Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 86 BC)
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.
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.
Flaccus is also known for the Lex Valeria de aere alieno, his legislation on debt reform during the Roman economic crisis of the 80s BC.
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.
[11] 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.
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".
[17] 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.
[18] 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".
As the amount of money in circulation decreased, debtors found it increasingly difficult to pay off their loans or renegotiate the terms.
This three-quarters reduction in the debt burden allowed the publicani bankers to recoup at least some of their losses instead of dealing with mass defaults.
[21] The historian Sallust, born in the year of Flaccus's consulship, says that the conservative senatorial elites generally supported the plan.
[22] 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".
[23] 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.
[24] Although Sulla acted illegally and had even been declared a public enemy (hostis), Cinna apparently recognised that the threat of Mithridates required Roman co-operation.
[27] An advance guard had been separated from the fleet, stranded by storms, and their ships burnt by Mithridates' Pontic navy.
[30] 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.
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.
[35] Flaccus had been accompanied to Asia by his son Lucius, who was probably under age 20 at the time and on his first tour of military duty.
