Lucius Verginius Rufus

Verginius Rufus was born in Northern Italy as a member of an equestrian family.

When Gaius Iulius Vindex revolted against Nero in 67, Verginius Rufus led an army against him and defeated the rebel in 68 near modern-day Besançon.

However, when Verginius Rufus was to hold a speech, he dropped a book he was carrying, and while bending down to pick it up, slipped and broke his hip.

At the public burial with which he was honored, the historian Tacitus (then consul) delivered the funeral oration.

Pliny the Younger, his neighbor and ward, has recorded the lines which Verginius had ordered to be engraved upon his tomb: Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam Imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae ("Here lies Rufus, who after defeating Vindex, did not take power, but gave it to the fatherland").