The Trial of Rutilius Rufus

Abstract

THE TRIAL OF P. RUTILIUs RUFUS, traditionally dated 92 B.c., has long been thought to usher in a new stage of political confrontation and upheaval. The outrage of optimate sentiment at this unscrupulous arrogation of power by the equites,' the shock of a successful attack by a coalition of Marius and equites on a central figure of the so-called Metellan group to which Rutilius is often supposed to have belonged, or some combination of these responses, called forth immediately the proposal of the tribune M. Livius Drusus to transfer the courts to senatorial juries.2 The conviction thus leads in what seems to be a direct line to the crisis of 91, and through it to the calamitous decade of wars which followed against Italians and even between citizens. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical re-examination of the causal connection assumed between these events which has long been wanting and a new assessment of the significance of Rutilius' trial. The

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