Quintus Minucius Rufus

[6] In his study of the praetorship during the Republic, T. Corey Brennan has speculated that the prosecution of sacrilege at Bruttium may have been a useful way to out and suppress the "dissident element" in the region; the stated task of Minucius's prorogation was "to complete inquiries into coniurationes among the Bruttii.

The suppression of the Bacchanalia thirteen years later, recorded by Livy and a bronze tablet inscribed with the senate's decree, was also described as a series of coniurationes, and demonstrates at least a perceived connection between political dissent and private religious practices.

[10] Minucius's consular colleague, Cornelius Cethegus, fought against Insubres and Cenomani, but achieved his victory in a single pitched battle that resulted in the mass slaughter of 35,000 men and the capture of 5,200.

Although the triumph was registered in the Fasti Triumphales and was carried out with the usual trappings, without senate authorization the triumphator had to present the celebration at his own expense, from booty won at war; this necessity led to accusations that Minucius had appropriated the funds from the public treasury.

[18] Questions had been raised about Vulso's right to a triumph for his Galatian victories; it was the position of the ten commissioners that he had not been authorized to take action because there had been no official declaration of war by the senate.