Saturnīnus
1.
L. Apulēius, a Roman who was quaestor in B.C. 104 and tribune of the people in B.C. 102. He was closely allied with Marius and his party, and was very popular with the commons. He became a candidate for the tribuneship for the second time in B.C. 100. At the same time Glaucia, who next to Saturninus was the greatest demagogue of the day, offered himself as a candidate for the praetorship, and Marius for the consulship. Marius and Glaucia carried their elections; but A. Nonius, a partisan of the aristocracy, was chosen tribune instead of Saturninus. Nonius, however, was murdered on the same evening by the emissaries of Glaucia and Saturninus; and early the following morning Saturninus was chosen to fill the vacancy. As soon as he had entered upon his tribunate, he brought forward an agrarian law, which led to the banishment of Metellus Numidicus, as is related elsewhere. (See Metellus, 10.) Saturninus proposed other popular measures, such as a lex frumentaria, and a law for founding new colonies in Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia. In the Comitia for the election of the magistrates for the following year, Saturninus obtained the tribunate for the third time, and along with him there was chosen a certain Equitius, a runaway slave, who pretended to be a son of Tiberius Gracchus. Glaucia was at the same time a candidate for the consulship; the two other candidates were M. Antonius and C. Memmius. The election of M. Antonius was certain, and the struggle lay between Glancia and Memmius. As the latter seemed likely to carry his election, Saturninus and Glancia hired some ruffians who murdered him openly in the comitia. This last act produced a complete reaction against Saturninus and his associates. The Senate declared them public enemies, and ordered the consuls to put them down by force. Marius was unwilling to act against his friends, but he had no alternative, and his backwardness was compensated by the zeal of others. Driven out of the Forum, Saturninus, Glaucia, and the quaestor Saufeius took refuge in the Capitol, but the partisans of the Senate cut off the pipes which supplied the Capitol with water. Unable to hold out any longer, they surrendered to Marius. The latter did all he could to save their lives: as soon as they descended from the Capitol, he placed them for security in the Curia Hostilia, but the mob pulled off the tiles of the Senate-House, and pelted them with the tiles till they died. The Senate gave their sanction to these proceedings by rewarding with the citizenship a slave of the name of Scaeva, who claimed the honour of having killed Saturninus. Nearly forty years after these events, the tribune T. Labienus accused an aged senator, Rabirius, of having been the murderer of Saturninus. See Rabirius.
2.
Claudius, a jurist from whose Liber Singularis de Poenis Paganorum there is a single excerpt in the Digest. He was praetor under Antoninus Pius.
3.
Pompēius, a contemporary of the younger Pliny , is praised by the latter as a distinguished orator, historian, and poet. Several of Pliny 's letters are addressed to him.
4.
C. Sentius, one of the persons of distinguished rank who deserted Sex. Pompeius in B.C. 35, and passed over to Octavian. He was consul in 19, and was afterwards appointed to the government of Syria. Three sons of Saturninus accompanied him as legati to Syria, and were present with their father at the trial of Herod's sons at Berytus in B.C. 6.
5.
Venulēius, a Roman jurist, is said to have been a pupil of Papinianus, and a consiliarius of Alexander Severus. There are seventy-one excerpts from his writings in the Digest.