Quintus Varius Severus

{{Short description|Ancient Rome politician}}

Quintus Varius Severus (from 125 to 120 BC; died after 90 BC) was a politician in the late Roman Republic. He was also called Hybrida (of mixed race) because his mother was from Hispania.Valerius Maximus, 8,6,4. "Q. autem Varius propter obscurum ius ciuitatis Hybrida", [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/valmax8.html]Harry Thurston Peck Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1898)[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DV%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dvarius-hybrida-harpers "Varius Hybrida"]

Quintus Varius Severus Hybrida was from Sucro, Hispania (in eastern Iberian peninsula, in the contemporary municipality of Albalat de la Ribera) and was the first senator of the Republic to come from the province of Hispania. In 90 BC he was elected to the tribune. He wrote a law, the lex Varia, in order to punish all those who had “assisted” those who took up arms against the Roman people.{{Cite book|title=The collapse of Rome : Marius, Sulla and the first Civil War, 91-70 BC|last=Sampson, Gareth C.|isbn=9781473826854|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire|oclc=893910287|date = 2013-09-09}} In practice it was used to prosecute those who had supported giving the Socii citizenship. As a result, many distinguished senators, among them Gaius Aurelius Cotta, were sent to exile. In the following year after the application of the law, Varius himself was also convicted by the same law he wrote.