Eru'cia Gens
plebeian. Only one member of this gens is mentioned in the time of the republic, namely, C. Erucius, the accuser of Sex. Roscius of Ameria, whom Cicero defended in B. C. 80. From Cicero's account he would appear to have been a man of low origin. (Cic.
pro Rosc. 13, 16, 18-- 21, 29, 32.) His name also appears as one of the accusers of L. Varenus, who was likewise defended by Cicero, but in what year is uncertain. [VARENUS.] He was called by Cicero in his speech for Varenus
Antoniaster, that is, an imitator of the orator Antonius. (Cic.
Fragnm. pro Varen. 8, p. 443, ed. Orelli.) The Ericius (
Ἐρίκιος) who is menietioned by Plutarch (
Plut. Sull. 16,
18) as one of Sulla's legates in the Mithridatic war, is supposed by Drumann (
Gesch, Roms, vol. iii. p. 68) to be a false reading for Hirtius, but we ought perhaps to read Ericius.
Under the empire, in the second century after Christ, a family of the Erucii of the name of Clarus attained considerable distinction. [CLARUS.]
