Rufus, Caeci'lius
1. L.
Caecilius Rufus, the brother of P. Sulla by the same mother, but not by the same father, was tribune of the plebs, B. C. 63, amid proposed soon after he had entered upon the office that his brother P. Sulla and Autronius Paetus, both of whom had been condemned on account of bribery in the consular comitia of B. C. 66, should be allowed to become candidates again for the higher offices of the state, but dropt the proposal at the suggestion of his brother.
In the course of his tribunate he rendered warm support to Cicero and the aristocratical party, and in particular opposed the agrarian law of Servilius Rullus.
In his praetorship, B. C. 57, he joined most of the other magistrates in proposing the recall of Cicero from banishment, and incurred in consequence the hostility of P. Clodius, whose hired mob attacked his house in the course of the same year. In B. C. 54, he supported the accusation against Gabinius. (Cic.
pro Sull. 22, 23; comp.
D. C. 37.25; Cic.
post Red. in Sen. 9, pro Mil. 14; Ascon.
in Mil. p. 48, ed. Orelli; Cic.
ad Q. Fr. 3.3.2.)
