Gaius Bruttius Praesens Lucius Fulvius Rusticus (68–140 AD) was aRomansenator of the reigns of the emperorsTrajan,Hadrian andAntoninus Pius. A friend ofPliny the Younger and Hadrian, he was twiceconsul, governed provinces, commanded armies and ended his career asUrban prefect ofRome. Bruttius’ life and career left few coherent traces in the literary record, but a number of inscriptions, including his completecursus honorum, fills out the picture considerably.
Pliny, writing to Praesens, refers to him as aLucanian[1] and an inscription concerninghis son has been found at Volceii inLucania. His father has been identified asLucius Bruttius Maximus, proconsul ofCyprus in AD 80.[2] As Praesens was the first of his family to hold the consulship, he was considered anovus homo. The element "Lucius Fulvius Rusticus" in hispolyonymous name is commonly agreed to be his maternal grandfather's name, thus connecting Praesens to the Fulvii Rustici (seeFulvia gens), a senatorial family fromCisalpine Gaul.[2]
From an inscription recovered in Mactaris (modernSiliana inTunisia), his career in imperial service can be reconstructed.[3] As a teenager, Praesens was a member of thetresviri capitales, one of the magistracies that comprised thevigintiviri. This was the least desirable office to hold, for men who held that office rarely had a successful career: Anthony Birley could find only fivetresviri capitales who went on to be governors of consular imperial provinces.[4] However, it is clear that Praesens succeeded despite this inauspicious beginning. Next he received the commission for thetribunus laticlavius inLegio I Minervia, when he led avexillation fromGermania Inferior toPannonia and earneddona militaria, or military decorations, for service on theDanube in theemperorDomitian’s campaigns.
He served asquaestor inHispania Baetica, and it may have been at this time that he first became friends with the young Hadrian, but thereafter he retired from public life. In his book on the Roman Senate in this period, Richard Talbert notes that some senators in this period, including Praesens, abandoned their efforts at climbing the chain of offices, discouraged at the lengthy wait they faced to achieve the office of eitherpraetor or consul.[5]
Pliny in 107 wrote to Praesens urging him to no longer remain on his rural estates inCampania and Lucania but to return to Rome and to public life.[1] His language suggests Praesens was anEpicurean in his tastes and beliefs, something he shared with Hadrian. Praesens is next heard of in the winter of 114/115, during Trajan's Parthian war, commandingLegio VI Ferrata, during which, according to a fragment of theParthica ofArrian he marched in deep snow (having securedsnowshoes from native guides) across theArmenianTaurus Mountains to reachTigranakert. After a spell as curator of theVia Latina, he waslegatus pro praetore or governor ofCilicia when Trajan died in that province in 117.[6] Two fragmentarymilitary diplomas, published in 2002, attest he was suffect consul as the colleague ofQuintus Aburnius Caedicianus; while there is insufficient text to precisely date this document, this pair are thought to have held the fasces at some point in the months November-December 120 or September-December 121.[7]
Subsequently, Bruttius wascurator operum publicorum, or overseer of the public works of Rome, then governedCappadocia followed by a tenure as governor ofMoesia Inferior from 124 to 128.[8] He wasProconsul ofAfrica in the 130s and appears to have been governor ofSyria in 136 or 137, anomalous for a senior former Proconsul, but perhaps empowered to conduct diplomacy with theParthians.[9][10] In a resplendent end to a long career, his second consulship came in 139, as colleague of the new emperor Antoninus Pius, and at the same time he becamePraefectus urbi, succeedingServius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus. However Praesens died in this office the following year, as revealed by a fragment of theFasti Ostienses published in 1982.
We know from the Tunisian inscription that Praesens was a member of theQuindecimviri sacris faciundis, one of the more prestigiouscollegia of Roman priesthoods.Eusebius of Caesarea andJohn Malalas both cite a writer called 'Bruttius' or 'Boutios' as a source for events in the reign ofDomitian.
In the letter mentioned above, Pliny alludes to Praesens' wife, whom he describes as a native ofCampania;[1] based on the name of their son, her name has been inferred to be "Laberia". Authorities differ whether she should be identified withLaberia Hostilia Crispina, a rich heiress and daughter ofManius Laberius Maximus. Not enough is known about Crispina to say whether she was from Campania, which would clinch the identification, or from elsewhere. If from elsewhere, Laberia would be his second wife.
In either case, Laberia bore Praesens a son,Lucius Fulvius Gaius Bruttius Praesens Laberius Maximus, who became consul in 153 and 180. Through his son, Praesens became the paternal grandfather of at least two people: the future Roman empressBruttia Crispina, who marriedCommodus; and the consulLucius Bruttius Quintius Crispinus.[11]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Suffect Consuls | Consul of theRoman Empire 139 withAntoninus Pius II | Succeeded byas Suffect Consuls |