Scae'vola, Mu'cius
7. Q.
Mucius Scaevola, was the son of Publius, consul, B. C. 133, and pontifex maximus (Cic.
Off. 1.32, 3.15), and an example whom Cicero quotes, of a son who aimed at excellence in that which had given his fattier distinction.
He was tribunus plebis in B. C. 106, the year in which Cicero was born, aedilis curulis in B. C. 104, and consul in B. C. 95, with L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, as his colleague.
In their consulate was enacted the
Lex Mucia Licinia de Civitate (Cic.
Off. 3.11), a measure which appears to have contributed to bring on the Marsic or Social War.
After his consulship Scaevola was the governor (proconsul) of the province Asia, in which capacity he gained the esteem of the people who were under his government; and, to show their gratitude, the Greeks of Asia instituted a festival day (
dies Mucia) to commemorate the virtues of their governor (comp. Valer. Max. 8.15). Subsequently he was made pontifex maximus, by which title he is often distinguished from Quintus Mucius the Augur.
He lost his life in the consulship of C. Marius the younger and Cn. Papirius Carbo (B. C. 82), having been proscribed by the Marian party, from which we may conclude that he was of the faction of Sulla, or considered to be, though so upright a man could not be the blind partisan of any faction. (
Vell. 2.26.)
The pontifex in vain fled for refuge to the Vestal altars and the everburning fires; he was killed in the presence of the goddess, and her statue was drenched with his blood (Florus,
3.21; Cic.
de Or. 3.3;
Vell. 2.26; Lucan,
2.126). His body was thrown into the Tiber (Appian,
App. BC 1.88).
The story in Valerius Maximus (9.11) of an attempt by C. Fimbria to murder Scaevola at the funeral of C. Marius (B. C. 86), does not refer to the death of Scaevola in B. C. 82, as some commentators have supposed.
The facts of this attempt to assassinate Scaevola are recorded by Cicero (
pro S. Rosc. Amer. 12).
The assassin was C. Flavins Fimbria, who afterwards met with the fate that he deserved in Asia. (
Plut. Sull. 100.25.)
The virtues of Scaevola are recorded by Cicero, who, after the death of the Augur, became an attendant (auditor) of the pontifex. His political opinions probably attached him to the party of the nobiles, but he was a man of moderation, and averse to all violence.
The purity of his moral character, his exalted notions of equity and fair dealing (Cic.
Off. 3.15, gives a rare instance), his abilities as an administrator, an orator, and a jurist place him among the first of the illustrious men of all ages and countries.
He was, says Cicero (
de Or. 1.39), the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among orators.
According to Cicero's expression (
Brutus, 89), he did not offer himself as an instructor to any one, yet by allowing persons to be present when he gave his
Responsa, he did in fact instruct those who made it their business to attend him (consulentibus respondendo studiosos audiendi docebat). Cicero mentions an important case (causa curiana) in which Scaevola was opposed to L. Licinius Crassus, his former colleague (
de Or. 1.39,
Brutus, 39, 52; CRASSUS, No. 23).
Q. Scaevola the pontifex is the first Roman to whom we can attribute a scientific and systematic handling of the Jus Civile, which he accomplished in a work in eighteen books (
Jus civile primus constituit gencratim in libros decem et octo redigendo ; Pomponius).
This work had doubtless a great effect both on his contemporaries and on the writings of subsequent jurists, who frequently cited it, and probably followed it as a model. Another work of his is also mentioned by Pomponius,
Liber Singularis, περὶ ὅρων, a work on Definitions, or perhaps rather, short rules of law, from which there are four excerpts in the Digest (
Dig. 41. tit. 1. s. 64; 43. tit. 20. s. 8; 50. tit. 16. s. 241; and tit. 17. s. 73).
This is the oldest work from which there are any excerpts in the Digest, and even these may have been taken at second-hand.
The work on the Jus Civile was commented on by Servius Sulpicius, Laelius Felix (
Gel. 15.27), Pomponius, and Modestinus.
The chief hearer (auditor) of Scaevola was C. Aquilius Gallus, the colleague of Cicero in the praetorship (B. C. 64). Cicero himself, a diligent attendant on Scaevola, was not, and did not profess to be a jurist.
As pontifex maximus Scaevola must also have been skilled in the Jus Pontificium, and Cicero refers to him as his authority on these matters (
de Leg. 2.20). The
Cautio Muciana, which is mentioned in the Digest, was devised by this Scaevola.
It was a cautio, or security, originally applied to the case of certain conditional legacies; but afterwards to cases when a heres was instituted sub conditione. (
Dig. 35. tit. 1. s. 7, 77, 79, &c.)
Scaevola is one of those illustrious men whose fame is not preserved by his writings, but in the more enduring monument of the memory of all nations to whom the language of Rome is known.
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