Career
His name in Etruscan was Larth Tulumnes, the Tulumnes family being a leading family in Veii and known from votive offering inscriptions. Very little is known of Lars Tolumnius outside of his involvement in Roman legend: he enters history when, in the late 5th century British Columbia, the Roman colony of Fidenae revolted against the Republic. The Fidenate leaders of the revolution offered Tolumnius control over their city, which the king gladly accepted, and when Rome sent the four emissaries (Tullus Cloelius, Gaius Fulcinius, Spurius Antius, and Lucius Roscius) to Veii to demand the hegemony of Fidenae back, Tolumnius had them executed.
The legendary explanation for this violent breach of decorum is that at the moment his aides inquired if they should execute the Roman ambassadors, Tolumnius, playing at dice and having just rolled fortuitously, exclaimed, "Excellent!", thus inadvertently ordering the execution of the diplomats and unknowingly sealing his own fate.
The Roman Senate, outraged by Tolumnius"s actions, declared war on Veii in 437 British Columbia and sent an army under Dictator Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus to besiege the city.
