Lucius Tarius Rufus

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Lucius Tarius Rufus (* 59 BC at the latest ; † possibly 24 ) was a Roman general, senator and consul suffect in 16 BC. He was one of the able military men of low descent who were promoted by Emperor Augustus during the Roman Civil Wars and rose to the highest government offices.

Origin and family

The ancient scholar Pliny the Elder writes in his work Naturalis historia that Lucius Tarius Rufus was of “very low descent” ( “infima natalium humiliate” ). In fact, he was the first in his family to have a successful political career ( homo novus ). So all other bearers of the name Tarius known today are either descendants or freedmen of this name bearer.

The origin of Tarius is controversial as there are no clear sources. Bartolomeo Borghesi already suspected in the 19th century that he came from the province of Dalmatia . The reason for this assumption is that in the Dalmatian region of Liburnia , especially in the city of Nedinum (today Nadin ), several inscriptions were found that contain the name Tarius, some even mention a Tarius Rufus. This could indicate that a family with that name resided there. A number of other researchers, on the other hand, are of the opinion that Tarius came from the central Italian landscape of Picenum , where he later acquired large estates as a rich man. They see other reasons for the frequent occurrence of the tarii in Dalmatian inscriptions: The statesman who rose under Augustus either became governor or general in Dalmatia or had other political / economic ties to Liburnia. That is why he gave some of the residents of this region Roman citizenship and thus (as is customary in the Roman Empire) transferred his gentile name to them. John J. Wilkes even suspected in his dissertation that the bearers of the name Tarius documented in Liburnia had emigrated from Picenum. Later he also pleaded for a Dalmatian origin of Lucius Tarius Rufus.

career

31 BC Lucius Tarius Rufus was involved as the commander of a part of the fleet in the management of the naval battle at Actium against Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra ; at that time he probably already had a seat in the Senate . The military services rendered during the civil war also promoted his political rise: A fragmented inscription, which can be supplemented with Tarius' name, suggests that he was born before 17 BC at a time that cannot be precisely determined. Chr. Proconsul of Cyprus was. In 16 BC Finally he held a suffect consulate . Around this time he was also involved as commander-in-chief of the Legio X Fretensis in a campaign against the Sarmatians in the province of Macedonia . The position that he held is not certain: whether he had the rank of legatus pro praetore or just that of promagistrate pro praetore cannot be decided with certainty. John J. Wilkes has suspected that for Marcus Lollius in his fight against the Besser a new military command for the territory of the provinces of Thrace and Macedonia had been created, which Tarius now received and possibly the later Emperor Tiberius .

According to the author Sextus Iulius Frontinus , Tarius officiated from 23 AD as the person responsible for the water supply of the city of Rome ( curator aquarum ). In the following year he was replaced by Marcus Cocceius Nerva , the grandfather of the Emperor Nerva . Since Tarius was consul in 16 BC. Chr. Was at least 43 years old according to the regulations of the office, he must have held the post mentioned by Frontinus at an age of over 80 years. Therefore this information has been questioned by some scientists. On the other hand, Tarius’s very short time in office speaks for the fact that he died in office in 24 AD.

Wealth and social position

Lucius Tarius Rufus possessed an enormous fortune of allegedly 100 million sesterces , which he owed in particular to the generosity of the emperor Augustus . As is customary in senatorial circles, he invested it in real estate. However, he proceeded with the acquisition and the decoration of his lands in Picenum (after the judgment of Pliny the Elder ) completely immoderate and obviously miscalculated, so that he lost a large part of his wealth. His heir therefore refused to accept the will. In addition, Tarius seems to have been active in the trade, as suggested by several amphorae temples that contain his name.

He belonged to the amici principiis (literally the “friends of the emperor”) of Augustus and possibly also of his successor Tiberius. In principle, this does not mean an emotional relationship - it was rather the official term for a good political-social relationship, for the favor of the emperor. Nonetheless, Tarius also seems to have been on good terms with the ruler personally, as, for example, his behavior in the house trial against Tarius' son shows (see following section).

Condemnation of the son

Seneca tells in his work De clementia ("From Mildness") how Tarius caught his still young son (allegedly instigated by others) preparing for parricide. He had the matter investigated personally on the basis of his patria potestas and brought up for trial in his own home. To do this, he invited Augustus to the house court , who was actually present in person and was dealing with the case. In order not to influence the other judges with his decision, however, the emperor ensured that a written vote was taken. He also gave assurances, to confirm his impartiality, that if Tarius died childless, he would not inherit him. Ultimately, the condemned son received a very mild sentence, he was exiled to Massilia and continued to receive the previous financial contributions from the father.

Even in the time of the Roman Empire, the power of the Roman householder extended to the jurisdiction of capital crimes . With the invitation of the emperor, however, Tarius ensured that he practically took over the management of the court proceedings due to his auctoritas and thus gave the actually private process a public character and state sanctions. Hans Volkmann suspected that by appointing Augustus to his house court, Tarius wanted to prevent him from incurring the ruler's wrath on the basis of an unauthorized, mild judgment of the son.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Pliny the Elder , Natural History 18:37 ( original text and German translation ).
  2. ↑ Géza Alföldy : A "North Adriatic" gentile name and its relationships. In: Same: Cities, Elites and Society in the Gallia Cisalpina. Epigraphic-historical investigations (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies. Volume 30). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07633-6 , pp. 21-33, here pp. 26 f.
  3. ↑ Bartolomeo Borghesi : Œuvres complètes. Volume 7: Lettres, tome deuxième. Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1872, pp. 205 f. ( online ).
  4. ^ John J. Wilkes: Studies in the Roman Province of Dalmatia. Unprinted dissertation, University of Durham 1962, pp. 452 f. ( Digitized version: Volume 2, p. 209 f. ).
  5. ^ John J. Wilkes: Dalmatia ( History of the provinces of the Roman Empire ). Routledge & Kegan, London 1969, pp. 330 f.
  6. ↑ Cassius Dio , Römische Geschichte 50,14,1 ( English translation ).
  7. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes , Volume 3, No. 952 ( online ).
  8. ^ Peter Michael Swan: Augustan Succession. An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History Books 55–56 (9 BC – AD 14). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2004, ISBN 0-19-51677-4-0 , p. 163 ( online ).
  9. ↑ AE 1936, 18
  10. ↑ John J. Wilkes: The Danube Provinces. In: Claude Lepelley (Ed.): Rome and the Empire. 44 BC BC – 260 AD Volume 2: The regions of the empire. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-937872-28-5 , pp. 247–308, here p. 253.
  11. ^ Sextus Iulius Frontinus , De aquis 102.3 ( original text , English translation ).
  12. ^ RH Rodgers: Curatores aquarum. In: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology , Volume 86, 1982, doi: 10.2307 / 311193 , pp. 171-180, here p. 172 ( online ).
  13. ^ Andreas Klingenberg: Social decline in the Roman Empire. Risks of the upper class in the period from Augustus to the end of the Severians. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77096-7 , p. 47 ( online ) and p. 50 ( online ).
  14. ^ Andreas Klingenberg: Social decline in the Roman Empire. Risks of the upper class in the period from Augustus to the end of the Severians. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77096-7 , p. 55 ( online ) and p. 80 ( online ).
  15. ↑ CIL 5, 8112 (No. 78), CIL 3, 2877 , CIL 3, 2878 , possibly also CIL 12, 1872 .
  16. ^ John Crook : Consilium principis. Imperial councils and counselors from Augustus to Diocletian. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1955, pp. 35 and 185.
  17. ↑ Exact description of the case: Seneca , De clementia 1,15.
  18. ↑ Mario Lentano: The City of Courts. The public and the private in Roman declamation. In: Andreas Halthoff, Andreas Heil, Fritz-Heiner Mutschler (eds.): Roman values ​​and Roman literature in the early principality (= contributions to antiquity. Volume 275). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-021298-3 , pp. 209–232, here p. 217 ( online ).
  19. ↑ Hans Volkmann : On the case law in the Principate of Augustus. Historical contributions (= Munich contributions to papyrus research and ancient legal history. Issue 21). 2nd edition, CH Beck, Munich 1969, p. 108 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Tarius Rufus, Lucius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician and suffect consul in 16 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century