5. P.MuciusScaevola, was probably the son of P. Mucius Scaevola [No. 3]. Publius Mucius, Manilius, and Brutus, are called by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2.9) the founders of the Jus Civile. Publius was tribunus plebis, B. C. 141, in which year he brought L. Hostilius Tubulus to trial for mal-administration as praetor (Rein, Criminalrecht der Kömer, p. 602): he was praetor urbanus in B. C. 136. In B. C. 133, Publius was consul with L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, the year in which Tib. Gracchus lost his life. In B. C. 131, he succeeded his brother Mucianus [MUCIANUS] as Pontifex Maximus. Plutarch (Tib. Gracchus, 100.9) says, that Tib. Gracchus consulted P. Scaevola about the provisions of his Agrarian Law. When Tiberius was a candidate for a second tribuneship, and the opposite faction had resolved to put him down, Scipio Nasica in the senate " entreated the consul (Mucius) to protect the state, and put down the tyrant. The consul, however, answered mildly, that he would not be the first to use violence, and that he would not take any citizen's life without a regular trial : if, however, he said, the people should come to an illegal vote at the instigation of Tiberius, or from compulsion, he would not respect any such decision." The colleague of Mucius was absent in Sicily, where he was conducting the war against the slaves. After the death of Tib. Gracchus, Scaevola is said to have approved of the conduct of Scipio Nasica, who was the chief mover in the affray in which Tiberius lost his life (Cic. pro Cn. Plancio, 100.36) ; and even to have declared his approbation by moving or drawing up various Senatusconsulta (Cic. pro Dom. 100.34). Scaevola must have lived till after the death of C. Gracchus, B. C. 121, for he gave his opinion that as the res dotales of Licinia, the wife of C. Gracchus. had been lost in the disturbance caused by her husband, they ought to be made good to her. (Dig. 24. tit. 3. s. 66.)
Cicero (de Or. 2.12) states that from the earliest period of Romana history to the time of P. Mucius Pontifex Maximus, it was the custom for the Pontifex Maximus to put in writing on a tablet all the events of each year, and to expose it at his house for public inspection : these, he says, are now called the Annales Maximi. Mucius was distinguished for his knowledge of the Jus Pontificium ; and he was also famed for his skill in playing at ball, as well as at the game called Duodecim Scripta. (Cic. de Or. 1.50; see Scriptum. Facciolati, Lex.) The passage of Cicero shows that Valerius Maximus (8.8, 2) means P. Mucius Scaevola, the Pontifex Maximus, when he is speaking of the relaxations of Scaevola from his severe labours. Quintilian (Inst. Or. xi. ) in speaking of the same thing, gives an anecdote of the strong memory of Scaevola.
He expressed (Cic. Brat. 100.28) himself well but rather diffusely. His fame as a lawyer is recorded by Cicero in several passages (de Or. 1.56); and Cicero twice quotes his words (Top. 100.4, 6). The latter of the two passages in the
Most of the ancient authorities that relate to Scaevola are cited by Zimmern, Geschichle des Röm. Privalrechts, vol. i. p. 277. As to P. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, the brother of P. Mucius Scaevola, see MUCIANUS.