SATURNINUS, LUCIUS APPULEIUS, Roman poli tician. Quaestor in 104 B.C., he superintended the importation of corn at Ostia, but was removed by the Senate, apparently without any charge against him being made, and so went over to the popu lar party. Tribune in 103, he made an arrangement with Marius for the allotment of ioo iugera of land to each of Marius' veterans. It was probably at this time also that he introduced his law on maiestas (treason), which seems to have been designed to in crease the power of the tribunes. In 'cm he was tried for violating the law of nations in connection with the embassy of Mithridates. The envoys had arrived with large sums of money to bribe the Senate, and Saturninus exposed the affair and insulted the am bassadors. He escaped by appealing to the people. He further 'On this theory, in its most probable form, the line has 3+2 accents, and usually consists of 7+6 syllables, as "quOius forma virtutei parisuma f cultivated popularity by supporting the claims to citizenship of a freedman, Equitius, who posed as a son of Tiberius Gracchus (q.v.). Saturninus allied himself with C. Servilius Glaucia, and the two of them acted as Marius' political agents after his return from the war with the Cimbri. By bribery and murder Marius was elected consul for the sixth time in i oo, Glaucia praetor and Saturninus tribune again. Saturninus then brought forward an ex tension of the African agrarian scheme, which included the dis tribution of the land north of the Po, taken from the Cimbri, among Marius' veterans, and the foundation of a number of new citizen colonies, to which Italians were to be admitted, a feature which caused a good deal of opposition. A further clause pro
vided that every Senator should swear to observe it within five days of its becoming law. Metellus Numidicus, Saturninus' chief enemy, alone refused, and went into exile. The law was passed eventually after considerable disorder. At last Saturninus and Glaucia found themselves in danger of being disowned by Marius, and their only hope of safety lay in retaining office. In the elec tions at the end of i oo Saturninus was again elected tribune, and Glaucia stood for the consulship. During the voting their par tisans beat C. Memmius, the senatorial candidate, to death. The Senate declared them public enemies, and called on Marius to take up arms against them. Saturninus was defeated in a battle in the forum, and took refuge in the Capitol (Dec. 1o). Forced to surrender, he and Glaucia and their followers were imprisoned in the Curia Hostilia, and some of the opposite party tore off the roof and stoned them to death.