Marcus Bassaeus Rufus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, who held a number of appointments during the reigns of the emperors

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

and

Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...

. The most notable of these were ''

praefectus vigilum The ''praefectus vigilum'' (, pl.: ''praefecti vigilum'') was, starting with the reign of the Emperor Augustus, the commander of the city guards in Rome (''cohortes vigilum'' or ''vigiles''), whom were responsible for maintaining peace and order ...

'', ''

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

'' or governor of

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

, and

praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect (; ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief ai ...

Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was one of the leaders of excavations at of the Roman fortress at Vindolanda and also published several books on Roman ...

describes Rufus as "a tough soldier who had risen from humble Italian peasant origins".

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

records two anecdotes that emphasize his humbler beginnings. In one, Rufus had a caller while he was engaged in pruning a vine that grew upon a tree; when Rufus did not climb down at the first summons, the man had rebuked him and said: "Come now, prefect, get down." Dio explains, "That is, he had used this title in speaking to him as to one who was now bearing himself haughtily but had formerly been of lowly station; and it was precisely this title that Fortune subsequently gave him."Dio, ''Romanika Historia'', LXXI.5 In the second, Rufus was present when Marcus Aurelius was talking in Latin to someone in Latin, but neither the man addressed nor anyone else nearby, either, understood the emperor; Rufus then exclaimed: "No wonder, Caesar, that he does not know what you said; for he does not understand Greek either." Dio explains that even Rufus was ignorant of what Marcus Aurelius said. Karol Kłodziński notes that not only of "five praetorian prefects of the Antonines, whose full

cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...

is known, only

Marcius Turbo Quintus Marcius Turbo was prefect of the Praetorian Guard and a close friend and military advisor to both emperor Trajan and Hadrian during the early 2nd century. Early life Not much is known about the early life of Turbo. There are few records ...

and Bassaeus Rufus achieved the praetorian prefecture without holding equestrian ''

tres militiae The ''tres militiae'' ("three military posts") was a career progression of the Roman Imperial army for men of the equestrian order. It developed as an alternative to the ''cursus honorum'' of the senatorial order for enabling the social mobility ...

''", and in addition "both got promotion to ''ordo equester'' through the '' primipilat''".

Public career

His career is recorded in an inscription recovered at Rome, but since its publication has been lost. As mentioned, the equestrian career of Bassaeus Rufus began with him being twice ''primus pilus''; this was followed with commission as

military tribune A military tribune () was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribunes as a stepping stone to the Senate. The should not be confused with the ...

of a ''cohors vigilis'', then of an urban cohort, and lastly a praetorian cohort. From here he advanced to civil appointments, beginning with

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * Procurator (Ancient Rome), the title of var ...

of the imperial properties in the regions of Asturias and Galicia, then became governing procurator of the imperial province of

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

before the end of the reign of emperor Antoninus Pius. This was followed by the procuratorship of

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

and both

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

e; the duties of this official included supervising the distribution of funds for the armies on the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. Rufus must have distinguished himself in this appointment, for he advanced to '' procurator a rationibus'', or overseer of the imperial secretariat in Rome. Rufus was later promoted to ''

'' at some point before 10 March 168, according to an inscription with that date. Between that date and 10 July of that year, he was promoted to prefect of Egypt. However Marcus Aurelius found he was needed in a more important position, and at some point before the death of

Lucius Verus Lucius Aurelius Verus (; 15 December 130 – 23 January 169) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death in 169, alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Verus' succession together with Ma ...

in early 169, Bassaeus Rufus was promoted to Praetorian Prefect. Shortly afterwards he was given a colleague as praetorian prefect, Marcus Macrinius Vindex. Both were selected to help with the threat posed by the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman Empire, north of the River Danube, and are mentioned in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. They were one of the most important members of th ...

on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

frontier; the previous praetorian prefect, Titus Furius Victorinus, had been killed the year before in battle with these Germanic invaders. Nevertheless, their responsibilities included more than military matters. An inscription recovered from Saepinum (modern

Sepino Sepino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian region Molise, located about south of Campobasso. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). The archaeological site of ...

) records the response of Rufus and Vindex to a petition from the imperial

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

Cosmus concerning the management of the imperial flocks. Rufus is recorded as present in another case, this one heard by the emperor Marcus Aurelius, which involved his former tutor

Herodes Atticus Herodes Atticus (; AD 101–177) was an Athenian rhetorician, as well as a Roman senator. A great philanthropic magnate, he and his wife Appia Annia Regilla, for whose murder he was potentially responsible, commissioned many Athenian public w ...

: Herodes had accused three rivals from Athens of conspiracy, and these three men appealed to Marcus at his headquarters at

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...

. Herodes, who had shortly before the meeting lost two young slave girls when they were killed by lightning, failed to present his case properly, instead attacking him for "sacrificing me to the whim of a woman and a three-year-old child!" Rufus, who watched all this, believed only one conclusion was possible: Herodes wanted to die. Under the two prefects Rufus and Vindex, victories followed for the Romans. Although Vindex met with death in 172, Rufus distinguished himself: the lost Roman inscription states he received ''

dona militaria As with most other military forces the Roman military adopted an extensive list of decorations for military gallantry and likewise a range of punishments for military transgressions. Decorations, awards and victory titles Crowns *Grass crown � ...

'' appropriate to his rank. Rufus is known to have accompanied Marcus Aurelius to the front in July 175, after which the emperor awarded him a further distinction: ''consularia ornamenta''. This is the equivalent of the

consulship The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

for non-Senators, and was commonly granted to praetorian prefects who had a successful tenure. Rufus received this during the triumph Marcus Aurelius celebrated on his return to Rome 23 December 176. Bassaeus Rufus retired from public life not long after this.Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Biography'', p. 207

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassaeus Rufus, Marcus 2nd-century praetorian prefects 2nd-century Roman governors of Egypt Ancient Roman equites Roman governors of Noricum Roman governors of Egypt Praefecti vigilum