Editing Servius Sulpicius Rufus

{{Short description|Roman orator, jurist and consul (c.105 BC–43 BC)}}
'''Servius Sulpicius Rufus''' (c. 105 BC – 43 BC), was a Roman orator and [[jurist]]. He was [[Roman consul|consul]] in 51 BC.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Servius-Sulpicius-Rufus|title=Servius Sulpicius Rufus {{!}} Roman jurist|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref> 

==Biography==
===Early life===

He studied [[rhetoric]] with [[Cicero]], accompanying him to [[Rhodes]] in 78 BC, though Sulpicius decided subsequently to pursue legal studies with [[Lucius Lucilius Balbus]]. In the later dialogue ''[[Brutus]]'', Cicero praised the artistry of his legal learning as well as his eloquence.<ref>Cicero, ''Brutus'' 40.150-42.157.</ref>

===Career===
In 63 BC, Sulpicius was a candidate for the consulship, but was defeated by [[Lucius Licinius Murena (consul 62 BC)|Lucius Licinius Murena]], whom he subsequently accused of bribery.<ref name=":0" /> In Cicero's successful oration in defense of Murena against the accusations, he mocked Sulpicius' legal expertise despite their friendship.<ref>Cicero, ''Pro Murena'' 15-30. </ref> Nevertheless, in 52 BC Sulpicius successfully stood for election to be consul in 51 BC.<ref name=":0" /> 

In the [[Caesar's civil war|Civil War]], Sulpicius was a supporter of [[Pompey]], while his son joined [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>LOEB Classics, Cicero in Twenty-Eight Volumes XXV, p246, footnote a. </ref> Caesar made him proconsul of [[Achaea]] in 46 BC.<ref name=":0" /> He died in 43 BC while on a mission ({{Langx|la|in legatione}}) from the senate to [[Mark Antony|Marcus Antonius]] at [[Mutina]], and was eulogized in Cicero's ninth [[Philippicae|Philippic]].<ref name=":1" /> Sulpicius was accorded a public funeral; the people erected a statute to his memory in front of the [[Rostra]] of [[Augustus]].<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Harries|first=Jill|title=Servius, Cicero and the Res Publica of Justinian|date=2016|work=Cicero's Law|pages=131–132|editor-last=du Plessis|editor-first=Paul J.|series=Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-1-4744-0882-0|jstor=10.3366/j.ctt1g050m4.13}}</ref>

Two excellent specimens of Sulpicius's style are preserved in Cicero's letters.<ref>''Ad. Fam.'' 4.5 and 12.</ref> One of these is a letter of condolence to Cicero after the death of his daughter, Tullia. It is a letter that posterity has much admired, full of subtle, melancholy reflection on the transiency of all things. [[George Gordon, Lord Byron|Byron]] quotes from this letter in his ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]''.<ref>Haskell, H.J.: "This was Cicero" (1964) p.250-251.</ref> The other is an excellently clear account of the murder of his ex-colleague [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 51 BC)]] in [[Piraeus]] (the port of Athens) in 45 BC. [[Quintilian]]<ref>''Instit.'' x. 1, 1,6.</ref> speaks of three orations by Sulpicius as still in existence; one of these was the speech against Murena, another ''Pro'' or ''Contra Aufidium'', of whom nothing is known. 

It is as a jurist, however, that Sulpicius was chiefly distinguished. He left behind him a large number of treatises, and he is often quoted in the ''[[Pandects]]'', although direct extracts are not found.<ref> For titles see [[Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel|Teuffel]]-Schwabe, ''Hist. of Roman Lit.'' 174, 4).</ref> His chief characteristics were lucidity, an intimate acquaintance with the principles of civil and natural law, and an unrivaled power of expression.{{Cn|date=December 2019}}

== Personal life ==
Servius Sulpicius Rufus was married to [[Postumia (wife of Servius Sulpicius Rufus)|Postumia]], they had at least one child, [[Servius Sulpicius Rufus (moneyer)|a son by the same name]].<ref>[[Susan Treggiari]]; ''Servilia and her Family'' - 130</ref> The son was likely the father of [[Sulpicia]], who is the only identified Roman female poet whose poetry is known to have survived.

== See also ==
* [[Sulpicia gens]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* R. Schneider, ''De Servio Sulpicio Rufo'' (Leipzig, 1834); O. Karlowa, ''Römische Rechtsgeschichte'', vol. i. (Leipzig, 1885).
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Sulpicius Rufus, Servius|volume=26|page=70}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Pompey]]|before2=[[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica|Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Roman Republican consuls|Consul of the Roman Republic]]|years=51 BC|with=[[Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 51 BC)|M. Claudius Marcellus]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 50 BC)|L. Aemilius Paullus]]|after2=[[Gaius Claudius Marcellus (consul 50 BC)|G. Claudius Marcellus]]}}
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[[Category:100s BC births]]
[[Category:43 BC deaths]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Roman consuls]]
[[Category:Correspondents of Cicero]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Achaia]]
[[Category:Sulpicii|Rufus, Servius]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]