Gaius Aufidius Victorinus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

senator and general of the second century. A friend of the Emperor

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

and the son-in-law of the advocate and orator

Marcus Cornelius Fronto Marcus Cornelius Fronto (c. 100late 160s AD), best known as Fronto, was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician, and advocate. Of Berber origin, he was born at Cirta (modern-day Constantine, Algeria) in Numidia. He was suffect consul for the '' nundin ...

, he was twice

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

and governor of several

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Career

Victorinus came from

Pisaurum Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. He was a student of Fronto at the same time as Marcus Aurelius, where their friendship began. In 155 Victorinus became suffect consul, then from c. 162 to c. 166 he was governor of Germania Superior, where he was commissioned to repulse the invading

Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the va ...

, which he did successfully. Two letters Fronto wrote to him while governor survive. In the first, Fronto petitions for his help in getting a position for the ''rhetorician'' Antoninus Aquila. In the second, Fronto updates Victorinus about his two sons, whom Victorinus had left with Fronto while in Germania Superior. After his tenure in Germania Superior, Victorinus became governor of Dacia (168/9), then

Hispania Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...

(probably 170/1) and Hispania Tarraconensis (171-172). Victorinus then held the Proconsulate of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(c. 173/5) and between 177 and 179 was governor of Syria. In the last year of his tenure as

Urban prefect The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...

(probably from 179 to 183), Victorinus was consul a second time with Commodus as his colleague. At the death of Marcus Aurelius and the beginning of Commodus' tenure, Victorinus was still in high esteem, but

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

suggests that Commodus, probably at the instigation of the powerful Praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis, sought to kill Victorinus.

Family

Victorinus married Fronto's daughter Gratia. They had at least three sons. One died at the age of three in Germania Superior while Victorinus was governor of that province.Fronto, ''De nepote Amiss'', II; ''Ad Verum Imp.'' II.9; both translated by Haines, ''Correspondence'', vol. 2 pp. 223-234. The other two are Marcus Aufidius Fronto (consul ordinarius 199) and

Gaius Aufidius Victorinus Gaius Aufidius Victorinus was a Roman senator and general of the second century. A friend of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the son-in-law of the advocate and orator Marcus Cornelius Fronto, he was twice consul and governor of several Roman provin ...

(consul ordinarius 200).

Career

Family

References

Further reading