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676
10. L. minucius rufus, consul a. d. 88, with the emperor Domitian (Fast.).
RUFUS, MUNA'TIUS, one of the most intimate friends of the younger Cato, wrote a work on his friend, which is referred to by Plutarch. 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 enriching 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. (Plut. 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 Etraria, either at the end of the reign of Augustus, or the beginning of that of Tiberius. In consequence of his practising and inculcating the principles of the Porch, he became an object of suspicion and dislike at Nero's court, and was accordingly banished to the island of Gyaros, in A. d. 66, 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 erroneous. 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 were 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, Musonius 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. Vit. Apoll.iv. 35, 46, vii. 16 ; Themist. 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 \6yoi 8ta</>opot <j>i\offo(f)ias exo^voi. Besides these Suidas mentions letters of his to Apollonius Tyanaeus, which were spurious. His opinions on philosophical subjects were also given in a work entitled, 'atto-IJ.vriiJ.ovsv/uaTa WLovacwiov tov QiXocrotyov, which Suidas attributes to Asinius Pollio of Tralles (s. v. Ti<j*\(u>v\ 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.J The work of Pollio seems to have been an imitation of the Memorabilia of Xenophon, and it was probably 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 Peerlkamp, in the work referred to below.
(Fabric. Bill. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 566, 567 ; Ritter" and Preller, Historia Philosophiae, pp. 438—441 ; Niewland, Dissert. Philos. Crit. de Musonio Rufo, Amstelod. 1783, which is reprinted by Peerlkamp, in his C. Musonii Rufi Reliquiae et ApopMiegmata^ Harlemi, 1822.)
RUFUS, NASIDIE'NUS. [nasidienus.]
RUFUS, Q. NUME'RIUS, tribune of the plebs b. c. 57, opposed Cicero's return from banishment, 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. 11, ed. Orelli ; Schol. Bob. pro Seoct. p. 303, ed. Orelli.)
RUFUS, NUMI'SIUS, a Roman legate, assisted 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 ; vocula], and taken to Treviri, where he was afterwards put to death by Valentinus and Tutor [VA-lentjnus]. (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 his victories in Africa. (Veil. Pat. ii. 116.)
RUFUS, PETKLIUS. 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 accusation 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 MAMERCFNUS. [mamercinus.j
RUFUS, POMPEIUS. [pompeius, Nos. 6, 8, 9, 13.]
RUFUS, PLAU'TIUS, one of the conspirators against Augustus (Suet. Aug. 19). Hois 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.)
