Publius Rutilius Rufus
Roman consul 105 BC
Publius Rutilius Rufus (c. 160 BC – after 78 BC) was a Roman politician, 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. He then left for exile in Asia, settling at Mytilene and Smyrna, living among those he had supposedly extorted. The author of a history of Rome in Greek, he survived the upheavals of the Mithridatic Wars and was still alive in the early 70s BC when Cicero visited him there.
Early life
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. 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. Rufus studied philosophy under Panaetius (becoming a Stoic), law, and public speaking under Sulpicius Galba.
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