Marcus Gnaeus Licinius Rufinus (Ancient Greek: Μ. Γναῖος Λικίνιος Ῥουφεῖνος fl.
He held a number of secretarial posts for the emperor, served as governor of Noricum, and was one of the twenty senators who led the resistance against Maximinus Thrax's invasion of Italy in 238 AD.
He is known from extracts of his legal work, Regulae and from honorific inscriptions erected for him in Thyateira, Thessaloniki, and Beroea.
[9] He was legatus Augusti pro praetore (governor) of the province of Noricum, modern Austria, and commander of the legio II Italica.
It praises him for carrying out embassies to the emperor in order to secure "all the rights" for Thyateira and for making generous monetary contributions to the city.
It also gives a chronological account of the offices that he had held in the Imperial service, which provides the basis for historians' reconstructions of his career.
[13] At some point, probably after he achieved consular rank,[11] Rufinus served as a lawyer for the League of the Macedonians "in the matter of the contribution of the Thessalians."
[15] Rufinus wrote a work of jurisprudence in Latin called Regulae ("examplars") which was twelve or thirteen books long.