Titus Albucius, was a noted orator of the late Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

.

He finished his studies at Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 at the latter end of the 2nd century BC, and belonged to the Epicurean sect. He was well acquainted with Greek literature, or rather, says Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

, was almost a Greek. On account of his affecting on every occasion the Greek language and philosophy, he was satirized by Lucilius

Gaius Lucilius

Gaius Lucilius , the earliest Roman satirist, of whose writings only fragments remain, was a Roman citizen of the equestrian class, born at Suessa Aurunca in Campania.-The Problem of his birthdate:...

, whose lines upon him are preserved by Cicero; and Cicero himself speaks of him as a light-minded man. He accused, but unsuccessfully, Mucius Scaevola

Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur

Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur was a politician of the Roman Republic and an early authority on Roman law. He was first educated in law by his father and in philosophy by the stoic Panaetius of Rhodes....

, the augur, of maladministration (repetundae) in his province. In 105 BC

105 BC

Year 105 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rufus and Maximus...

 Albucius was praetor in Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, and in consequence of some insignificant success which he had gained over some robbers, he celebrated a triumph

Roman triumph

The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...

 in the province. On his return to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, he applied to the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 for the honour of a supplicatio

Supplicatio

Supplicatio in ancient Rome was a solemn thanksgiving or supplication to the gods decreed by the senate: all the temples were opened, and the statues of the gods placed in public upon couches to which the people offered up their thanksgivings and prayers.A Supplicatio was decreed for two different...

, but this was refused, and he was accused in 103 BC

103 BC

Year 103 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Orestes...

 of repetundae by Gaius Julius Caesar (the elder), and condemned. Pompeius Strabo

Pompeius Strabo

Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo , whose cognomen means "cross eyed", is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo to distinguish him from Strabo, the geographer. Strabo lived in the Roman Republic. Strabo was born and raised into a noble family in Picenum a rural district in Northern Italy, off the...

 had offered himself as the accuser, but he was not allowed to conduct the prosecution, because he had been the quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

 of Albucius. After his condemnation, he went into exile at Athens and pursued the study of philosophy. He left behind him some orations, which had been read by Cicero.

Orations of Albucius was translated from the Latin by the novelist Pascal Quignard

Pascal Quignard

Pascal Quignard is a French writer born in Verneuil-sur-Avre, Eure. In 2002 his novel Les Ombres errantes won the Prix Goncourt, France's top literary prize. Terrasse à Rome , received the French Academy prize in 2000...

in 1990.