Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus

Last updated

Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus (died AD 34) was a Roman rhetorician, poet and senator. Tacitus writes that Scaurus was "a man of distinguished rank and ability as an advocate, but of infamous life." [1] He was suffect consul from July to the end of the year AD 21, with Gnaeus Tremellius as his colleague. [2]

Scaurus was a member of the patrician Aemilia gens. His father was Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. The younger Scaurus was married twice. His first wife was Aemilia Lepida, who bore him a daughter; Lepida was accused of adultery and attempting to poison Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, found guilty, and exiled. [3] After Lepida had died, or Scaurus divorced her, he married Sextia.

Life

The first mention of Scaurus in historical literature comes in AD 14, at the time of Tiberius' accession to the throne. Both Scaurus and Quintus Haterius gave speeches of congratulation, which the new emperor suspected of being insincere. While Tiberius responded to Haterius' comments with invective, he passed over what Scaurus said in silence. [4]

Scaurus appears periodically in Tacitus' Annales afterwards. In the year 21, when Corbulo complained on the Senate floor that a young noble, Lucius Sulla, [5] had not shown him respect at a gladiatorial show despite being an ex-praetor, much older and more respected by the older senators, Scaurus, Lucius Arruntius, and other kinsmen of the young Sulla defended him. Arguments followed and were only ended when Drusus intervened and brought the body back to order. Both Sulla and Scaurus apologized to Corbulo. [6]

The following year Scaurus appears in the Senate joining in the prosecution of Gaius Junius Silanus for extortion while proconsular governor of Asia, sacrilege and violating the law of majestas towards Tiberius. This prosecution resulted with Silanus exiled to the island of Cynthus. [7]

Scaurus' final episode in the Senate began in the year 32, when Servilius and Cornelius Tuscus accused him and a number of other senators of treason. While some were saved by the intervention of one of the tribunes of the urban cohorts, Tiberius postponed Scaurus' case intending to handle it himself; Tacitus notes the emperor "affixed some ominous marks to the name of Scaurus." [8] When Tiberius considered Scaurus' case two years later, his enemy the praetorian prefect Naevius Sutorius Macro added the charge that certain verses in a tragedy Scaurus had written could be interpreted to disrespect Tiberius. At the suggestion of his wife Sextia, Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus took his own life; she followed suit shortly after. [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Tacitus Annales VI.29
  2. ↑ Alison E. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy (Cambridge: University Press, 2012), p. 459
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annales III.22-23
  4. ↑ Tacitus, Annales I.13.4
  5. ↑ Ronald Syme, based on Tacitus' description that Scaurus was his "uncle and stepfather", proposed he is identical with Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, consul in 33. (Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), p. 261 n. 46
  6. ↑ Tacitus, Annales III.31
  7. ↑ Tacitus, Annales III.66
  8. ↑ Tacitus, Annales VI.9
  9. ↑ Tacitus, Annales VI.29
Political offices
Preceded by Roman suffect consul
21
with Gnaeus Tremellius 		Succeeded by

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonia the Elder</span> 1st century BC Roman noblewoman

Antonia the Elder was a niece of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, being the eldest daughter of Octavia the Younger and her second husband, the Triumvir Mark Antony. She married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and became the paternal grandmother of the emperor Nero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aemilia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices of the state, from the early decades of the Republic to imperial times. The Aemilii were almost certainly one of the gentes maiores, the most important of the patrician families. Their name was associated with three major roads, an administrative region of Italy, and the Basilica Aemilia at Rome.

Publius Cornelius Dolabella was a Roman senator active during the Principate. He was consul in AD 10 with Gaius Junius Silanus as his colleague. Dolabella is known for having reconstructed the Arch of Dolabella in Rome in AD 10, together with his co-consul Junius Silanus. Later, Nero used it for his aqueduct to the Caelian Hill.

Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator who lived during the 1st century.

Two noblemen, an uncle and nephew, who shared the name Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus and were descendants of the Roman Emperor Augustus, lived during the 1st century AD.

Aemilia Lepida is a Latin feminine given name that was given to the daughters of various Aemilius Lepiduses, men belonging to the Lepidus branch of the Aemilia gens (family) that was founded by the Marcus Aemilius Lepidus who served as consul in 285 BC. The Aemila Lepidas who appear in Roman historians were principally known for their engagements and marriages, with those in the late Republic and early Empire related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a Roman senator who lived during the Principate. Blandus was the grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur, a member of the Equestrian class, who was the first Roman to teach rhetoric. He was suffect consul from August to December AD 18 with Marcus Vipstanus Gallus as his colleague. In AD 33, he married Julia Livia, granddaughter of the Roman emperor Tiberius.

Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the Roman Empire during the first century. He held the consulship twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor Nero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Junia or Iunia was one of the most celebrated families of ancient Rome. The gens may originally have been patrician, and was already prominent in the last days of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus was the nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, and on the expulsion of Tarquin in 509 BC, he became one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was a patrician Roman senator, politician and general, praised by the historian Tacitus.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was a Roman senator of the Augustan age. He was ordinary consul as the colleague of Augustus in 5 BC. The only other office attested for him was as a member of the Septemviri epulonum, which he was co-opted into after his praetorship.

Appius Junius Silanus, whom Cassius Dio calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was consul in AD 28, with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. He was accused of majestas, or treason, in AD 32 along with a number of senators, but he and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus were saved by one of the informers, Celsus, a tribune of a city cohort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16 BC)</span> Roman senator

Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was the son of consul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Aemilia Lepida. His mother was a paternal relative of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. His paternal grandmother was Porcia. Ahenobarbus married Antonia Major and through his son with her he became the grandfather of emperor Nero.

Faustus Cornelius Sulla was a Roman senator who lived during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. He was suffect consul in AD 31 with Sextus Tedius Valerius Catullus as his colleague. Faustus was the son of Sulla Felix, a member of the Arval Brethren who died in AD 21, thus a direct descendant of the dictator Sulla. His mother was Sextia and his brother was Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius)</span> Noble Roman woman (5 BC - c. 43 AD)

Aemilia Lepida was a noble Roman woman and matron. She was the first great-grandchild of the Emperor Augustus.

Gaius Calvisius Sabinus was a Roman Senator, who was consul in AD 26 as the colleague of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. During the reign of Caligula, he was accused of conspiring against the emperor, and took his own life rather than submit to a trial.

The gens Sextia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, from the time of the early Republic and continuing into imperial times. The most famous member of the gens was Lucius Sextius Lateranus, who as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of the annual magistrates, until the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia, otherwise known as the "Licinian Rogations," in the latter year. This law, brought forward by Sextius and his colleague, Gaius Licinius Calvus, opened the consulship to the plebeians, and in the following year Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul. Despite the antiquity of the family, only one other member obtained the consulship during the time of the Republic. Their name occurs more often in the consular fasti under the Empire.

The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix was a Roman senator of the first century AD. He was a consul ordinarius in AD 33 as the colleague of Galba, the future emperor. Felix was the son of Sulla Felix, a member of the Arval Brethren who died in AD 21, thus a direct descendant of the dictator Sulla. His mother was Sextia and his older brother was Faustus Cornelius Sulla.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.