Gaius Julius Mento

Gaius Julius Mentoefn-lr|Livy calls him Gnaeus Julius Mento, but Diodorus gives Gaius; the praenomen Gnaeus is not known to have been used by the Julii.

Family As Mento's filiation has not been preserved, it is not clear how he was related to other members of the Julia gens. He could perhaps have been a son of Vopiscus Julius Iulus, consul in 473 BC. He had a brother named Gaius, and his known sons included Lucius Julius Iulus, who was consular tribune in 438 and consul in 430, and Spurius, whose sons held three tribuneships between 408 and 403 BC. Sextus Julius Iulus who was consular tribune in 424 might also have been his son. Perhaps less likely, Mento could have been the son of Gaius Julius Iulus, the consul of 447 and 435 BC. It is equally possible that Mento was not descended from the Julii Iuli at all, but rather from a more obscure line of the Julii, who by tradition had lived in Rome for a century and a half before the first of them held a Roman magistracy.

Career Consul in 431 BC with Titus Quinctius Pennus Cincinnatus, Mento quickly found himself at odds with his colleague. During their year of office, the Aequi and the Volsci fortified a position on Mount Algidus, with some chroniclers reporting that the consuls attempted to dislodge them, but were defeated. Owing to this situation, as well as the unease caused by an ongoing epidemic in Rome, the senate directed the consuls to appoint a dictator.

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