Inscription in honour of the praet. prefect Vulcacius Rufinus set up in the vestibule of his domus in Rome by the people of Ravenna
source date: 347/352 AD
edition published: 2020-03-27
availability: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Singulari auctoritatis splendore pollenti, admirabilisque eloquentiae benivolentie felicitate glorioso, cunctarumque dignitatum fastigia faborabili moderatione iustitiae supergresso, Vulcacio Rufino viro clarissimo consuli ordinario, praefecto praetorio, comiti per Orientem Aecypti et Mesopotamiae per pasdem vice sacra iudicanti, comiti ordinis primi intra consistorium, Numidiae consulari, pontifici maiori, ob innumerabiles sublimis benignitatis titulos Ravennates monumentum perennis memoriae in vestibulo domus statuali veneratione dicaverunt .

Edition based on EDR 114762.

“Powerful because of the unique splendour of his authority, glorious because of the salutary success of his admirable eloquence, promoted to the supreme heights of all offices thanks to the provident moderation of his justice, Vulcacius Rufinus, of clarissimus rank, ordinary consul, praetorian prefect, count of the East, Egypt and Mesopotamia and judge with the power to institute sacred trials in the same regions, count of the first order within the consistory, consular of Numidia, major pontiff, for the countless examples of his great generosity, the citizens of Ravenna dedicated this monument to his imperishable memory in the vestibule of his house, so that it could be venerated in the form of a statue.”

“Puissant par la splendeur singulière de son autorité, glorieux par le succès bénéfique de son admirable éloquence, promu aux fastiges de toute dignité par la modération providentielle de sa justice, Vulcacius Rufinus, clarissime consul ordinaire, préfet du prétoire, comte d’Orient, Egypte et de Mésopotamie et juge ayant le pouvoir d’instituer des procès sacrés dans les mêmes régions, comte de premier ordre au sein du consistoire, consulaire de Numidie, pontife majeur, pour les innombrables exemples de sa grande générosité, les citoyens de Ravenne ont dédié ce monument à sa mémoire impérissable dans le vestibule de sa maison, afin qu’il soit vénéré sous forme de statue.”

“Possente per lo splendore unico della sua autorità, glorioso grazie al successo portatore di benefici della sua ammirevole eloquenza, promosso ai fastigi di tutte le dignità grazie alla provvidente moderazione della sua giustizia, Vulcacius Rufinus, chiarissimo console ordinario, prefetto del pretorio, conte d’Oriente, Egitto e Mesopotamia e giudice con la facoltà di istituire sacri processi nelle stesse regioni, conte del primo ordine interno al concistoro consolare della Numidia, pontefice maggiore, per gli innumerevoli esempi della sua grande generosità, i cittadini di Ravenna hanno dedicato questo monumento alla sua imperitura memoria nel vestibolo della sua casa, perché fosse venerato sotto forma di statua.”

The epigraphic field on the white marble base is completely preserved and is framed by a prominent moulding that is slightly damaged on the right side. The lettering presumably reflects the current pronunciation (benivolentie, faborabili), and there are also some carving flaws (benig<ni>tatis) (Gordon, 1965, p. 118). There is a patera on the right side and an urceus on the left one, indicating the reuse of a large 2nd Century altar; a sloping gable was truncated in order to house the statue (Machado 2017, p. 338).

The monument was found in December 21th 1883 during excavations in the foundations of the ancient Ministry of War in Rome (now the Ministry of Defence) on Via Modena, on the Quirinal hill (Capannari 1885, p. 17). The block was discovered deep in the foundations of the building, at the left of the entrance of a wide room with floor and walls made of precious marble (Capannari 1885, pp. 17-22; Guidobaldi 1995, p. 173). The epigraphic text (l. 14, in vestibulo domus) identifies this sumptuous residence as the domus of the honoured man, Vulcacius Rufinus (PLRE I, Rufinus 25, pp. 782-783), in whose vestibule the marble base and its statue were located. Today the monument is exhibited in the entrance courtyard of the Museo delle Terme di Diocleziano (Rome).

This honorary inscription records the name, qualities and entire cursus honorum (carried out until that moment) of Vulcacius Rufinus, who received a statue from the people of Ravenna and set it up in his domus on the Quirinal hill. Vulcacius Rufinus was an important and distinguished senator related to the imperial family: his sister Galla was married to Iulius Constantius, one of the Constantine’s half-brothers, and she was mother of Constantius Gallus, half-brother of Julian, Rufinus’ nephew (Amm. 14, 11, 27). As we can see on the stone, Rufinus first official appointment was that of consularis Numidiae, at the end of 330’s (certainly before 342 AD; Chastagnol 1966, pp. 224-226; Horstkotte 1984, pp. 239-243; a long and important inscription from this province records Rufinus, nearly twenty years after his appointment as consularis had finished, as first on the list of patrons on the album of Thamugadi: CIL 08, 02403, see Chastagnol 1978; Wilkins 1989, pp. 54-56). He subsequently becomes comes intra consistorium (first epigraphic attestation of this title, see De Bonfils 1981, pp. 17-19), an office that had an additional function compared to that of the simple comes ordinis primi. The position was delicate, palatine counsellor to the emperor (consistorium was the conference room of the imperial court), probably Constans (De Bonfils 1981, pp. 25-29). In 342 AD (CTh 12, 01, 033), Rufinus was then appointed comes per Orientem with control over the diocese of the East and with extension of the cognitio vice sacra to Egypt and Mesopotamia (his predecessor in this post was Furius Placidus: PPRET 25).

Finally, the inscription records the praetorian prefecture and the consulate that he held in 347 AD (P. Oxy. 09, 1190, P. Cairo Preis. 39, P. Antin. 31; CLRE, pp. 228-229). Rufinus was appointed praetorian prefect before the consulate, following the order of the cursus honorum, no later than 346 AD. The regional area of the prefecture is unspecified. He may have had jurisdiction over Italy: our honorific inscription was set up by the people of Ravenna and a constitution of the Theodosian Code, addressed to the council of Cesena (CTh 11, 01, 06), mentions the regulation on the tax payment promulgated by Rufinus when he was praetorian prefect under Constans (see Neri 1976; Cracco Ruggini 1998). The emperor Constantius intended to keep unchanged a previous measure of his brother Constans concerning wine supplies that cuncti Italiae possessores were obliged to provide (for the distributions at Rome according to Cracco Ruggini 1998, pp. 362-364, to the imperial court at Milan for Bazzocchi 2012, pp. 100-101) according to the pecuniae quantitas that had been established by the praetorian prefect Vulcacius Rufinus, clearly before 350 AD. However, if Rufinus had then competence over Italy, this didn’t last long: in June 347 AD Ulpius Limenius was raised to the prefecture of Rome and, at the same time, to the praetorian prefecture (of Italy and Africa: PLRE I, Limenius 2, p. 423, see PPRET 34), by which time Rufinus is only attested as praetorian prefect in Illyricum (see below and PPRET 33). Moser (2018, p. 109) supposed that Rufinus may have administered both the prefectures of Illyricum and Northern Italy (outside Limenius’ authority) which could explain the honorific inscription by the people of Ravenna. But this solution is unlikely, because the division of the Italian diocese between two different prefectures is never attested and, anyway, the order of the offices in our inscription shows that the appointment of Rufinus to the prefecture (before the consulate, that is to say before 347 AD) predates that of Ulpius Limenius (June 12th 347 AD: MGH AA 09, Chron. Min. 01, p. 68).

The organisation of western praetorian prefectures in the period 344-347 AD is debated. After the assassination of Constantinus II in 340 AD, both Italy (with Africa) and Illyricum were entrusted by Constans to a sole prefect: first Antonius Marcellinus (listed in the college at Augusta Traiana = PPRET 22; cf. PPRET 21), then Furius Placidus (prefectural letters from Delphi = PPRET 23; cf. PPRET 25). Placidus is last attested in office in May 344 AD (CTh 12, 01, 037). However, from June 347 AD onwards two prefects are contemporaneously in service in the same area: in Italy (and Africa) Ulpius Limenius (PPRET 34; later Hermogenes, PLRE I, Hermogenes 2, p. 423), in Illyricum Vulcacius Rufinus. When, between 344 and 347 AD, the large regional prefecture of Italy-Africa-Illyricum was split into two independent prefectures is unclear.

According to A.H.M. Jones (1964, pp. 82, 87-88), Rufinus first held the prefecture of Italy-Africa-Illyricum, replacing Furius Placidus after May 344 AD; in June 347 AD the prefecture was divided into two parts and Rufinus’ jurisdiction was limited to Illyricum, while Limenius was entrusted with Italy and Africa. This solution is adopted by the PLRE (I, Rufinus 25, pp. 782-783; cf. also Palanque 1933, pp. 29-30; Neri 1974, pp. 99-103; Barnes 1987, p. 20).

However, apart from the unlikely limitation of the competence of a serving prefect, Jones discarded the (problematic) evidence on the prefectures held under the emperor Constans by Anatolius “Azutrios”, in Illyricum (see PPRET 47), and Eugenius, probably in Italy (PPRET 48). Their careers suggest that the creation of two separate prefectures of Italy (with Africa) and Illyricum may have immediately followed the end of Furius Placidus’ tenure (after May 344 AD).

Two possibilities can therefore be proposed for the prefecture(s) of Rufinus:

1) He first held the prefecture of Italy and Africa, possibly replacing Eugenius before January 347 AD (precedence of the prefecture over the consulate in our inscription); in June 347 AD Ulpius Limenius took his place and Rufinus was appointed (a second appointment) praetorian prefect of Illyricum (cf. Vogler 1978, pp. 118-123; Barnes 1992, pp. 257-259), in place of Anatolius “Azutrios”;

2) Rufinus didn’t control Italy under Constans but was appointed, before January 347 AD, praetorian prefect of Illyricum (his first appointment).

Our inscription (dedicated by the Ravennates) and the reference mentioned above to the tax regulation promulgated by Rufinus under Constans, apparently in Northern Italy, may support the first solution; but the second one would leave more room for the offices of the prefects who controlled Italy in this period, according to the following sequence: Furius Placidus (ppo of Italy-Africa-Illyricum until, at least, May 344 AD) – Eugenius (ppo Italy-Africa) – Ulpius Limenius (urban prefect and ppo Italy-Africa from June 347 AD).

Therefore, if our document is to be dated under the reign of Constans (see below), we cannot rule out the possibility that the dedication of the citizens of Ravenna originated from some favour granted by Rufinus as a powerful patron (cf. Chastagnol 1992, p. 444, nt. 70), not necessarily as prefect of their district.

Vulcacius Rufinus continuously held the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum under Constans until the emperor’s death, as can be deduced by a constitution of 349 AD (CI 06, 62, 03) together with an inscription that celebrates the dedication of new warehouses for the military supplies in Pannonia Prima by Rufinus himself under Constans (Domini nostris Constantis Victoris ac triumphatoris semper Augusti: PPRET 33).

After the death of Constans at the hand of Magnentius, who occupied the western pars of the empire except for Illyricum, the magister militum of Constans, Vetranio, who had the favour of the sister of Constans II, Constantina, was acclaimed emperor by his troops in March 350 AD at Sirmium (Moser 2018, pp. 174-175). Even if it represented a challenge to Constantius II, later he temporarily recognized Vetranio’s authority as a convenient support against Magnentius until he was able to move to the West. Vetranio retained Rufinus in office, allowing him to remain praetorian prefect in Illyricum. He then dispatched him as an envoy with Maximus (Rufinus’ nephew) and Nunechius to Constantius II in order to represent the interests of Vetranio and Magnentius (Petr. Patr., fr. 16). Since Petrus Patricius recorded that only Maximus and Nunechius were imprisoned by Constantius II and that Rufinus did not suffer any reprisal at all, indeed quite the opposite, continuing his prefectorial mandate after Vetranio’s abdication, Poglio (2007, pp. 9-13) has argued that Vulcacius Rufinus was spared because he was, in fact, only the ambassador of Vetranio, a subordinate, unlike Magnentius, with whom conflict was unavoidable.

Likely the tolerance towards Rufinus was related to his family ties with Constantius II (see above), ties that the praetorian prefect had no intention of cutting. Rufinus thus played a crucial role in Vetranio’s demise, becoming the general’s main political adviser and negotiating the terms of his surrender to Constantius II so successfully that he was retained in his position (Barcelò 1999, pp. 26-27; Moser 2018, p. 179). Even after Vetranio’s abdication (December 25th, 350 AD) and Magnentius’ defeat in the battle of Mursa (September 28th, 351 AD) Rufinus reappears as praetorian prefect of Constantius II without presumably having relinquished the prefecture of Illyricum in the interim and even, perhaps, gaining control over Italy and Africa when these returned to Constantius’ authority (during 352 AD). Indeed, Rufinus is attested among the court officials who tried Bishop Photinus at Sirmium shortly after the battle of Mursa, in 351 AD (Epiph., Pan., 71, 01, 05) and he maintained his office at least until 352 AD (CI 06, 22, 05). According to Porena (2003, pp. 356-371), a large group of constitutions addressed to a prefect Rufinus and whose dating is disputed, were sent by Constantius II to Vulcacius Rufinus during the recapture of the area occupied by Magnentius.

Later on, this high ranking official was appointed praetorian prefect of Gauls, probably from 353 AD, accompanying Constantius on his military campaign in the Upper-Rhine in order to regain Gauls from Magnentius (see Palanque 1933, p. 31, and 1955, p. 261; Porena 2003, p. 368, nt. 44; the date and place of CTh 09, 23, 01 are disputed, see Delmaire 2003). Rufinus remained in charge at least until 354-355 AD, when according to the historian Ammianus (Amm. 14, 10, 04-05), he was dismissed as a result of a political conspiracy related to his family ties with Constantius Gallus. Since Rufinus was, in effect, the uncle of the Caesar, he had to be removed in order to eliminate his nephew, but he was finally saved by Eusebius (PLRE I, Eusebius 11, pp. 302-303), praepositus sacri cubiculi of Constantius (the same that the other literary sources accuse of conspiracy against his Caesar). Eusebius saved him from a dangerous sedition growing in the hungry army near Cabillonum. Poglio (2007, pp. 31-50) argues that this event had nothing to do with the misfortune of Gallus Caesar and that the old supporters of Magnentius had plotted against Rufinus. We are not able to establish if the downfall of Gallus had anything to do with his uncle Rufinus since, admittedly, from that moment on, he vanishes from the literary sources for at least ten years. However, his position of trust among Constantius and his family is testified by his distinguished cursus honorum and also by his long, uninterrupted praetorian prefecture in such challenging areas. It is highly likely that Rufinus reached the apex of his career at this time.

After a 10-year lapse, Rufinus was called back into service by the emperor Valentinian I (Amm. 27, 07, 02; on the chronology, see Den Boeft et alii 2009, pp. 162-163), who appointed him praetorian prefect of Italy, Africa and Illyricum in place of Mamertinus in 365 AD (see PPRET 49). Vulcacius Rufinus died two years later, while still on service; at the beginning of 368 AD Petronius Probus took his place (Amm. 27, 11, 01; CTh 10, 15, 04; CTh 10, 24, 01, see PPRET 57, 58, 59; for a comparison of Rufinus' and Probus' careers, see PPRET 63).

Going back to our honorific inscription, it might have been made when the praetorian prefect was raised to the consulate (347 AD) or between 351/352 AD, when Rufinus returned to the side of Constantius II and probably gained control over Italy. Given the lack of any reference to the iteration of the office of prefect, a chronology under the reign of Valentinian I can be excluded.

Lanciani 1883, p. 233, nr. 657 Lanciani 1884a, p. 40 Lanciani 1884b, p. 190 Lanciani 1884c, p. 45, nr. 773 Capannari 1885, p. 18 CIL 06, 32051 (cf. p. 4807) ILS 1237 Gordon 1965, pp. 118-120, nr. 320 Chastagnol 1978, p. 42 De Bonfils 1981, p. 28

Gordon 1965, pl. 151, b Chastagnol 1978, pl. X, nr. 1

EDCS 19900436 EDR 114762 LSA 1253 TM 276589

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cunctarumque dignitatum fastigia faborabili moderatione iustitiae supergresso

Singulari auctoritatis splendore pollenti, admirabilisque eloquentiae benivolentie felicitate glorioso

viro clarissimo

praefecto praetorio