3. QUINTUS MUCIUS SCAEVOLA, son Of (2), usually called "Pontifex Maximus," to distinguish him from (4), consul in 95 B.C. with L. Licinius Crassus the orator. He and his colleague brought forward the lex Licinia Mucia de civibus regundis which closed Roman citizenship to the allies in future, and was largely responsible for the Social War. After his consulship Scaevola was governor of the province of Asia, and dealt severely with the tax-farmers. In honour of his memory the Greeks of Asia set aside a day for the celebration of festivities and games called Mucia. He was subsequently appointed Pontifex Maximus, and, in accordance with custom, dispensed free legal advice, which was extensively sought, even by men of the standing of Servius Sul picius. He regulated the priestly colleges, and insisted on observ ance of the traditional ritual, though he himself believed that religion was only for the uneducated. He was proscribed by the Marian party, and in 82, when the younger Marius, after his de feat by Sulla at Sacriportus, gave orders for the evacuation of Rome and the massacre of the chief men of the opposite party, Scaevola, while attempting to reconcile the opposing factions, was slain at the altar of Vesta and his body thrown into the Tiber. He
had already escaped an attempt made upon his life by Gaius Fimbria at the funeral of the elder Marius in 86.
Scaevola was the founder of the scientific study of Roman law and the author of a systematic treatise on the subject, in eighteen books, frequently quoted and followed by subsequent writers. It was a com pilation of legislative enactments, judicial precedents and authorities, from older collections, partly also from oral tradition. A small hand book called "Opm. (Definitions) is the oldest work from which any excerpts are made in the Digest, and the first example of a special kind of judicial literature (libri definitionum or regularum). It consisted of short rules of law and explanations of legal terms and phrases. A num ber of speeches by him, praised by Cicero for their elegance of diction, were in existence in ancient times.