This was followed by the procuratorship of Gallia Belgica and both Germaniae; the duties of this official included supervising the distribution of funds for the armies on the Rhine.
[6] However Marcus Aurelius found he was needed in a more important position, and at some point before the death of Lucius Verus in early 169, Bassaeus Rufus was promoted to Praetorian Prefect.
Both were selected to help with the threat posed by the Marcomanni on the Danube frontier; the previous praetorian prefect, Titus Furius Victorinus, had been killed the year before in battle with these Germanic invaders.
Herodes, who had shortly before the meeting lost two young slave girls when they were killed by lightning, failed to present his case properly, instead attacking him for "sacrificing me to the whim of a woman and a three-year-old child!"
Although Vindex met with death in 172,[10] Rufus distinguished himself: the lost Roman inscription states he received dona militaria appropriate to his rank.
Rufus is known to have accompanied Marcus Aurelius to the front in July 175, after which the emperor awarded him a further distinction: consularia ornamenta.