Flavius Rufinus: b. 350-365?; d. November 27, 395 CE; consul 392 CE. See OCD4 s.v. Rufinus(1); PLRE Rufinus 18. Seeck's entry in RE (in bibliography below) remains an indispensable collection of information about this figure.
This entry consists almost entirely of two excerpts from the (now lost) "E" text, a compilation produced during the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913 - 959 CE), and illustrates the limitations of the Suda's method of compilation. Both excerpts ultimately derive from Eunapius' Chronicle (the first excerpt is Blockley, Eunapius fr. 62.2), with the second half of the entry being filtered through Zosimus, Nova Historia 5.1.1-4. Eunapius' Chronicle, now lost except for fragments, was an important source for Zosimus, Philostorgius, and Sozomen. He eschewed a chronological explication of history in favor of character analysis. Zosimus followed Eunapius very closely, to the point that his account of this time period is essentially an abbreviation in five books of Eunapius' fourteen. As a result, this entry only treats Rufinus' personal character and rapacity during the height of his career and obscures his political intrigues against competitors in the eastern Court and the disputes with the regent in the West, Stilicho (sigma 1032), which eventually resulted in his death.
Rufinus was a native of Gaul from the town of Elusa. Although little is known about his early life, he may have been involved in some sort of commerce (Codinus 74 = Migne Gr. 157.548-549). The date and mode of his arrival at the Eastern court are unknown. By 388, Rufinus had attained a prominent position under Theodosius (theta 144), possibly as Magister Officiorum (Libanius, Ep. 784; Symmachus, Ep. 3.81-91), a position he definitively held by 390 (Cod. Theod. 10.22.3). Rufinus encouraged the emperor Theodosius in his indiscriminate punishment of the inhabitants of Thessalonica and later played a crucial role in the emperor's reconciliation with Ambrose of Milan (Theodoret, Historia Ecclesiastica 5.18.10; Ambrose, Epistle 52). After ruthlessly disposing of several rivals at the court in Constantinople (kappa 2287), Rufinus received the high honor of sharing the consulship with Theodosius' son Arcadius in 392. When Theodosius died, in January 395 CE, Rufinus was Praefectus Praetorio Orientis and immediately became the de facto ruler of the East. His position, however, was tenuous, especially since many troops from the East remained in the West under the command of Rufinus' enemy Stilicho. In the spring of 395, Rufinus persuaded Arcadius to recall these troops. On November 27, 395, as Rufinus and Arcadius reviewed the their arrival, these troops killed Rufinus, whose body was desecrated by the inhabitants of Constantinople. Rufinus' estates were confiscated and his wife and daughter fled to Jerusalem where they lived in poverty.
Rufinus is the subject of a withering invective by the poet Claudian (kappa 2776, web address 1) but emerges as a competent, if ambitious, official in Ambrose, Symmachus, and Libanius, the last of whom promised but never executed a panegyric to Rufinus (Libanius, Epistle 1029). See Seeck in RE and Levy 1971 for analysis of these sources. A sadistic image of Rufinus appears in lambda 684, which is also copied from Zosimus (NH 5.2.2-4).
[1] Theodosius I: theta 144.
[2] beta 31.
[3] kappa 2509.
[4] General and advisor to Theodosius who became regent to Honorius and de facto ruler of the western Empire from 395 – 408 CE; see sigma 1032.
[5] viz. Flavius Arcadius, ruler of the eastern Roman Empire (383-408 CE: see OCD4 s.v. Arcadius(2)), and Honorius, who ruled the West (393 – 423 CE: see omicron 405). ou(=tos - *qeodosi/oualso appears in beta 31 and gamma 287.
[6] a)/mfw - sunh/rpazon = sigma 1032.
[7] Rufinus' rapacity is well-attested in the extant sources: Claudian, In Rufinum 1.100-4, 186f., 220-2, 296, 299, 305; 2.99, 134-136, 410, 436-439, 498-501; Symmachus, Ep. 6.14.1; Hieronymus, Ep. 60.16; Zosimus, NH 5.7.6; John Lydus, De Mag. 2.10 (Levy 1971: 233).
[8] ei)/ - kri/nontos = pi 240; cf. John of Antioch fr. 188 FHG (4.610), now 281 Roberto = EV 1, 202, 19f.
[9] e)xw/rhsen - a)phmpo/lei = alpha 1562, which begins e)s tosou=ton de\.
[10] xqe\s - diesfigme/noi = beta 30; kai\ pero/nais - diesfigme/noi = pi 1362.
[11] See introduction above for Eunapius' Chronicle.
[12] The remainder of this entry is copied from Zosimus, NH 5.1.1-4. The first sentence is slightly abbreviated and rendered in simpler syntax; beginning with du/namis the rest of the entry is identical to Zosimus.
[13] Cod. Theod. 9.4.14 and 9.42.14 confirm that Rufinus' acquisitiveness had some foundation in historical reality and was not simply a trope elaborated by hostile sources. Cod. Theod. 2.9.3 could be an attempt by Rufinus to prevent his victims from countersuing over extorted property, but this interpretation is uncertain (Levy 1971: 233).