Saturnīnus
1.
L. Apulēius, a Roman who was quaestor in B.C. 104 and
tribune of the people in B.C. 102. He was closely allied with Marius and his party, and was
very popular with the commons. He became a candidate for the tribuneship for the second time
in B.C. 100. At the same time Glaucia, who next to Saturninus was the greatest demagogue of
the day, offered himself as a candidate for the praetorship, and Marius for the consulship.
Marius and Glaucia carried their elections; but A. Nonius, a partisan of the aristocracy, was
chosen tribune instead of Saturninus. Nonius, however, was murdered on the same evening by
the emissaries of Glaucia and Saturninus; and early the following morning Saturninus was
chosen to fill the vacancy. As soon as he had entered upon his tribunate, he brought forward
an agrarian law, which led to the banishment of Metellus Numidicus, as is related elsewhere.
(See
Metellus, 10.) Saturninus proposed other
popular measures, such as a
lex frumentaria, and a law for founding new
colonies in Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia. In the Comitia for the election of the magistrates
for the following year, Saturninus obtained the tribunate for the third time, and along with
him there was chosen a certain Equitius, a runaway slave, who pretended
to be a son of Tiberius Gracchus. Glaucia was at the same time a candidate for the
consulship; the two other candidates were M. Antonius and C. Memmius. The election of M.
Antonius was certain, and the struggle lay between Glancia and Memmius. As the latter seemed
likely to carry his election, Saturninus and Glancia hired some ruffians who murdered him
openly in the comitia. This last act produced a complete reaction against Saturninus and his
associates. The Senate declared them public enemies, and ordered the consuls to put them down
by force. Marius was unwilling to act against his friends, but he had no alternative, and his
backwardness was compensated by the zeal of others. Driven out of the Forum, Saturninus,
Glaucia, and the quaestor Saufeius took refuge in the Capitol, but the partisans of the
Senate cut off the pipes which supplied the Capitol with water. Unable to hold out any
longer, they surrendered to Marius. The latter did all he could to save their lives: as soon
as they descended from the Capitol, he placed them for security in the Curia Hostilia, but
the mob pulled off the tiles of the Senate-House, and pelted them with the tiles till they
died. The Senate gave their sanction to these proceedings by rewarding with the citizenship a
slave of the name of Scaeva, who claimed the honour of having killed Saturninus. Nearly forty
years after these events, the tribune T. Labienus accused an aged senator, Rabirius, of
having been the murderer of Saturninus. See
Rabirius.
2.
Claudius, a jurist from whose
Liber
Singularis de Poenis Paganorum there is a single excerpt in the Digest. He was
praetor under Antoninus Pius.
3.
Pompēius, a contemporary of the
younger Pliny , is praised by the latter as a distinguished orator, historian, and poet.
Several of Pliny 's letters are addressed to him.
4.
C. Sentius, one of the persons of distinguished rank who deserted
Sex. Pompeius in B.C. 35, and passed over to Octavian. He was consul in 19, and was
afterwards appointed to the government of Syria. Three sons of Saturninus accompanied him as
legati to Syria, and were present with their father at the trial of Herod's sons at Berytus
in B.C. 6.
5.
Venulēius, a Roman jurist, is said to have been a pupil
of Papinianus, and a
consiliarius of Alexander Severus. There are
seventy-one excerpts from his writings in the Digest.
