Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex

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Quintus Mucius Scaevola
Born140 BC[1]
Died82 BC (aged 57–58)
Cause of deathMurdered
NationalityRoman
Occupation(s)Politician, jurist, priest
OfficeConsul of Rome (95 BC)
Pontifex maximus (89–82 BC)
SpouseLicinia
ChildrenMucia Tertia

Quintus Mucius Scaevola "Pontifex" (140–82 BC) was a politician of the

Vestal Virgins
, signifying a breakdown of historical norms and religious taboos in the Republic.

Political career

Scaevola was elected

Social War
.

Scaevola was next made governor of

Mithridates VI of Pontus left it untouched when he invaded Asia in the First Mithridatic War
.

However, by governing Asia so fairly, Scaevola and his legate Publius Rutilius Rufus attracted the enmity of the Equites, who were being denied their usual profits from extorting the locals. These equestrian businessmen later conspired to have Rutilius Rufus prosecuted and exiled for the charge of extortion in 92 BC, a trial that became a byword for injustice to later generations of Romans.

Returning to Rome, Scaevola was elected pontifex maximus. He took the opportunity to regulate more strictly the priestly colleges and to ensure that traditional rituals were properly observed.

Scaevola was the author of a treatise on

Pandectae, but nothing of the rest of his works is extant today. Speeches by Scaevola extant in ancient times were praised by Cicero
.

He was also the originator of

cautelary law giving his name to the cautio muciana and the praesumptio muciana
.

Death

Scaevola was killed in the civil unrest surrounding the power struggle between

Marius's son ordered the praetor in Rome, Damasippus, to convene the Senate on some pretext in order to murder Scaevola and other unreliable senators in the senate house. Once Scaevola realized the ploy, he fled to the temple of Vesta where, at the vestibule, he was killed by assassins.[5] His corpse was thrown unburied into the Tiber
.

Family

Scaevola was the son of

Pontifex Maximus
.

Scaevola was married twice, both women were named Licinia. He divorced his first wife, who was noted for her beauty, for adultery with another ex-consul. This marriage had a daughter

, eldest surviving son of the Dictator), Scaevola had descendants living well into the first and possibly second century of this era.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cicero Brutus 145, 150, 161, De Oratore 1.180
  2. ^ Knight, Charles. The English Cyclopedia 1857; p. 293.
  3. ^ Cicero Pro Roscio Amerino 12.33
  4. ^ Appian Civil Wars 1.88, Livy Periochae 86
Political offices
Preceded by Consul of Rome
95 BC
With: L. Licinius Crassus
Succeeded by