Marcus Aurius

Marcus Aurius was a nobleman of ancient Rome, of the Auria gens of Larinum. He lived in the 1st century BCE, and was a fighter in the Social War, and was one of the notable characters in Cicero's speech Pro Cluentio.

He was the son of the wealthy Dinaea, and brother to Numerius Aurius, Gnaeus Magius, and Magia. He was taken prisoner in the Battle of Asculum in 89 BCE, after which he fell into the hands of Quintus Sergius, who confined him in the ergastulum (slave prison) on his estate in Ager Gallicus. Virtually everyone believed him dead.

Meanwhile Statius Albius Oppianicus bribed the informant to lead the party astray and delay their arrival, and also paid a group of people to kidnap and murder Marcus, in order that his young son -- and by extension, himself -- might enjoy the full inheritance. This group succeeded in assassinating Marcus, though the elder Oppianicus's scheme was exposed.