Marcus Aemilius Scaurus the Elder
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus the Elder (* around 163 BC; † 88 BC ) was a politician of the Roman Republic .
Scaurus came from an impoverished patrician family , his father tried to secure the family's standard of living as a coal trader. However, he himself abstained from any economic activity (which was forbidden for Roman senators anyway) and began a political career. At the beginning of Scaurus' cursus honorum there was the task of a military tribune in the Hispanic provinces. He then became a Curulian aedile , then praetor . In 115 BC BC Scaurus (together with Marcus Caecilius Metellus ) was elected consul and in the same year appointed princeps senatus by the incumbent censors ( Lucius Caecilius Metellus Diadematus and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus ) . As head of the Senate, he was often sent to settle disputes between foreign kings.
In 109 BC BC Scaurus was elected censor ; As a censor, Scaurus ordered the construction of the Via Aemilia Scauri and the restoration of a number of bridges, including the Milvian Bridge . The death of his colleague Marcus Livius Drusus in the following year put an end to the office, as in such a case the election of both censors was required. Scaurus initially refused to resign. Only when he was arrested or threatened with such by the tribunes did he resign as censor.
In 104 BC He became responsible for the grain supply in Rome, a task which was so important that it was only entrusted to completely trustworthy persons, since the mood in the restless Roman population depended on it. Scaurus was viewed by some modern researchers as the head of an aristocratic-conservative Senate faction throughout his political work (there were no fixed factions in the Roman Senate, however).
His second wife was Caecilia Metella , later Sulla's fourth wife . From this marriage he had two children, Aemilia Scaura , the second wife of Pompey , and Marcus Aemilius Scaurus the younger .
literature
- Elimar Klebs : Aemilius (140) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 584-588 (outdated).
- Werner Suerbaum : M. Aemilius Scaurus. In: Werner Suerbaum (Ed.): The archaic literature. From the beginning to Sulla's death. The pre-literary period and the period from 240 to 78 BC Chr. (= Handbook of the Latin Literature of Antiquity. Vol. 1). CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-48134-5 , pp. 440-443.
- Jaakko Suolahti : The Roman censors. A study on social structure (= Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian toimituksia. Series B, 117, ISSN 0066-2011 ). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Kirjapaino, Helsinki 1963, pp. 420-428.
- Patrick Tansey: The Death of M. Aemilius Scaurus (cos. 115 BC). In: Historia . Vol. 52, No. 3, 2003, pp. 378-383, JSTOR 4436698 .
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aemilius Scaurus, Marcus the Elder |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Scaurus, Marcus Aemilius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Politician of the Roman Republic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 163 BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 88 BC Chr. |