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Scae'vola, Mu'cius

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. 100.26). He was tribunus plebis B. C. 128, plebeian aedile B. C. 125, and as praetor was governor 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 Repetundae, in B. C. 120, by T. Albucius, probably on mere personal grounds; but he was acquitted (Cic. de Fin. 1.3, Brulus, 26, 35, de Or. 1.17, 2.70). Scaevola was consul B. C. 117, with L. Caecilius Metellus. It appears from the Laelius of Cicero (100.1), that he lived at least to the tribunate of P. Sulpicius Rufus, B. C. 88. Cicero, who was born B. C. 106, 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 lie kept as close to him as he could, in order to profit by his remarks (Lael. 100.1). 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. 8.10) 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 (3.8) 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 following passages in Valerius Maximus (4.1.11, 4.5. 4, 8.12.1 ) 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 (V. Max. 8.12.1 ). That this passage of Valerius refers to the Augur, is proved by the passage of Cicero (Pro Balbo. 100.20), which may have been the authority of Valerius. 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 Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus (Valer. Max. 8.8; Cic. de Orat. 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 (100.1), and in the de Republica (1.12).

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    • Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, 8.12.1
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