Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur (c. 169 – 88 BC) was a politician of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
and an early authority on
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
. He was first educated in law by
his father (whose name he shared) and in philosophy by the
stoic Panaetius of Rhodes
Panaetius (; grc-gre, Παναίτιος, Panaítios; – ) of Rhodes was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic do ...
.
Scaevola was made
tribune in 128 BC,
aedile in 125, and
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...
in 121, in which capacity he acted as governor of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. Upon his return to Rome the following year he faced a charge of extortion brought by
Titus Albucius (probably on personal grounds) which he successfully defended. In 117, he was elected consul.
In his old age, Scaevola vigorously maintained his interest in the law and in the affairs of Rome. He also passed on his knowledge of law to some of Rome's most celebrated
orators, as the teacher of
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
and
Atticus. In 88 BC, he defended
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...
against
Sulla's motion to have him named an enemy of the people, saying that he would never agree to have this done to a man who had saved Rome.
Cicero used the persona of his old master as an interlocutor in three works, his ''
De Oratore
''De Oratore'' (''On the Orator''; not to be confused with '' Orator'') is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BC. It is set in 91 BC, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the Social War and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, d ...
'', ''
De amicitia'', and ''
De republica
''De re publica'' (''On the Commonwealth''; see below) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive ...
''. This usage places Scaevola as a member of the
Scipionic Circle.
Family
Scaevola married Laelia, a daughter of
Gaius Laelius, a close friend of
Scipio Aemilianus, and had a son and two daughters. His wife, daughter, and granddaughters were all famed for the purity of their
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
.
Scaevola's daughter married
Lucius Licinius Crassus
Lucius Licinius Crassus (140–91 BC) was a Roman orator and statesman. He was considered the greatest orator of his day, most notably by his pupil Cicero. Crassus is also famous as one of the main characters in Cicero's work '' De Oratore'', a ...
, consul in 95 BC and the greatest orator of his day.
His first cousins included the consuls and
Pontifices maximi Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus
Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (c. 180 BC – 130 BC) was the natural son of Publius Mucius Scaevola and Licinia, and brother of Publius Mucius Scaevola. He was adopted at an unknown date by Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 171 BC), hi ...
and
Publius Mucius Scaevola. The former was father of
Licinia, wife of the ill-fated tribune
Gaius Gracchus.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mucius Scaevola Augur, Quintus
160s BC births
88 BC deaths
2nd-century BC Roman augurs
2nd-century BC Roman consuls
2nd-century BC Roman praetors
1st-century BC Roman augurs
Scaevola Augur, Quintus
Year of birth uncertain