Caecina Decius Aginatius (or Acinatius) Albinus (''floruit'' 414) was an aristocrat of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. He was ''

praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, an ...

'' in 414, succeeding his friend

Rutilius Namatianus Rutilius Claudius Namatianus (fl. 5th century) was a Roman Imperial poet, best known for his Latin poem, ''De reditu suo'', in elegiac metre, describing a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 417. The poem was in two books; the exordium of the fi ...

, and possibly again in 426.

Biography

His father was probably

Caecina Decius Albinus Caecina may refer to: * Caecinia gens, an ancient Roman family * ''Caecina'' (bug), a genus of assassin bugs * ''Caecina'', a synonym for '' Porphyrogenes'', a genus of butterflies * Cecina, Tuscany Cecina () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 28 ...

, and his grandfather Aginatius; Albinus was therefore a member of the Roman aristocracy related to the families of the Ceionii and the

Decii The gens Decia was a plebeian family of high antiquity, which became illustrious in Ancient Rome, Roman history by the example of its members sacrificing themselves for the preservation of their country. The first of the family known to history wa ...

Caecina Decius Basilius Caecina Decius Basilius ( 458–468) was a politician of the Western Roman Empire, Consul and twice Praetorian prefect of Italy. Biography Basilius belonged to the Italian nobility, and was member of the influential ''gens'' Caecinia. He was Pr ...

, consul in 463, might be his son. Albinus was an associate of the poet

Rutilius Claudius Namatianus Rutilius Claudius Namatianus (fl. 5th century) was a Roman Imperial poet, best known for his Latin poem, ''De reditu suo'', in elegiac metre, describing a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 417. The poem was in two books; the exordium of the fi ...

, who described him as "a youth in the flower of life" (''vitae flore puer''), owning a villa near Namatianus at

Volaterrae Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History Vo ...

in modern Tuscany, having a son Rufius, and who was Namatianus' successor as ''praefectus urbi''. During his tenure as ''praefectus urbi'', Albinus requested the emperor

Honorius Honorius (; 9 September 384 – 15 August 423) was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho ...

to increment the food reserved for the population of Rome, as it was increasing after the sack of Alaric in 410. Alan Cameron has argued that Albinus is identical to the "''clarissimo Albino''" the grammarian

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

dedicated his treatise on meter. If this is correct, it would strengthen Cameron's further identification of Albinus with the Decius who is mentioned near the beginning of the ''Saturnalia'' of

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

. Ronald J. Weber points out that it is possible he was also the ''praefectus urbi'' Albinus attested in a 426 law preserved in the ''

Codex Theodosianus The ''Codex Theodosianus'' ("Theodosian Code") is a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 an ...

'', arguing that the 12-year gap is not a significant objection to this identification.Weber
"Albinus: The Living Memory of a Fifth-Century Personality"
'' Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', 38 (1989), p. 484 If they are not the same person, then Albinus vanishes from the historical record after 414.

Biography

Notes

Further reading