Rufinus (Byzantine official)
Rufinus (d. 395) was a third century Eastern Roman statesman who was the Praetorian Prefect for the emperors Theodosius I and Arcadius. During the period immediately after Theodosius' death in 395 Rufinus was virtually the ruler of the Eastern Roman empire, since he exercised great influence over the weak-willed emperor Arcadius. He attempted to further join himself to Arcadius by marrying his daughter to the young emperor, however this plan was stymied by another of the imperial ministers, Eutropius. His influence over the empire came to a violent end when he was assassinated by Gothic mercenaries. Rufinus was both a contemporary and a rival of the Vandal-turned-magister militum Stilicho, and one of the charges made against Stilicho in 408 was that he had given orders for Rufinus' assassination.
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