Vulso, Manlius
1.
Lucius, consul B.C. 256 with M. Atilius Regulus. He invaded
Africa with his colleague (see
Regulus No. 3).
Vulso returned to Italy at the fall of the year with half of the army, and obtained the
honour of a triumph. In 250 Vulso was consul a second time with T. Atilius Regulus Serranus,
and with his colleague commenced the siege of Lilybaeum (Polyb. i. 39-48;
Zonar.viii. 15).
2.
Gnaeus, curule aedile B.C. 197, praetor with Sicily as his
province 195, and consul 189. He was sent into Asia in order to conclude the peace which
Scipio Asiaticus had made with Antiochus, and to arrange the affairs of Asia. He attacked and
conquered the Gallograeci or Galatians in Asia Minor without waiting for any formal
instructions from the Senate. His march is important in the discussion of the topography of
Asia Minor, and has been carefully traced by Professor Ramsay. It was from Ephesus to Ancyra,
in the country of the Tectosages, and as far as the banks of the Halys (
Livy, xxxviii. 12-27; Polyb. xxii. 16). He set out on his return to Italy in 188,
but in his march through Thrace he suffered much from the attacks of the Thracians, and lost
a considerable part of the booty he had obtained in Asia. He reached Rome in 187. His triumph
was a brilliant one, but his campaign in Asia had a pernicious influence upon the morals of
his countrymen. He had allowed his army every kind of license, and his soldiers introduced
into Rome the luxuries of the East (
Livy, xxxviii. 37-50; xxxix.
6; Polyb. xxii. 24;
App. Syr. 42).
