View source for Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus

{{Short description|Roman senator}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus
| birth_date    =
| birth_place   =
| death_date    = 525?
| death_place   = [[Verona]]?
| resting_place =
| nationality   =
| occupation    =
| years_active  =
| office        = [[Roman consul]] (493)<br />[[Praetorian prefect of Italy]] (500–503)
| party         = [[Deme#Later usage|Greens]]
| criminal_charges =
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}}
'''Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus'''<ref>The complete form of his name as given by Alan Cameron and Diane Schauer, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/299119 "The Last Consul: Basilius and His Diptych"], ''[[The Journal of Roman Studies]]'', '''72''' (1982), p. 128</ref> ({{floruit}} 490–525) was a Roman politician during the reign of [[Theodoric the Great]]. He held the [[Roman consul|consulship]] with [[Eusebius (consul 489)|Eusebius]] in 493. Albinus is best known for being identified with the [[Roman senate|senator]] whom [[Boethius]] defended from accusations of treasonous correspondence with the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] by the ''[[referendary|referandarius]]'' [[Cyprianus (referandarius)|Cyprianus]], only to have Cyprianus then accuse Boethius of the same crime.<ref>''[[Anonymus Valesianus]]'', 14.85-87. Text and English translation of this document is in J.C. Rolfe (trans.), Ammianus Marcellinus (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), vol. 3 pp. 560ff</ref>
Albinus was son of [[Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius]] (consul in 480), and brother of [[Avienus (consul 501)|Avienus]] (consul in 501), [[Theodorus (consul 505)|Theodorus]] (consul in 505) and [[Inportunus]].<ref>Cassiodorus, ''Variae'' III.6.2; translated by S.J.B. Barnish, ''Cassiodorus: Variae'' (Liverpool: University press, 1992), p. 50</ref> John Moorhead argues that the brothers were on different sides of the [[Laurentian schism]], with Albinus and Avienus supporting [[Pope Symmachus|Symmachus]] and Theodorus and Inportunus supporting [[Antipope Laurentius|Laurentius]].<ref>Moorhead, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435873 "The Decii under Theoderic"], ''[[Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte]]'', '''33''' (1984), p. 109</ref> The ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' reports that Albinus and his wife Glaphyra, during the pontificate of Symmachus, built a basilica dedicated to [[Saint Peter]] on the [[Via Trebana]] at the 27th milepost, on the farm of Pacinianus.<ref>Raymond Davis (translator), ''The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)'', first edition (Liverpool: University Press, 1989), p. 46</ref>
In 523 or 524, the ''referandarius'' Cyprianus accused Albinus of treasonous correspondence before king Theodoric in his court at Verona. Boethius, who later explained himself as having "countless times interposed my authority to protect wretched men from danger when they were hounded by the endless false accusations of the barbarians in their continuous and unpunished lust for wealth",<ref>''[[De consolatione philosophiae]]'' I.14; translated by V.E. Watts, ''Boethius: The consolation of philosophy'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), pp. 42f</ref> stepped up to shield Albinus. Cyprianus then accused Boethius of the same crime; Boethius was imprisoned, and eventually executed. In the words of [[Thomas Hodgkin (historian)|Thomas Hodgkin]], "Albinus disappears from the narrative, but was probably condemned along with Boethius".<ref>Hodgkin, ''Italy and her Invaders'' (Oxford, 1896), vol. 3  p. 496</ref>
== References ==
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{{s-bef | before=[[Anastasius I (emperor)|Anastasius Augustus]]|before2=Rufus}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of late imperial Roman consuls|Roman consul]]| years=493 |with=[[Eusebius (consul 489)|Eusebius]]}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius]]|after2=Praesidius}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Liberius (praetorian prefect)|Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Praetorian prefect of Italy]]|years=500–503}}
{{s-aft|after=Cassiodorus the Elder}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albinus, Caecina Decius Faustus}}
[[Category:5th-century western Roman consuls]]
[[Category:Caecinae]]
[[Category:Decii]]
[[Category:Patricii]]
[[Category:Praetorian prefects of Italy]]