Marcus Manlius Capitolinus Vulso was a consul or consular tribune of the Roman republic in 434 BC. Manlius belonged to the patricianManlia gens. Manlius is the first named member of the branch within the gens known as the Manlii Capitolini, who commonly held the cognomen of Capitolinus and/or Vulso. Filiation tell us that Manlius had a father named Publius Manlius, but as no Publius Manlius is known to us during this period the identity of this Publius remains unknown. As later Manlii Capitolini seem to share descent from Aulus Manlius Vulso, Marcus Manlius' relationship to the branch remains dubious. Lucius Manlius Vulso Capitolinus, consular tribune in 422 BC, another Manlia without clear filiations to the main branches, could possibly be a brother to this consular of 434 BC.
Career
Manlius was elected consul or consular tribune in 434 BC. Livy, basing his account on the writings of Valerius Antius and Aelius Tubero, lists Manlius together with Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Praetextatus, as the consuls of 434 BC. Livy writes this next to a secondary and contradictory tradition based on the writings of Licinius Macer, which places Gaius Julius Iulus and Proculus Verginius Tricostus as being re-elected as consuls after having held the consulship the previous year. Diodorus Siculus provides a third narrative which includes both Manlius and Sulpicius together with a third individual, Servius Cornelius Cossus, but as consular tribunes, not consuls. Modern consensus generally favor either of traditions including Manlius and Sulpicius, with the classicist Broughton commenting that the re-election of the consuls of 435 remains the least likely version. In either case, the actions of the consuls or consular tribunes of 434 BC is not well documented and they relinquished their imperium in favor of the appointment of a dictator. The dictator, Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus, fought the Falerii and Etruria and enacted a law limiting the term of the censorship to one and a half years, down from the previous five years.
