Early Life
Tacitus is cryptic in his discussion of the birth of Curtius Rufus, while revealing that some believed him to be son of a gladiator. It is worth repeating in full his words: "Of the birth of Curtius Rufus, whom some affirm to have been the son of a gladiator, I would not publish a falsehood, while I shrink from telling the truth."
On reaching adulthood Rufus attached himself to a quaestor allotted to the Roman province of Africa where it is reported he witnessed an apparition that predicted he would one day return to the province as Proconsul. Accordingly Rufus returned to Rome with high hopes for his future, subsequently attaining the offices of quaestor and then praetor during the reign of Tiberius. During his election as Praetor, Tiberius had cast a veil over his origins by saying, "Curtius Rufus seems to me to be his own ancestor".
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