Gaius Rabirius was a senator of ancient Rome who was defended (63 BC) by Cicero in a speech still extant.
Nearly forty years after the death of L. Appuleius Saturninus, Titus Labienus (whose uncle had lost his life among the followers of Saturninus on that occasion) was put up by Julius Caesar to accuse Rabirius of having been implicated in the murder. Caesar's real object was to warn the Senate against interference by force with popular movements, to uphold the sovereignty of the people and the inviolability of the person of the tribunes. The obsolete accusation of perduellio was revived, and the case was heard before Julius and Lucius Caesar as commissioners specially appointed (duoviri perduellionis). Rabirius was condemned, and the people, to whom the accused had exercised the right of appeal, were on the point of ratifying the decision, when Metellus Celer pulled down the military flag from the Janiculum, which was equivalent to the dissolution of the assembly. Caesar's object having been attained, the matter was then allowed to drop.
A nephew Gaius Rabirius Postumus was also defended by Cicero (54 BC) in the extant speech Pro Rabirio Postumo, when charged with extortion in Egypt and complicity with Aulus Gabinius.
Another Gaius Rabirius was a poet mentioned by Velleius alongside Virgil. He is also mentioned by Ovid and Quintilian. Some authorities consider him the author of a poem on Actium of which a fragment was found at Herculaneum.References
This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
