Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/688

676 RUFUS. 10. L. MiNucius RuFus, consul a. d. 88, with the emperor Domitian (Fast.). RUFUS, MUNA'TIUS, one of the most in- timate friends of the younger Cato, wrote a work on his friend, which is referred to by Phitarch. In B. c. 58 Rufus accompanied Cato to Cyprus, who was charged with the task of uniting the island to the Roman dominion ; but he quarrelled with his friend, and returned to Italy in disgust, because Cato would not allow him any opportunity of en- riching himself. Rufus, however, in his work on Cato, gave a different account of their quarrel. They were afterwards reconciled by the intervention of Marcia, Cato's wife. (Pint. Cat. Min. 9, 30, 36, 37 ; Val. Max. iv. 3. § 2.) RUFUS, C. MUSO'NIUS, a celebrated Stoic philosopher in the first century of the Christian era, was the son of a Roman eques of the name of ^ Capito, and was born at Volsinii in Etruria, either at the end of the reign of Augustus, or the begin- ning of that of Tiberius. In consequence of his practising and inculcating the principles of the Porch, he became an object of suspicion and dis- like at Nero's court, and was accordingly banished to the island of Gyaros, in A. d. QQ^ under the pretext of his having been privy to the conspiracy of Piso. The statement of Suidas {s. v. that he was put to death by Nero, is unquestionably erro- neous. He returned from exile on the accession of Galba, and when Antonius Primus, the general of Vespasian, was marching upon Rome, he joined the ambassadors that Avere sent by Vitellius to the victorious general, and going among the soldiers of the latter, descanted upon the blessings of peace and the dangers of war, but was soon compelled to put an end to his unseasonable eloquence. When the party of Vitellius gained the upper hand, Mu- sonius distinguished himself by accusing Publius Celer, by whose means Barea Soranus had been condemned, and he obtained the conviction of Publius. Musonius seems to have been held in high estimation by Vespasian, as he was allowed to remain at Rome when the other philosophers were banished from the city. The time of his death is not mentioned, but he was not alive in the reign of Trajan, when Pliny speaks of his son- in-law Artemidorus. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 59, xv. 71, Hist iii. 81, iv. 10, 40 ; Dion Cass. Ixii. 27, Ixvi. 13; Plin. Ep. iii. 11 ; Philostr. Vii.ApoUAv. 35, 46, vii. 16 ; Theraist, Orat xiii. p. 173, ed. Hard.) The poet Rufus Festus Avienus was probably a descendant of Musonius. [See Vol. I. p. 433, a.] Musonius wrote various philosophical works, which are spoken of by Suidas as ^0701 hd(popoi <pio(TO(pias exofj-fpoi. Besides these Suidas men- tions letters of his to Apollonius Tyanaeus, which were spurious. His opinions on philosophical subjects were also given in a work entitled, 'Atto- fxvT]fjLOVivixaro, Movawviov rod (piXocrocpiiVi, which Suidas attributes to Asinius Pollio of Tralles (s. v. Ua}iwp but which must have been the work of a later writer of this name, as Asinius Pollio was a contemporary of Pompey. [See Vol. III. p. 439, b.] The work of Pollio seems to have been an imitation of the Memorabilia of Xenophon, and it was pro- bably this work that Stobaeus (Floril. xxix. 78, Ivi. 18), A. Gellius (v. 1, ix. 2, xvi. 1), Arrian, and other writers made use of, when they quote the opinions of Musonius. All the extant fragments of his writings and opinions are carefully collected by Peerikamp, in the work referred to below. RUFUS. (Fabric. Bibl. Grace, vol. iii. pp. 566, 567 ; Ritter and Preller, Historia Philosopkiae., pp. 438 — 441 ; Niewland, Dissert. Philos. Crit. de Musonio Rufo, Amstelod. 1783, which is reprinted by Peerikamp, in his C. Musonii Rufi Reliquiae et ApopUliegmata, Harlemi, 1822.) RUFUS, NASIDIE'NUS. [Nasidienus,] RUFUS, Q. NUME'RIUS, tribune of the plebs B. c. 57, opposed Cicero's return from banish- ment, and is said to have been bought by the enemies of the orator. Cicero says that Numerius was in ridicule called Gracchus, and that in one of the tumults of that year he was very nearly put to death by his own party, that they might bring the odium of the deed upon the friends of Cicero. (Cic. pro Sest. 33, 38 ; Ascon. in Pis. p. 1 1, ed. Orelli ; Schol. Bob. pro Se-xt. p. 303, ed. Orelli.) RUFUS, NUMl'SIUS, a Roman legate, as- sisted Mummius Lupercus in the defence of Vetera Castra against Civilis, A. D. 69 — 70 [Lupercus], but before that camp was taken he had left it, and joined Vocula at Novesium, where he was made prisoner by Classicus and Tutor [Classicus ; Vo- cula], and taken to Treviri, where he was after- wards put to death by Valentinus and Tutor [Va- LENTiNUs]. (Tac. Hist. iv. 22, 55, 70, 77.) RUFUS, OCTA'VIUS, quaestor about b.c. 230. [OcTAvius, No. 1.] RUFUS, OCTA'VIUS, a contemporary of the younger Pliny and a poet, to whom Pliny addresses two of his letters {Ep. i. 7, ii. 10). RUFUS, PASSIE'NUS, consul b. c. 4, with C. Calvisius Sabinus (Monum. Ancyr.), is probably the same as the Passienus who obtained the honour of the triumphal ornaments on account of hia vic- tories in Africa. (Veil. Pat. ii. 116.) RUFUS, PETFLIUS. 1. One of the accusers of Titius Sabinus in A. D. 28, because the latter had been a friend of Germanicus. Petilius had already been praetor, and he undertook that accu- sation in hopes of gaining the consulship (Tac. Ann. vi. 68). The modern editions of Tacitus have Pe- titius, but we prefer the reading Petilius, as there was a consul of the name of Petilius Rufus in the reign of Domitian [No. 2]. 2. Consul A. D. 83, with the emperor Domitian (Fasti). RUFUS, PINA'RIUS MAMERCl'NUS. [Mamercinus.J RUFUS, PLAUTIUS, one of the conspi- rators against Augustus (Suet. ^m^. 19). He is perhaps the same as the C. Plotius Rufus whose name occurs on the coins of Augustus as one of the triumvirs of the mint. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 278.) COIN OF C. PLOTIUS RUFUS. RUFUS, POMPEIUS. [Pompeius, Nos. 6, }, 9, 13.]