against multiple charges of financial impropriety during his administrationwhen the Trallians accused him of embezzlement, Cicero claimed that Flaccus was merely "recuperating" the funds.

Flaccus and his brother Gaius, who held a promagisterial command in Asia around 96 BC, were recognised as patrons of the city of Colophon in Lydia.Claude Eilers, Roman Patrons of Greek Cities (Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 79 online and p. 137 online. The two men are the first Roman governors known to be patrons of a free city, a practice that became common in the 60s BC.Richard Gordon with Joyce Reynolds, "Roman Inscriptions 1995–2000," Journal of Roman Studies 93 (2003), p. 225.

Pro-Marian and suffect consul In 87 BC, during the civil war, a cavalry garrison commander named Valerius handed Ostia to Marius ("treacherously," according to PlutarchPlutarch, Marius 42.1); this Valerius may be Flaccus.Granius Licinianus 25B names Valerius; on Marius seizing Ostia, Livy, Periocha 79; Appian, Bellum civile 1.67; Orosius 5.19.17; Broughton, MRR pp. 51 and 53, note 12; Michael Lovano, The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002), p. 56, note 13. During the 90s BC and into the mid-80s the Valerii Flacci seemed to be securely aligned with the Marian-Cinnan faction. When the elder cousin Lucius Flaccus held the consulship jointly with Marius in 100 BC, he was accused of being "more a servant than a colleague".Rutilius Rufus, as quoted by Plutarch, Marius 28.8. Ernst Badian considers the Valerii Flacci "one of the foremost pro-Marian families".E. Badian, "Notes on Provincial Governors from the Social War down to Sulla's Victory," originally published in Proceedings of the African Classical Associations (1958), reprinted in Studies in Greek and Roman History (New York, 1964), p. 94.

In 86 BC, Lucius Flaccus replaced Gaius Marius as consul, following the latter's unexpected death in mid-January at the beginning of his seventh term. Flaccus's colleague in the consulship was Cornelius Cinna. That Flaccus replaced the faction leader, and most eminent Roman of the day, and served alongside the new faction leader, is a sign of both the esteem in which he was held and how firmly aligned to the Marian faction he was considered to be.Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Philological Monograph No. 15. New York: American Philological Association, 1951 p. 76

Credit crisis of the 80s BC

Flaccus's most controversial act as consul was the Lex Valeria de aere alieno, a radical restructuring of debt. Immediately upon entering office, Flaccus needed to confront Rome's credit crisis, which had been exacerbated by several factors. The credit system in Rome was based on the amount of money in circulation, stable land prices, and fides, which meant "general faith in the eventual repayment of loans and in the strength of the economy". This concept is similar to the perceived economic power of "consumer confidence" in the 21st century.

Land was the most common security for loans, but the large amount of land seized in the Social War (91–88 BC) had greatly lowered its value as collateral. With the loss of income from farms and estates, property values dropped, and creditors began to call in their loans. At the same time, general social turmoil resulted in coin hoarding. As the amount of money in circulation decreased, debtors found it increasingly difficult to pay off their loans or renegotiate the terms.Charles T. Barlow, "The Roman Government and the Roman Economy, 92–80 B.C.," American Journal of Philology 101 (1980), pp. 212–213. The Roman economy also suffered due to the First Mithridatic War, which devastated Italian businesses in the east, greatly reduced trade and reduced tax revenues from the province of Asia.Lovano, The Age of Cinna, pp. 70–75.

Flaccus took drastic measures. With the silver sestertius valued at four copper asses, debtors were allowed to pay off their loans at a rate of one as on the sestertius. This three-quarters reduction in the debt burden allowed the bankers to recoup at least some of their losses instead of dealing with mass defaults. The plan included government and publicani debts, easing the budget deficit and the liabilities of some of the bankers.Sallust, Bellum Catilinae 33.2; Cicero, Pro Fonteio 1–5. The historian Sallust, born in the year of Flaccus's consulship, says that the conservative senatorial elites generally supported the plan.Sallust, Cat. 33: volentibus omnibus bonis. Writing a hundred years after the fact, during the era of Augustan prosperity, the historian Velleius Paterculus characterised Flaccus's plan as turpissima, meaning "utterly disgraceful".Velleius Paterculus, 2.23.2. Discussion in Lovano, The Age of Cinna, pp. 72–73 online.

Mutiny and murder

At the end of his term, Flaccus was made governor of the province of Asia as a countermeasure to Sulla's military operations and his diplomatic efforts toward Mithridates VI of Pontus, Rome's chief foreign adversary of the period.Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, p. 526. Although Sulla acted illegally and had even been declared a public enemy (), Cinna apparently recognised that the threat of Mithridates required Roman co-operation.Robin Seager, "Sulla," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 1994), vol. 9, p. 181 online.

Because the Cinnan government had a depleted treasury, it could fund only five legions. Two of them (sometimes called the Valerian legions) landed in Greece with Flaccus. Flaccus was outnumbered by Sulla's force of five legions, and lost a number of his troops in transit.Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, p. 526; Lovano, The Age of Cinna, p. 98; Charles T. Barlow, "The Roman Government and the Roman Economy, 92–80 B.C.," American Journal of Philology 101 (1980), p. 207. An advance guard had been separated from the fleet, stranded by storms, and their ships burnt by Mithridates' Pontic navy. These men eventually make their way to Thessaly, where they promptly deserted to Sulla.Arthur Keaveney, Sulla, the Last Republican (Routledge, 2nd edition 2005), p. 77 online. The consular army marched across Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace. They arrived in Byzantium with growing tensions within the ranks and officer corps.John G.F. Hind, "Mithridates," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 1994), vol. 9, p. 160 online. Flaccus's strongest legate, sometimes identified as his quaestor (treasurer), was Flavius Fimbria, a devoted Marian who seized on the discontent to make himself a rival for command. Fimbria's true motives are difficult to discern, and are sometimes considered irrational vehemence. However, he may have felt that Flaccus was too conciliatory toward Sulla. Flaccus may have played an early role in the attempts of his cousin, the leader of the Senate (princeps senatus), to come to a peaceful settlement with Sulla.Seager, "Cambridge Ancient History", p. 181. At any rate, Sulla made no hostile advance toward Flaccus.Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, Richard J. A. Talbert, The Romans: From Village to Empire (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 188 online.

According to Diodorus, Fimbria led advance troops in the winter of 86–85 during the march through Thrace. He tried to win their allegiance by allowing them to plunder "the territory of allies as if it were enemy country, enslaving anyone they encountered". When the people complained of abuse, Flaccus rebuked Fimbria. This account is structured within a moral pattern that Diodorus favoured when interpreting events. Liv Mariah Yarrow notes: "The abuse of the allies by Fimbria in a ploy to gain power within the military structure actually leads to the disintegration of that military structure."Liv Mariah Yarrow, Historiography at the End of the Republic: Provincial Perspectives on Roman Rule (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 246 online.