Publius Rutilius Rufus

Publius Rutilius Rufus (c. 160 BC^[5] – after 78 BC) was a Roman politican, soldier, orator, and historian. He was consul in 105 BC, with Gnaeus Mallius Maximus as his colleague. A military man, he had served in more junior roles in wars against Numantia, Jugurtha, and the Cimbri.

After his consulship, while serving as a legate of Quintus Mucius Scaevola in provincial Asia, he attempted to safeguard the population from extortion by influential equites. Prosecuted at Rome c. 94 BC for extorting those same provincials, according to the Ciceronean tradition he was unjustly condemned.^[6] He then left for exile at Smyrna, living in the city he had supposedly extorted and composing a history of Rome in Greek.

The child of a homonymous father who had served as plebeian tribune in 169 BC, Rutilius also had a brother called Gaius and a sister.^[7] His early political career was likely rocky: his father's citizenship was stripped by the censors shortly his tribunate amid a clash with them; he also had no known consular ancestors.^[8] Rufus studied philosophy under Panaetius (becoming a Stoic), law, and public speaking under Sulpicius Galba.^[9]

He was a military tribune in 134 BC, assigned to the war against the Numantines in Spain under Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus.^[10] While in Spain he must have come into contact with Gaius Marius and Jugurtha who also served under Scipio. He probably saw action during the Siege of Numantia. After his return to Rome, probably around the late 120s BC, he stood for the plebeian tribunate but was defeated.^[11]

He must have served a praetorship, probably as urbanus,^[12] in or before 118 BC since, in 116 BC, he stood for the consulship.^[13] He was however defeated in the election by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. After the elections he prosecuted Scaurus for ambitus. Scaurus in turn prosecuted Rufus for the same charge. Both prosecutions failed.^[14] He remained active in politics, with a focus on forensic activity and legislation.^[15]

By 109 BC, Rufus was a legate of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus in the war on Jugurtha. He feuded with one of the other legates under Metellus' command, Gaius Marius.^[16] He distinguished himself in the Battle of the Muthul, where he faced a charge by Bomilcar and managed to capture or maim most of the Numidian war elephants. He remained in Numidia until 107 BC with Metellus, serving until Marius – who had won the consulship of 107 BC with a campaign attacking Metellus' record in Numidia – arrived to take over the command.^[17] The following year, in 106 BC, he stood for the consulship again with substantial aristocratic support.^[18]

Elected, he served as consul in 105 BC with Gnaeus Mallius Maximus.^[19] During his time as consul, Rome was in the Cimbrian War against the migrating Germanic tribes, the Cimbri and Teutons, in Transalpine Gaul. The consular command in the war fell to Mallius, likely by lot; Mallius' defeat at the Battle of Arausio left Rutilius in sole charge of state affairs. In the aftermath of the defeat, he levied more troops for the defence of Italy, even issuing an edict to bar anyone eligible for conscription from leaving the peninsula. He also improved military training by bringing gladiatorial instructors to train the men how to use their swords and imposing strict military discipline. He also passed legislation to allow for consular appointment of military tribunes amid a shortage of officers.^[18] His enmity with Marius was likely exacerbated when Marius, one of his consular successors, took his army along with Cimbrian command.^[20]

After the war against the Cimbri was won, Rutilius participated in the suppression of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus' insurrection in Rome.^[21] An associate of the Metelli, after the retirement of Metellus Numidicus in 98 BC (alongside his recall from exile), his political allies were mostly spent.^[22] A political realignment away from the Metelli towards the factions arrayed around Marius and Scaurus (both personal enemies), the princeps senatus, left Rutilius politically isolated.^[23]

By assisting his superior in his efforts to protect the inhabitants of Asia from the extortions of the publicani, or tax farmers, Rufus incurred the hatred of the equestrian order, to which the publicani belonged. In 92 BC he was charged with extorting money from the provincials, although he had made efforts to prevent them from being extorted. The charge was widely known to be false, but as the juries at that time were chosen from the equestrian order, he was condemned, as the order bore a grudge against him. The famous Roman gourmand Apicius had a hand in his demise. His property was confiscated to satisfy claims for compensation.^[24]

He retired to Mytilene, and afterwards to Smyrna, where he spent the rest of his life "as an honoured citizen among the provincials he was alleged to have oppressed".^[25] Cicero visited him there as late as the year 78 BC. Although invited by Lucius Cornelius Sulla to return to Rome, Rufus refused to do so. It was during his stay at Smyrna that he wrote his autobiography and a history of Rome in Greek, part of which is known to have been devoted to the Numantine War.^[9] He possessed a thorough knowledge of law, and wrote treatises on that subject, some fragments of which are quoted in the Digests. He was also well acquainted with Greek literature.

He married Livia, the daughter of the Gaius Livius Drusus who was consul in 147 BC. No children are known.^[26]

• In Steven Saylor's novel Wrath of the Furies, Publius Rutilius Rufus features as one of the secondary characters.
• In Colleen McCullough's novel The First Man in Rome (the first book in her Masters of Rome series) Publius Rutilius Rufus features as one of the secondary characters.

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rutilius Rufus, Publius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 943.

• Holiday, Ryan; Hanselman, Stephen (2020). "Publius Rutilius Rufus the Last Honest Man". Lives of the Stoics. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. pp. 88–96. ISBN 978-0525541875.