Scaevola

Scaevŏla (in the Fast. Capit. also written Scaevŭla), ae, m. [prop. a dim. of 3. Scaeva, the Left-handed].

• • • 1 A surname of C. Mucius, who made his way into the camp of Porsenna to kill him, and, on being discovered, burned off his own right hand, Liv. 2, 12 sq.; Flor. 1, 10; Cic. Sest. 21, 48; Sil. 8, 386 al.—
    • 2 After his time, a frequent surname in the gens Mucia; so, P. Mucius Scaevola, consul A. U. C. 621, a friend of Tiberius Gracchus, Cic. Ac. 2 (Luc.), 5, 13 (cf. id. de Or. 2, 70, 285); id. Planc. 36, 88; id. Rep. 1, 19, 31.—
    • 3 Q. Mucius Scaevola, an augur, the most famous jurist of Cicero’s time, son-in-law of C. Laelius, Cic. Lael. 1; id. Leg. 1, 4, 13; id. Rep. 1, 12, 18; id. Brut. 26, 101 sq.; 58, 212; Liv. Epit. 86; Vell. 2, 26; Flor. 3, 21.

Scaevola, ae, m. (Demin. von scaeva), Linkhand, ein Beiname des mucischen Geschlechtes, s. Mucius.

Scævŏla, (11) æ, m. (dim. de scæva ), surnom dans la gens Mucia ; not^t Mucius Scévola [Romain qui, venu pour tuer Porséna dans son camp, frappa un secrétaire, fut arrêté et, comme pour punir sa main droite de sa maladresse, la plaça sur un brasier ardent et la laissa brûler ; dʼoù son surnom de scævola, gaucher] : Liv. 2, 13, 1 || P. Mucius Scévola, consul lʼan de Rome 620, célèbre jurisconsulte et orateur] : Cic. Læl. 1 ; Leg. 1, 13.

scaevola, ae. m.
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Scae'vola, Q. Cervi'dius

a Roman jurist, appears to have been giving Responsa in the time of Antoninus Pius (Dig. 34. tit. 1. s. 13.1). Scaevola speaks of constitutions of Verus and Marcus Antoninus, in such terms as imply that they were then living (Dig. 2. tit. 15. s. 3, 50. tit. 1. s. 24); and he was employed by Marcus as a legal adviser (Jul. Capitol. Marc. 100.11, usus est Scaevola praecipue juris perito); and Scaevola himself, as quoted by Ulpian, reports a judgment of Marcus in his auditorium (ad Sct. Trebell. Dig. 36. tit. 1. s. 22). Whether Scaevola survived Marcus is uncertain. As to the passage in the Digest, 32. s. 39, in which the expression " Imperator noster Divus Marcus" occurs, see the note in Zimmern (Geschichte des Röm. Privatrechts, vol. i. p. 360, No. 7).

Septimius Severus, afterwards emperor, and the jurist Papinian, were the hearers of Scaevola (Spartian. Caracalla, 8). He appears to have been living when Septimius was emperor and Paulus was active as a jurist (Dig. 28. tit. 2. s. 19); and in one passage (Dig. 44. tit. 3. s. 14) he speaks of a rule of law being confirmed by a rescript of Severus and Caracalla.

Some of his Responsa are given in a single word. His style is compressed, and hence has been sometimes considered obscure, but he left an illustrious name, which he earned well. In the Theodosian Code Cervidius Scaevola is called " Prudentissimus omnium Jurisconsultorum." His writings which are excerpted in the Digest were: -- Digestorum Libri quadraginta, which often contain the same matter that is given more briefly in his Responsorum Libri sex (Bluhme, Zeitschrift, &c. vol. iv. p. 325, Die Ordnung der Fragmente in aen Paudectentiteln); Viginti Libri Quaestionum; Libri quatuor Regularum ; and a Liber singularis Quaestionum publice (that is judicially) tractarum. There are 307 excerpts from Scaevola in the Digest. The Florentine Index also mentions a Liber Singularis de Quaestione Familiae. He made notes on Julianus and Marcellus, which are merely cited in the Digest. The Liber Singularis ὅρων must be attributed to Q. Mucius Scaevola the pontifex. Claudius Tryphoninus and Paulus made notes on Scaevola. He is often cited by these and other jurists.

Puchta (Inst. 1.100) does not adopt the opinion of Bluhme above referred to, which is in fact the opinion of Conradi. He observes, that "in the collection of Responsa the facts are stated with the necessary completeness, but the opinions generally in few words and without a statement of the grounds; the Quaestiones were appropriated to the complete examination and justification of the opinions; the Digests also contain Responsa, sometimes with a short notice of the opinion, sometimes, as in the Responsa, with an indication of the reasons."

Grotius (Vitae Jurisconsultorum) has some remarks on the method of Scaevola. See Cujacius, Cervidii Scaevolae Responsa, vol. vi. ed. Naples, 1758. [G.L]

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

1 C. Mucius Scaevola. When King Porsenna was blockading Rome, C. Mucius, a young man of the patrician class, went out of the city with the approbation of the senate, after telling them that he was not going for plunder, but, with the aid of the gods, to perform some nobler deed. With a dagger hid beneath his dress, he approached the place where Porsenna was sitting, with a secretary (scriba) by his side, dressed nearly in the same style as the king himself. Mistaking the secretary for the king, Mucius killed him on the spot. He was seized by the king's guards, and brought before the royal seat, when he declared his name, and his design to kill the king himself, and told him that there were many more Romans ready to attempt his life. The king in his passion and alarm ordered him to be burnt alive, unless he explained more clearly what he meant by his vague threats, upon which Mucius thrust his right hand into a fire which was already lighted for a sacrifice, and held it there without flinching. The king, who was amazed at his firmness, ordered him to be removed from the altar, and bade him go away, free and uninjured. To make some return to the king for his generous behaviour, Mucius told him that there were three hundred of the first youths of Rome who had agreed with one another to kill the king, that the lot fell on him to make the first attempt, and that the rest would do the same when their turn came.

Mucius received the name of Scaevola, or lefthanded, from the circumstance of the loss of his right hand. Porsenna being alarmed for his life, which he could not secure against so many desperate men, made proposals of peace to the Romans, and evacuated the territory. The patricians or the senate, for it is impossible to say which body Livy means (2.13, comp. 2.12), gave Mucius a tract of land beyond the Tiber, which was thenceforward called Mucia Prata. Such is the substance of Livy's story. Dionysius tells it with tedious prolixity, as usual; but he omits all mention of the king's threat to burn Mucius, and of Mucius burning his right hand. (See Niebuhr's Remarks on the story of C. Mucius Scaevola, Lectures, " Earliest Times to the First Punic War," 1848; and Niebuhr, Roman Hist. vol. i., " The War with Porsenna."

The Mucius of this story is called a patrician ; and the Mucii of the historical period were plebeians. This is urged as an objection to assuming the descent of the historical Mucii from the Mucius of B. C. 509. But independent of this minor difliculty, we do not concern ourselves about the descent of the illustrious Mucii of the later Republic from the half-fabulous man with the left hand who assisted at its birth.

According to Varro (de Ling. Lat. 6.5) the surname of the Mucii (scaevola) signified an amulet. The word scaevola is a diminutive. (See Facciol. Lex. s. v. Scaeva.)

The following appear to be the only Mucii of whom any thing worth knowing is recorded.

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

2. Q. Mucius Scaevola, the son of Publius, was praetor in B. C. 215, in the consulship of C. Postumius Albinus III. and T. Sempronius Gracchus: he had Sardinia for his province (Liv. 23.24, 30), where he fell sick (100.34, 40). His command in Sardinia was prolonged for the two following years (Liv. 24.9, 44), and again for another year (Liv. 25.3): nothing is recorded of his operations. This appears to be the Mucius who is mentioned by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.37), if Mucius is the right reading there (comp. Liv. 21.18; Gellius, 10.27; Florus, 2.6). Quintus was decemvir sacrorum, and died in B. C. 209. (Liv. 27.8.)

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

3. Q. Mucius Scaevola, probably the son of No. 2, was praetor in B. C. 179, and had Sicily for his province (Liv. 40.44). He was consul in B. C. 174, with Sp. Postumius Albinus for his colleague. Scaevola accompanied the consul P. Licinius Crassus, as tribunus militum, in B. C. 171, when the consul went against Perseus, king of Macedonia. (Liv. 42.49, and 67.)

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

4. P. Mucius Scaevola, the son of Quintus, was elected a praetor, with his brother Quintus, B. C. 179. (Liv. 40.44). Publius had the urbana provincia, and the quaestio de veneficiis in the city, and within ten miles of the city. He was consul in B. C. 175, with Aemilius Lepidus H, Publius had the Ligures for his province (Liv. 41.19). He fought a battle with some tribes which had ravaged Luna and Pisae, gained a victory, and was honoured with a triumph, which is recorded in a fragment of the Capitoline marbles, where he is named [P. Mu] Q. F. P. N. (Clinton, Fasti, B. C. 175.)

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

5. P. Mucius Scaevola, was probably the son of P. Mucius Scaevola [No. 3]. Publius Mucius, Manilius, and Brutus, are called by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.9) the founders of the Jus Civile. Publius was tribunus plebis, B. C. 141, in which year he brought L. Hostilius Tubulus to trial for mal-administration as praetor (Rein, Criminalrecht der Kömer, p. 602): he was praetor urbanus in B. C. 136. In B. C. 133, Publius was consul with L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, the year in which Tib. Gracchus lost his life. In B. C. 131, he succeeded his brother Mucianus [Mucianus] as Pontifex Maximus. Plutarch (Tib. Gracchus, 100.9) says, that Tib. Gracchus consulted P. Scaevola about the provisions of his Agrarian Law. When Tiberius was a candidate for a second tribuneship, and the opposite faction had resolved to put him down, Scipio Nasica in the senate " entreated the consul (Mucius) to protect the state, and put down the tyrant. The consul, however, answered mildly, that he would not be the first to use violence, and that he would not take any citizen's life without a regular trial : if, however, he said, the people should come to an illegal vote at the instigation of Tiberius, or from compulsion, he would not respect any such decision." The colleague of Mucius was absent in Sicily, where he was conducting the war against the slaves. After the death of Tib. Gracchus, Scaevola is said to have approved of the conduct of Scipio Nasica, who was the chief mover in the affray in which Tiberius lost his life (Cic. pro Cn. Plancio, 100.36) ; and even to have declared his approbation by moving or drawing up various Senatusconsulta (Cic. pro Dom. 100.34). Scaevola must have lived till after the death of C. Gracchus, B. C. 121, for he gave his opinion that as the res dotales of Licinia, the wife of C. Gracchus. had been lost in the disturbance caused by her husband, they ought to be made good to her. (Dig. 24. tit. 3. s. 66.)

Cicero (de Or. 2.12) states that from the earliest period of Romana history to the time of P. Mucius Pontifex Maximus, it was the custom for the Pontifex Maximus to put in writing on a tablet all the events of each year, and to expose it at his house for public inspection : these, he says, are now called the Annales Maximi. Mucius was distinguished for his knowledge of the Jus Pontificium ; and he was also famed for his skill in playing at ball, as well as at the game called Duodecim Scripta. (Cic. de Or. 1.50; see Scriptum. Facciolati, Lex.) The passage of Cicero shows that Valerius Maximus (8.8, 2) means P. Mucius Scaevola, the Pontifex Maximus, when he is speaking of the relaxations of Scaevola from his severe labours. Quintilian (Inst. Or. xi. ) in speaking of the same thing, gives an anecdote of the strong memory of Scaevola.

He expressed (Cic. Brat. 100.28) himself well but rather diffusely. His fame as a lawyer is recorded by Cicero in several passages (de Or. 1.56); and Cicero twice quotes his words (Top. 100.4, 6). The latter of the two passages in the Topica contains Scaevola's definition of Gentiles According to Pomponius he wrote ten books (libelli) on some legal subject. There is no excerpt from the writings of Scaevola in the Digest, but he is cited several times by the jurists whose works were used for that compilation (Dig. 24. tit. 3. s. 66; 50. tit. 7. s. 17; and 49. tit. 15. s. 4.) It is conjectured that the Scaevola mentioned in the Digest (47. tit. 4. s. 1.15) is this Publius, because Cicero (Cic. Fam. 7.22) cites his name in connection with the same question that is put in the Digest; but this is only conjecture.

Most of the ancient authorities that relate to Scaevola are cited by Zimmern, Geschichle des Röm. Privalrechts, vol. i. p. 277. As to P. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, the brother of P. Mucius Scaevola, see Mucianus.

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

6. Q. Mucius Scaevola, called the Augur, was the son of Q. Mucius Scaevola, consul B. C. 174. He married the daughter of C. Laelius, the friend of Scipio Africanus the younger (Cic. Lael. 8, Brut. 100.26). He was tribunus plebis B. C. 128, plebeian aedile B. C. 125, and as praetor was governor of the province of Asia in B. C. 121, the year in which C. Gracchus lost his life. He was prosecuted after his return from his province for the offence of Repetundae, in B. C. 120, by T. Albucius, probably on mere personal grounds; but he was acquitted (Cic. de Fin. 1.3, Brulus, 26, 35, de Or. 1.17, 2.70). Scaevola was consul B. C. 117, with L. Caecilius Metellus. It appears from the Laelius of Cicero (100.1), that he lived at least to the tribunate of P. Sulpicius Rufus, B. C. 88. Cicero, who was born B. C. 106, informs us, that after he had put on the toga virilis, his father took him to Scaevola, who was then an old man, and that lie kept as close to him as he could, in order to profit by his remarks (Lael. 100.1). It does not appear how long the Augur survived B. C. 88, the year in which the quarrel of Marius and Sulla began. After his death Cicero became a hearer of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex. The Augur was distinguished for his knowledge of the law, and his activity was continued to the latest period of his life. Cicero (Philipp. 8.10) says, that during the Marsic war (B. C. 90), though he was a very old man, and in bad health, he was ready to give his opinion to those who wished to hear it as soon it was light, and during that time no one ever saw him in bed, and he was the first man to come to the curia. Valerius Maximus (3.8) records, that when L. Cornelius Sulla, after driving Marius out of the city (B. C. 88), proposed that the senate should declare him an enemy, Scaevola affirmed that he would never consent to declare him an enemy who had saved Rome. Probably all the following passages in Valerius Maximus (4.1.11, 4.5. 4, 8.12.1 ) may refer to this Scaevola, but Valerius has not always distinguished the two pontifices and the Augur. The Augur showed his modesty, his good sense, and his confidence in his own knowledge, by not hesitating to refer his clients to others who knew certain branches of law better than himself (V. Max. 8.12.1 ). That this passage of Valerius refers to the Augur, is proved by the passage of Cicero (Pro Balbo. 100.20), which may have been the authority of Valerius. No writings of the Augur are recorded, nor is he mentioned by Pomponius. (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.)

Mucia, the Augur's daughter, married L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, who was consul B. C. 95, with Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus (Valer. Max. 8.8; Cic. de Orat. 1. 7); whence it appears that the Q. Mucius who is one of the speakers in the treatise de Oratore, is not the pontifex and the colleague of Crassus, but the Augur, the father-in-law of Crassus. He is also one of the speakers in the Laelius sive de Amicitia (100.1), and in the de Republica (1.12).

Scae'vola, Mu'cius

7. Q. Mucius Scaevola, was the son of Publius, consul, B. C. 133, and pontifex maximus (Cic. Off. 1.32, 3.15), and an example whom Cicero quotes, of a son who aimed at excellence in that which had given his fattier distinction. He was tribunus plebis in B. C. 106, the year in which Cicero was born, aedilis curulis in B. C. 104, and consul in B. C. 95, with L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, as his colleague. In their consulate was enacted the Lex Mucia Licinia de Civitate (Cic. Off. 3.11), a measure which appears to have contributed to bring on the Marsic or Social War. After his consulship Scaevola was the governor (proconsul) of the province Asia, in which capacity he gained the esteem of the people who were under his government; and, to show their gratitude, the Greeks of Asia instituted a festival day (dies Mucia) to commemorate the virtues of their governor (comp. Valer. Max. 8.15). Subsequently he was made pontifex maximus, by which title he is often distinguished from Quintus Mucius the Augur. He lost his life in the consulship of C. Marius the younger and Cn. Papirius Carbo (B. C. 82), having been proscribed by the Marian party, from which we may conclude that he was of the faction of Sulla, or considered to be, though so upright a man could not be the blind partisan of any faction. (Vell. 2.26.) The pontifex in vain fled for refuge to the Vestal altars and the everburning fires; he was killed in the presence of the goddess, and her statue was drenched with his blood (Florus, 3.21; Cic. de Or. 3.3; Vell. 2.26; Lucan, 2.126). His body was thrown into the Tiber (Appian, App. BC 1.88). The story in Valerius Maximus (9.11) of an attempt by C. Fimbria to murder Scaevola at the funeral of C. Marius (B. C. 86), does not refer to the death of Scaevola in B. C. 82, as some commentators have supposed. The facts of this attempt to assassinate Scaevola are recorded by Cicero (pro S. Rosc. Amer. 12). The assassin was C. Flavins Fimbria, who afterwards met with the fate that he deserved in Asia. (Plut. Sull. 100.25.)

The virtues of Scaevola are recorded by Cicero, who, after the death of the Augur, became an attendant (auditor) of the pontifex. His political opinions probably attached him to the party of the nobiles, but he was a man of moderation, and averse to all violence. The purity of his moral character, his exalted notions of equity and fair dealing (Cic. Off. 3.15, gives a rare instance), his abilities as an administrator, an orator, and a jurist place him among the first of the illustrious men of all ages and countries. He was, says Cicero (de Or. 1.39), the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among orators. According to Cicero's expression (Brutus, 89), he did not offer himself as an instructor to any one, yet by allowing persons to be present when he gave his Responsa, he did in fact instruct those who made it their business to attend him (consulentibus respondendo studiosos audiendi docebat). Cicero mentions an important case (causa curiana) in which Scaevola was opposed to L. Licinius Crassus, his former colleague (de Or. 1.39, Brutus, 39, 52; Crassus, No. 23).

Q. Scaevola the pontifex is the first Roman to whom we can attribute a scientific and systematic handling of the Jus Civile, which he accomplished in a work in eighteen books (Jus civile primus constituit gencratim in libros decem et octo redigendo ; Pomponius). This work had doubtless a great effect both on his contemporaries and on the writings of subsequent jurists, who frequently cited it, and probably followed it as a model. Another work of his is also mentioned by Pomponius, Liber Singularis, περὶ ὅρων, a work on Definitions, or perhaps rather, short rules of law, from which there are four excerpts in the Digest (Dig. 41. tit. 1. s. 64; 43. tit. 20. s. 8; 50. tit. 16. s. 241; and tit. 17. s. 73). This is the oldest work from which there are any excerpts in the Digest, and even these may have been taken at second-hand. The work on the Jus Civile was commented on by Servius Sulpicius, Laelius Felix (Gel. 15.27), Pomponius, and Modestinus.

The chief hearer (auditor) of Scaevola was C. Aquilius Gallus, the colleague of Cicero in the praetorship (B. C. 64). Cicero himself, a diligent attendant on Scaevola, was not, and did not profess to be a jurist. As pontifex maximus Scaevola must also have been skilled in the Jus Pontificium, and Cicero refers to him as his authority on these matters (de Leg. 2.20). The Cautio Muciana, which is mentioned in the Digest, was devised by this Scaevola. It was a cautio, or security, originally applied to the case of certain conditional legacies; but afterwards to cases when a heres was instituted sub conditione. (Dig. 35. tit. 1. s. 7, 77, 79, &c.)

Scaevola is one of those illustrious men whose fame is not preserved by his writings, but in the more enduring monument of the memory of all nations to whom the language of Rome is known. [G.L]

Scae'vola, P. Septi'mius

a Roman senator, condemned in the praetorship of Hortensius, B. C. 72, on a charge of repetundae, but in reality because he had been one of the judices who were bribed by Cluentius, in B. C. 74, to condemn Oppianicus. (Cic. Verr. Act. 1.13, pro Cluent. 41.)

Scaevŏla

The name of a distinguished family of the Mucian gens. (1) Gaius Mucius Scaevŏla. When King Porsena was besieging Rome, G. Mucius went out of the city with the intention of killing him, but by mistake stabbed the king's secretary instead of Porsena himself. The king in his passion and alarm ordered him to be burned alive, upon which Mucius thrust his right hand into a fire which was already lighted for a sacrifice, and held it there without flinching. The king, amazed at his firmness, ordered him to be removed from the altar, and bade him go away free and uninjured. To make some return for his generous behaviour, Mucius told him that there were three hundred of the first youths of Rome who had agreed with one another to kill the king; that the lot fell on him to make the first attempt, and that the rest would do the same when their turn came. Porsena being alarmed for his life, which he could not secure against so many desperate men, made proposals of peace to the Romans, and evacuated the territory. Mucius received the name of Scaevola, or “left-handed,” from the loss of his right hand (Livy, ii. 12 and 13).

(2) P. Mucius Scaevŏla, tribune of the plebs in B.C. 141, praetor in 136, and consul in 133, the year in which Tib. Gracchus lost his life. In 131 he succeeded his brother Mucianus as Pontifex Maximus. Scaevola was distinguished for his knowledge of the ius pontificium. His fame as a lawyer is recorded by Cicero in several passages.

(3) Q. Mucius Scaevŏla, the augur, married the daughter of C. Laelius, the friend of Scipio Africanus the younger. He was tribune of the plebs in B.C. 128, plebeian aedile in 125, and as praetor was governor of the province of Asia in 121, the year in which C. Gracchus lost his life. He was prosecuted after his return from his province for the offence of repetundae, in 120, by T. Albucius, but was acquitted. He was consul in 117. He lived at least to the tribunate of P. Sulpicius Rufus, 88. Cicero, who was born in 106, informs us that after he had put on the toga virilis, his father took him to Scaevola, who was then an old man, and that he kept as close to him as he could, in order to profit by his remarks. After his death Cicero became a hearer of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the Pontifex. The augur was distinguished for his knowledge of the law; but none of his writings are recorded. He is one of the speakers in the treatise De Oratore, in the Laelius, and in the De Republica (i. 12).

(4) Q. Mucius Scaevŏla, Pontifex Maximus, was tribune of the plebs in B.C. 106, curule aedile in 104, and consul in 95, with Licinius Crassus, the orator, as his colleague. After his consulship Scaevola was proconsul of Asia, in which capacity he gained the esteem of the people under his government. Subsequently he was made Pontifex Maximus. He lost his life in the consulship of C. Marius the younger and Cn. Papirius Carbo (82), having been proscribed by the Marian party. The virtues of Scaevola are recorded by Cicero, who, after the death of the augur, became an attendant (auditor) of the Pontifex. The purity of his moral character, his exalted notions of equity and fair dealing, his abilities as an administrator, an orator, and a jurist, place him among the first of the illustrious men of all ages and countries. He is the first Roman to whom we can attribute a scientific and systematic handling of the ius civile, which he accomplished in a work in eighteen books. He also wrote a book on legal definitions, which is the oldest work quoted in the Digest.