Flamen, Q. Claudius
praetor B. C. 209, the eleventh year of the second Punic war. His province was the Sallentine district and Tarentum, and he succeeded M. Marcellus in the command of two legions, forming the third division of the Roman army, then in the field against Hannibal. (Liv. 27.21, 22.) He was propraetor B. C. 207, and his command was prolonged through the next year. (27.43, 28.10.) In 207, while Flamen was in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, his outposts brought in two Numidians, the bearers of letters from Hasdrubal at Placentia to Hannibal at Metapontum. Flamen wrung from them the secret of their being entrusted with letters and then despatched the Numidians, strongly guarded, with the letters unopened to the consul, Claudius Nero. [NERO.] The discovery of the letters saved Rome; for they were sent to apprise Hannibal of his brother's presence in Italy, and to arrange the junction of their armies.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.