Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur

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This article is about a Roman jurist living during the Social War (91–88 BC) who was Cicero's mentor and teacher. For other men with this name, see Quintus Mucius Scaevola.

Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur (ca. 159 BCE – 88 BCE) was a politician of the Roman Republic and an early authority on Roman law. He was first educated in law by his father (whose name he shared) and in philosophy by the stoic Panaetius of Rhodes.

Scaevola was made tribune in 128 BCE, aedile in 125 BCE, and praetor in 121 BCE, in which capacity he acted as governor of Asia. Upon his return to Rome the following year faced a charge of extortion brought by Titus Albucius (probably on personal grounds) which he successfully defended. In 117 BCE, he was elected consul. In his old age, Scaevola vigorously maintained his interest in the law and in the affairs of Rome. He also passed on his knowledge of law to some of Rome's most celebrated orators, as the teacher of Cicero and Atticus. In 88 BCE, he defended Gaius Marius against Sulla's motion to have him named an enemy of the people, saying that he would never agree to have this done to a man who had saved Rome.

Cicero used the persona of his old master as an interlocutor in three works, his De Oratore, De amicitia, and De republica.

[edit] Family

Scaevola married Laelia, a daughter of Gaius Laelius (close friend of Scipio Aemilianus Africanus) and had a son and two daughters. One of his daughters, Mucia (probably Mucia Secunda), married the orator Lucius Licinius Crassus, and had two daughters. His wife, daughter, and granddaughters were all famed for the purity of their Latin.

His first cousins included the consuls and Pontifices maximi Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus and Publius Mucius Scaevola. The former was father of Licinia, wife of the ill-fated tribune Gaius Gracchus.

Preceded by Quintus Marcius Rex and Marcus Porcius Cato

Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Caecilius Metellus Diadematus 117 BCE

Succeeded by Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus and Gaius Licinius Geta