Scattergood, Samuel, an English clergyman of the latter part of the 17th century, was a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, vicar of Blockly, Worcester- shire (1678), and died in 1696. A volume of his Ser- mons was published (Lond. 1723, 2 vols. 8vo ; reprinted 1810).
SCAURUS
400
SCEPTICISM
Scaunis, M. /Emiijus, a Roman governor of Syria in Xew-Test. times, was the eUlest son of liis father of the same name, and stepson of the dictator Sulla, whom his mother, Civcilia, married after the death of his fa- ther. In the third Mithridatic war, he served under Pompey as qu.Testor. The latter sent him to Damas- cus with au army, and from thence he marched into Judfea to settle the disputes between the brothers Hyr- canus and Aristnbulus. Both of them offered him large sums of money : but he decided for Aristobulus, prob- ably because he bid the highest, B.C. (54. After driving Hvrcanus out of .hnUea, Scaurus returned to Damas- cus. Upon Pompey 's arrival at this city in the follow- ing year, an accusation was brought against Scaurus of having been bribed by Aristobulus; but, though Pom- pey reversed his decision and placed Hyrcanus upon the throne, he took no notice of the charges, and left Scau- rus in the command of .Syria with two legions. Scau- rus remained in .Syria till B.C. 59, when he was suc- ceeded by L. :Marcius Philippus. During his govern- ment of Syria he made a predatory incursion into Ara- bia Petraea, but withdrew on the payment of three hun- dred talents by Aretas, the king of the country.
Ou his return to Home he became a candidate for the curule ;i?dileship, which he held ni B.C. .58, the year in which P. Clodius was tribune. The extraordinary splendor with whieli he celebrated the public games surpassed everything of the kind that had been pre- viously witnessed in Home, and it is by them that his name has been chietiy handed down to posterity. The temporary theatre which he built accommodated 80,000 spectators, an<l was adorned in the most magnificent mauner. Three hundred and sixty pillars decorated the stage, arranged in three stories, of which the lowest was made of white marble, the middle one of glass, and the highest of gilt wood. Between the pillars there were tliree thousand statues, besides paintings and oth- er ornaments. The combats of wild beasts were equal- ly astonishing. A hinidred and fifty panthers were ex- hiljited in the circus, and five crocodiles and a hippopot- amus were seen for the first time at Home. But Scaurus purchased the favor of the people in these shows rather too dearly. So costly were they that they not only ab- sorbed all the property which his father had left him and the treasures which he had accumulated in the East, but compelled him to borrow money of the usurers in order to defray the expenses.
In B.C. .5(5 Scaurus was pnetor, during which year he presided in the court in which P. Sestius was accused, who was defended by Cicero. In the following year he governed the province of Sardinia, which he plun- dered without mercy, as he wanted money both to pay liis debts and to purchase the consulship. On his re- turn to Rome in B.C. 54, he became a candidate for the consulship; but before the consular elections took place his competitors, at the Ijeginniug of July, got P. Valeri- us Triarius and three others to accuse him of repetuniUe iu .Sardinia, thus hoping to get rid of a formidable op- ponent. His guilt W.1S certain, there were numerous witnesses against him ; and M. Cato, who presided as prajtor, wus not to be corrupted, and was favorable to Triariiis. Still, Scaurus did not despair. He was de- fended by Cicero and Hortensius, as well as by four other orators. j\Iany of the most distinguished men at Rome, and among them nine persons of consular rank, pleaded on his behalf; while the tears of Scaurus him- self, and his a[)|)eals to the splendor of his a^dileship, produced a powerful effect upon the judices. Thus, notwithstanding his guilt, he wiis acquitted on the 2d of .September, almost unanimously. Soon afterwards, and iu tiie course of the same year, he was again ac- cused by Triarius ou a charge of ambitus (Cicero, Ad A tt. iv, "iG, 7, 8 : iv, 17, 2 ; A d Q. Fr. iii, 2, 3). Drumann says that he was condemned in this year and went into exile. But this appears to be a mistake; for although it is evident from the preceding passages in Cicero's letters that Scaurus was accused of ambitus in B.C. 54.
it is equally clear from the testimony of Appian (S. C. ii, 24) that he was condemned in the third consulship of Pompey, B.C. 52. Hence it is probable that Scaurus was acquitted in B.C. 54, and accused again in B.C. 52 under Pompey's new law against ambitus. From this time the name of Scaurus does not occur again. He married Mucia, who had been previously tlie wife of Pompey, and by her he had one son (Josephus, ^«^ xiv, 3-5 ; War, i, 7 ; Appian. Syr. 51 ; Cicero, Pro Seat. 54; Be Off. ii, 16; Pliny, //. N. xxxvi.2; xxxvi, 15, s. 24, et alibi ; Yal. Max. ii, 4, 6 ; Cicero, A d Q. Fr. ii, 15, 4 ; ii, IG, 3; iii, 1,4, 5; iii, 2, 3; ^rf .4?/. iv, 15, 7, 9; iv, 16, 7, 8; iv, 17, 2: Ue Off. i, 39; Ascon. Argum.ia Scaur. ; and the fragments of Cicero's oration for Scaurus).