Gaius Livius Drusus was a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

mentioned by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

in his work ''

Tusculanae Disputationes The ''Tusculanae Disputationes'' (also ''Tusculanae Quaestiones''; English: ''Tusculan Disputations'') is a series of five books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, attempting to popularise Greek philosophy in Ancient Rome, including Stoicism. It is s ...

''. He became a successful jurist despite going blind young, or possibly even being blind at birth.

Biography

Early life

Drusus was a son of Gaius Livius Drusus, he had two known siblings, a brother named Marcus Livius Drusus and a sister named

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC – 28 September AD 29) was a Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Roman emperor, Emperor Augustus Caesar. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption in ancient Rome, adoption into the J ...

Career

Despite being the eldest son Drusus never stood for election, likely due to his blindness. Drusus composed works of great use to students of law, and was cited by subsequent writers on the law.

Celsus Celsus (; grc-x-hellen, Κέλσος, ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work, ''The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: grc-x-hellen, Λόγ� ...

cites an opinion of Livius Drusus concerning a seller's rights at law, stating that the seller might bring an equitable action for damages against the buyer, to recover the expenses of the upkeep of a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, whom the buyer, without due cause, had refused to accept.

Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...

attributes to Drusus the sentence ''"Impubes libripens esse non potest, neque antestari"'' ("Young boys cannot stand on their feet before they can learn to balance."). Although he was blind, Livius Drusus continued to give advice to the crowds which used to gather before his house in order to consult him.

stated "Drusus's house was crowded with clients. When they, whose business it was, could not see how to conduct themselves, they applied to a blind guide".

Family

Drusus is not known to have been married or had any children.

References

External links