Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/691

Rh RUPILIA GENS. favour of the people, but who now exhibited un- equivocal signs of having deserted his former friends and united himself to the aristocracy. The latter would expect their new champion, as consul, to show the sincerity of his conversion by opposing the popular measure with all the powers of his oratory ; and thus he would of necessity lose much of the influence which he still possessed with the people. Rullus entered upon his office with the other tribunes on the 10th of December, B. c. 64, and immediately brought forward his agrarian law, in order that the people might vote upon it in the fol- lowing January. Cicero, who entered upon his con- sulship on the 1st of January, b.c. 63, lost no time in showing his zeal for his new party, and accordingly on the first day of the year opposed the law in the senate in the first of the orations which have come down to us. But as his eloquence did not deter Rullus from persevering in his design, Cicero ad- dressed the people a few days afterwards in the second of the speeches which are extant. Rullus did not venture upon a public reply, but he spread the report that Cicero only opposed the law in oi'der to gratify those who had received grants of land from Sulla. To justify himself from this as- persion, Cicero again called the people together, and delivered the third oration which we have, in which he retorts the charge upon Rullus, and shows that his law, far from depriing the SuUan colo- nists of their lands, expressly confirmed them in their possessions. Meantime the aristocracy had gained the tribune L. Caecilius Rufus to put his veto upon the rogation, if it should be put to the vote ; but there was no occasion for this last resort ; for Rullus, probably on the advice of Caesar, thought it more prudent to withdraw the measure alto- gether. (Drumann, Geschichte Roms^ vol. iii. pp. 147—159.) From this time the name of Rullus does not occur again till b, c. 41, in which year we read of L. Servilius Rullus as one of the generals of Octa- vian in the Perusinian war (Dion Cass, xlviii. 28 ; Appian, Z?. C. v. 58.) He may have been the same person as the tribune mentioned above, but was more probably his son. RUMI'LIA, RUMI'NA, or RU'MIA, are all connected with the old Latin word ruma, the breast, and are names for a divinity worshipped by the Romans as the protectress of infants (Varro. ap. Nonium^ p. 1 67 ; Donat. ad Terent. Phorm. i. 1. 14 ; Pint. Romul. 4). The sacrifices offered to her and Cunina consisted of libations of milk, and not of wine. Ruminus, " the nourishing," was also a surname of Jupiter. (August, de Civ. Dei, vii. 11.) [L.S.J RUMINA. [Cuba.] RUNCINA was probably only a surname of Ops, by which he was invoked by the people of Italy, to prevent the growth of weeds among the corn, and promote the harvest. (August, de Civ. Dei, iv. 8 ; Arnob. iv. 7.) [L. S.J RUPA, a freedman of C. Curio (Cic. ad Fam. ii. 3). RUPFLIA GENS, plebeian, is rarely men- tioned. It produced only one person of import- ance, namely, P. Rupilius, consul b. c. 132. None of the Rupilii bear any surnames, and the name does not occur on coins. Instead of Rupilius, we frequently find the better known name of Rutilius in many editions of the ancient writers. Accord- RUSIUS. 679 ingly Glandorp, in his Onomasticon, does not admit the Rupilii at all, but inserts all the persons of the name under Rutilius. RUPI'LIUS. 1. P. Rupilius, P. f. P. n., was consul B. c. 1 32 with C. Popillius Laenas, the year after the murder of Tib. Gracchus. In conjunction with his colleague, he prosecuted with the utmost cruelty all the adherents and friends of the fallen tribune. In the same year he was sent into Sicily against the slaves, and brought the servile war to a conclusion, for which he obtained a triumph on his return to Rome. He remained in the island as proconsul in the following year, b. c. 131 ; and, with ten commissioners appointed by the senate, he made various regulations for the government of the province, which were known by the name of Lex Rupilia, though it was not a lex proper. (Veil, Pat. ii. 7 ; Cic. Lael. 1 1 ; Liv. Epit. 59 ; Ores. V. 9 ; Val. Max. ii. 7. § 3, vi. 9. § 8, ix. 12. § 1 ; Cic. Verr. iii. 54, iv. 50, ad Ati. xiii. 32, Verr. ii. 13, 15, 16.) Rupilius was condemned, along with his colleague in the tribunate of C. Gracchus, B. c. 123, on account of his illegal and cruel acts in the prosecution of the friends of Tib. Gracchus (Veil. Pat. /. c). He was an intimate friend of Scipio Africanus the younger, who ob- tained the consulship for him, but who failed in gaining the same honour for his brother Lucius. He is said to have taken his brother's failure so much to heart as to have died in consequence ; but as it probably happened about the same time as his own condemnation, the latter indignity may have had more share in causing his death. (Cic. Lael. 19, 20, 27, Tusc. iv. 17.) 2. L. Rupilius, the brother of the preceding, already spoken of. 3. Rupilius, an actor whom Cicero had seen in his boyhood {de Off. i. 31). 4. A. Rupilius, a physician employed by Oppi- anicus (Cic. pro Cluent. 63). 5. P. Rupilius Menenia, a Roman eques, the magister of the company of the publicani, who farmed the public revenues in Bithynia (Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 9). C. RUPI'LIUS, an artist in silver {argenia- rius) whose name occurs in a Latin inscription. (Reines. cl. xi. No. Ixxxv. p. 639 ; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, p. 399, 2d ed.) [P. S.J RU'PIUS. [RuFius.] RUS, M. AUFI'DIUS, occurs only on coins, a specimen of which is annexed. On the obverse is a head of Pallas, and on the reverse Jupiter in a quadriga. Rus does not occur elsewhere as a cognomen, and it may therefore probably be a con- traction oi Rusticus. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 147.) coin op aufidius rus. RUSCA, PINA'RIUS. [Posca.J RU'SCIUS CAE'PIO, a contemporary of Do- mitian (Suet. Doin. 9). C. RU'SIUS, an accuser mentioned by Cicero {Brut, 74). X X 4