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{{Short description|Roman Stoic philosopher and senator (c. 35–93)}}
'''Quintus Junius Arulenus Rusticus''' (c. 35 – 93 AD) was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Roman Senate|Senator]] and a friend and follower of [[Thrasea Paetus]], and like him an ardent admirer of [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosophy. Arulenus Rusticus attained a [[Roman consul|suffect consulship]] in the ''[[nundinium]]'' of September to December 92 with [[Gaius Julius Silanus]] as his colleague.<ref>Paul Gallivan, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/638472 "The Fasti for A.D. 70–96"], ''[[Classical Quarterly]]'', 31 (1981), pp. 191, 218</ref>  He was one of a group of Stoics who opposed the perceived tyranny and autocratic tendencies of certain emperors, known today as the [[Stoic Opposition]].

His contemporaries referred to him in varying ways. The ''[[Fasti]]'' of [[Potentia]] and [[Fasti Ostienses|Ostia]] call him '''Q. Arulenus Rusticus''', while [[Tacitus]], [[Pliny the Younger]], and [[Dio Cassius]] call him '''Arulenus Rusticus''' or '''Rusticus Arulenus''', yet [[Suetonius]] calls him '''Junius Rusticus'''. That his brother was a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]] named [[Junius Mauricus]], the senator Junius Rusticus (attested as alive in AD 29) is commonly identified as his father, and [[Quintus Junius Rusticus]] (suffect consul in 133 and ordinary consul in 162) as his grandson, only increases the perplexity. In his monograph on Roman naming practices, Olli Salomies attempted to determine to which [[gens]] Arulenus Rusticus belonged—Aruleni or Junii—only to admit there is no better explanation than the suggestion of [[Ronald Syme]] that Arulenus "is either adoptive or maternal—and accorded preference to the indistinctive 'Iunius'".<ref>Salomies, ''Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire'' (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1992), pp. 150f</ref>

== Life ==
Arulenus Rusticus was [[Tribune of the plebs]] in AD 66, in which year Thrasea was condemned to death by the [[Roman Senate]]; he would have placed his [[veto]] upon the ''[[senatus consultum]]'', had not Thrasea prevented him, as he would only have brought certain destruction upon himself without saving the life of the defendant.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annales (Tacitus)|Annales]]'', XVI.26</ref> He was [[praetor]] in the civil wars after the death of [[Nero]] (69 AD), when as one of the senate's ambassadors to the Flavian armies he was wounded by the soldiers of [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis|Petilius Cerialis]].<ref>Tacitus, ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Historiae]]'', III.80</ref> Although Arulenus Rusticus attained a suffect consulship during the reign of [[Domitian]], in the following year he was condemned to death because he wrote a [[panegyric]] to Thrasea.

<blockquote>When I was once lecturing in Rome, that famous Rusticus, whom Domitian later killed through envy at his repute, was among my hearers, and a soldier came through the audience and delivered to him a letter from the emperor. There was a silence and I, too, made a pause, that he might read his letter; but he refused and did not break the seal until I had finished my lecture and the audience had dispersed. Because of this incident everyone admired the dignity of the man.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Plutarch |title=On being a busybody |page=15}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Suetonius]] attributes to him a panegyric on [[Helvidius Priscus]], but the latter work was composed by [[Herennius Senecio]], as we learn both from [[Tacitus]] and [[Pliny the Younger]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
* [[Junia (gens)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Tacitus]], ''Annals'', xvi. 26, ''Histories'', iii. 80, ''Agricola'', 2
* [[Suetonius]], ''Domitian'', 10
* [[Dio Cassius]], lxvii. 13
* [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]], ''Epistles'', i. 5, 14; iii. 11
* [[Plutarch]], ''de Curiositate'' 15 (''Moralia'' 822D–E)
* ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani'' (2nd ed.) I  730
* R. Syme, 'A Political Group', Roman Papers VII, pp.&nbsp;568–587
* {{SmithDGRBM|title=Rusticus, Junius (2)|volume=3|page=680}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Lucius Stertinius Avitus]], and<br />[[Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus]]|as=suffect consuls}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of early imperial Roman consuls|Suffect consul]] of the [[Roman Empire]] |years=92 |regent1=[[Gaius Julius Silanus]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sextus Pompeius Collega]], and<br />[[Quintus Peducaeus Priscinus]]|as=ordinary consuls}}
{{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Arulenus Rusticus, Lucius}}
[[Category:Junii|Arulenus Rusticus, Lucius]]
[[Category:30s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:93 deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman politicians]]
[[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]
[[Category:Roman-era Stoic philosophers]]
[[Category:Executed ancient Roman people]]
[[Category:People executed by the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Philosophers of Roman Italy]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:1st-century philosophers]]
[[Category:1st-century executions]]