Victorinus came from
Pisaurum in
Umbria. He was a student of Fronto at the same time as Marcus Aurelius, where their friendship began. In 155 Victorinus became suffect consul, then from c. 162 to c. 166 he was governor of
Germania Superior, where he was commissioned to repulse the invading
Chatti, which he did successfully. Two letters Fronto wrote to him while governor survive. In the first, Fronto petitions for his help in getting a position for the
rhetorician Antoninus Aquila. In the second, Fronto updates Victorinus about his two sons, whom Victorinus had left with Fronto while in Germania Superior. After his tenure in Germania Superior, Victorinus became governor of Dacia (168/9), then
Hispania Baetica (probably 170/1) and
Hispania Tarraconensis (171-172). Victorinus then held the Proconsulate of
Africa (c. 173/5) and between 177 and 179 was governor of
Syria. In the last year of his tenure as
Urban prefect (probably from 179 to 183), Victorinus was consul a second time with
Commodus as his colleague. At the death of Marcus Aurelius and the beginning of Commodus' tenure, Victorinus was still in high esteem, but
Cassius Dio suggests that Commodus, probably at the instigation of the powerful
Praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis, sought to kill Victorinus. == Family ==