page_title: Lucius Caesonius Lucillus Macer Rufinianus
section_title: Early
hierarchical_section_title: Lucius Caesonius Lucillus Macer Rufinianus / Career / Early
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Roman Empire with main harbors and fleets from Augustus to Septimius Severus Italiano: Mappa dell'Impero romano con i principali porti e flotte, da Augusto a Settimio Severo.
context_page_description: Lucius Caesonius Lucillus Macer Rufinianus was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed suffect consul probably between AD 225 and 229. Much of what we know about him comes from an inscription found on the base of a statute near Tivoli.
  Caesonius Lucillus occupied a succession of posts: the junior magistracy of the decemvir stlitibus judicandis; a quaestor; and a praetor, all sponsored by the emperor, Caracalla. He was appointed imperial governor of several Italian towns, then legate of Roman Tunisia. Around 226–229 the emperor Alexander Severus appointed him consul. He filled various senior administrative posts before being appointed governor of Africa. After relinquishing this position he was appointed to some of the most senior administrative positions in the Empire, before dying in around 255.
context_section_description: Caesonius Lucillus was the son of Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus and a member of the third century gens Caesonia, which was elevated to Patrician status during his time in politics.  Much of what we know about him comes from an inscription found on the base of a statute near Tivoli, 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Rome. He probably began his career at the beginning of the reign of Caracalla (r. 211–217) as a member of the Vigintiviri, a group of minor magistracies, serving as a decemvir stlitibus judicandis. He was appointed as an imperial candidate to the office of quaestor, a senior position which could have involved one of a range of responsibilities, towards the end of Caracalla’s reign. This was followed in around 220/222 by his appointment as praetor, a senior imperial administrator, probably under Elagabalus (r. 218–222) . This career path from quaestor to praetor as an imperial candidate was standard during the third century for ascent up the cursus honorum, the traditional series of military, administrative and judicial positions of steadily increasing responsibility which aspiring upper-class Romans were expected to progress through.
  Following in his father’s steps, Caesonius Lucillus was appointed curator (overseer) of a number of Italian cities. Immediately after his praetorship, he served as curator for Suessanorum in Campania; this was followed by a curatorship at either Puteoli (also in Campania), or at Tusculum (in Latium). Then, probably sometime between 225 and 228, he was appointed legate, or deputy governor with responsibility for military affairs, of the province of Africa, which roughly corresponds with modern Tunisia. Around this time (226–229), the emperor Alexander Severus (r. 222–235) appointed him consul.  Becoming a consul was the highest honour of the Roman state, and as such candidates were chosen carefully by the emperor.
caption: The Roman Empire at the time of Caesonius Lucillus
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