A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. P.Scaptius, a Roman citizen, who carried on the trade of a negotiator, or money-lender, in the province of Cilicia. The town of Salamis in Cyprus owed him a sum of money; and in order to obtain from the Salaminians what was due to him, as well as the usurious interest which he chose to charge, App. Claudius, the predecessor of Cicero in the government of Cilicia, had made Scaptius praefectus in the town, and had also placed some troops of cavalry at his disposal, for the purpose of enforcing his claims. When Cicero succeeded Claudius in the province, M. Brutus, who was a friend of Scaptius, warmly recommended his interests to Cicero; but the latter very properly declined to be a party to such infamous proceedings, recalled the cavalry from Cyprus, and refused the praefecture to Scaptius, on the ground that such an appointment ought not to be given to any negotiator. Scaptius is mentioned at a subsequent period in Cicero's correspondence. (Cic. Att. 5.21, 6.1-3, 15.13, Pseudo-Cic. ad Brut. 1.18.)