Later Career
In 302 BC, Corvus was appointed Dictator for the second time. This appointment was brought about by the revolt of the Marsi at Arretium and Carseoli, and Corvus was able not only to defeat them in battle, but to take the fortified towns of Milionia, Plestina and Fresilia. The Marsi sued for peace, and for his victories over them he was awarded his third Triumph. For the following year (301 BC), he was again appointed Dictator, this time to engage in operations against the Etruscans. While Corvus was in Rome taking the auspices, his Magister equitum (probably Marcus Aemilius Paullus) was ambushed by the enemy, and forced to retreat to his camp, in the process of which Paullus lost a portion of his army. Corvus, coming quickly to his rescue, engaged and defeated the Etruscans in battle, earning Corvus an additional Triumph.
300 BC saw Corvus elected consul for the fifth time. During his year in office he defeated some rebel Aequians. He also was involved in the passage of two laws; the first was his support for the Lex Ogulnia, which resulted in the opening up of the College of Pontifices and the College of Augurs to the Plebeians. The second, which he legislated himself, was the expansion of the provocatio, or right of appeal to the people, which now made illegal the use of severe force, specifically killing or lashing by the higher magistrates, within the city of Rome. Then in the following year (299 BC), after the Senate considered appointing him dictator for the fourth time, he was elected suffect consul after the death of Titus Manlius Torquatus, who was in command of the Etruscan war. Corvus replaced him, and with his arrival the Etruscans refused to give battle, but remained closed up within their fortified towns. Although Corvus set entire villages on fire to draw them out, the Etruscans refused to engage the Romans under Corvus.
After his sixth consulship Corvus retired from public life, and he died at the age of 100, around the year 270 BC.
Read more about this topic: Marcus Valerius Corvus
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