Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/745

Rh SCAEVOLA. Topica contains Scaevola's definition of Gentnes. According to Pomponius he wrote ten books Qibelli) on some legal subject. There is no ex- cerpt from the writings of Scaevola in the Digest, but he is cited several times by the jurists whose works were used for that compilation (Dig. 24. tit. 3. s. QQ ; 50. tit. 7. s. 17 ; and 49. tit. 15. s. 4.) It is conjectured that the Scaevola mentioned in the Digest (47. tit. 4. s. 1. § 15) is this Publius, because Cicero {ad Fain. vii. 22) cites his name in connection with the same question that is put in the Digest ; but this is only conjecture. Most of the ancient authorities that relate to Scaevola are cited by Zimmern, GescMcUe des Rom. Privatrechts, vol. i. p. 277. As to P. Lici- nius Crassus Mucianus, the brother of P. Mucius Scaevola, see Mucianus. 6. Q. Mucius Scaevola, called the Augur, was the son of Q. Mucius Scaevola, consul b. c. 174. He married the daughter of C. Laelius, the friend of Scipio Africanus the younger (Cic. Lael. 8, Brut. c. 26). He was tribnnus plebis B. c. 128, plebeian aedile B. c. 125, and as praetor was gover- nor of the province of Asia in B. c. 121, the year in which C. Gracchus lost his life. He was prosecuted after his return from his province for the offence of Repetuudae, in B.C. 120, by T. Albuoius, probably on mere personal grounds ; but he was acquitted (Cic. de Fin. i. 3, Brutus, 26, 35, de Or. i. 17, ii. 70). Scaevola was consul B. c. 117, with L. Caecilius Metellus. It appears from the Laelius of Cicero (c. 1), that he lived at least to the tri- bunate of P. Sulpicius Rufus, B. c, 88. Cicero, who was born B. c. 1 06, informs us, that after he had put on the toga virilis, his father took him to Scaevola, who was then an old man, and that he kept as close to him as he could, in order to profit by his remarks (Lael. c. 1). It does not appear how long the Augur survived B. c. 88, the year in which the quarrel of Marius and Sulla began. After his death Cicero became a hearer of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex. The Augur was distinguished for his knowledge of the law, and his activity was continued to the latest period of his life. Cicero {Philipp. viii. 10) says, that during the Marsic war (b. c. 90), though he was a very old man, and in bad health, he was ready to give his opinion to those who wished to hear it as soon it was light, and during that time no one ever saw him in bed, and he was the first man to come to the curia. Valerius Maximus (iii. 8) records, that when L. Cornelius Sulla, after driving Marius out of the city (b. c. 88), proposed that the senate should declare him an enemy, Scaevola affirmed that he would never consent to declare him an enemy who had saved Rome. Probably all the fol- lowing passages in Valerius Maximus (iv. 1 . § 1 1, iv. 5. § 4, viii. 12. § 1) may refer to this Scaevola, but Valerius has not always distinguished the two pontifices and the Augur. The Augur showed his modesty, his good sense, and his confidence in his own knowledge, by not hesitating to refer his clients to others who knew certain branches of law better than himself (Val. Max. viii. 12. § 1 ). That this passage of Valerius refers to the Augur, is proved by the passage of Cicero {Pro Balbo. c. 20), which may have been the authority of Vale- rius. No writings of the Augur are recorded, nor is he mentioned by Pomponius. (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.) Mucia, the Augur's daughter, married L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, who was consul b. c. 95, with SCAEVOLA. 733 Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus (Va- ler. Max. viii. 8 ; Cic. de Drat. 1. 7) ; whence it appears that the Q. Mucius who is one of the speakers in the treatise de Oratore, is not the pontifex and the colleague of Crassus, but the Augur, the father-in-law of Crassus. He is also one of the speakers in the Laelius sive de Amicitia (c. 1), and in the de Repuhlica (i. 12). 7. Q. Mucius Scaevola, was the son of Pub- lius, consul, B.C. 133, and pontifex maximus (Cic. O^ i. 32, iii. 15), and an example whom Cicero quotes, of a son who aimed at excellence in that which had given his father distinction. He was tribunus plebis in B. c. 106, the year in which Cicero was bom, aedilis curulis in B.C. 104, and consul in B. c. 95, with L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, as his colleague. In their consulate was enacted the Lex Mucia Licinia de Civitate (Cic. Off. iii. 1 1 ), a measure which appears to have con- tributed to bring on the Marsic or Social War. After his consulship Scaevola was the governor (proconsul) of the province Asia, in which capacity he gained the esteem of the people who were under his government ; and, to show their gratitude, the Greeks of Asia instituted a festival day {dies Mucia) to commemorate the virtues of their gover- nor (comp. Valer. Max. viii. ). Subsequently he was made pontifex maximus, by which title he is often distinguished from Quintus Mucius tlie Augur. He lost his life in the consulship of C. Marius the younger and Cn. Papirius Carbo (b. c. 82), having been proscribed by the Marian party, from which we may conclude that he was of the faction of Sulla, or considered to be, though so up- right a man could not be the blind partisan of any faction. (Veil. Pat. ii. 26.) The pontifex in vain fled for refuge to the Vestal altars and the ever- burning fires ; he was killed in the presence of the goddess, and her statue was drenched with his blood (Florus, iii. 21 ; Cic. de Or. iii. 3 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 26 ; Lucan, ii. 126). His body was thrown into the Tiber (Appian, Bell. Civ. i. 88). The story in Valerius Maximus (ix. 11) of an attempt by C. Fimbria to murder Scaevola at the funeral of C. Marius (b. c. 86), does not refer to the death of Scaevola in B. c. 82, as some commen- tators have supposed. The facts of this attempt to assassinate Scaevola are recorded by Cicero {pro S. Rose. Amer. 12). The assassin was C. Flavins Fimbria, who afterwards met with the fate that he deserved in Asia. (Plut. Sulla, c. 25.) The virtues of Scaevola are recorded by Cicero^ who, after the death of the Augur, became an attendant (auditor) of the pontifex. His political opinions probably attached him to the party of the nobiles, but he was a man of moderation, and averse to all violence. The purity of his moral character, his exalted notions of equity and fair dealing (Cic. Off. iii. 15, gives a rare instjince), his abilities as an administrator, an orator, and a jurist place him among the first of the illustrious men of all ages and countries. He was, says Cicero {de Or. i. 39), the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among orators. Ac- cording to Cicero's expression {Brutus, 89), he did not offer himself as an instructor to any one, yet by allowing persons to be present when he gave his Rcsponsa, he did in fact instruct those who made it their business to attend him (consulenti- bus respondendo studiosos audiendi docebat), Cicero mentions an important case (causa curiana)