Further reading
- K. R. Bradley, "The career of Titus Clodius Eprius Marcellus, cos. II A. D. 74: Some possibilities", Symbolae Osloenses, 53 (1978), pp. 171–181, doi : 10.1080/00397677808590721
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Titus Clodius Eprius Marcellus (died AD 79) was a Roman senator, twice consul, best known for his prosecution of the Stoic senator Thrasea Paetus and his bitter quarrel with Helvidius Priscus. Eprius was also notorious for his ability to ingratiate himself with the reigning Emperors – especially Nero and Vespasian – and his hostility to any senatorial opposition, but in the last year of Vespasian, in circumstances that remain obscure, he was accused of treason and committed suicide.
Eprius was a homo novus , "said to have been born in Capua" from a family of no social distinction. [1] His filiation and tribe is known from an honorary inscription found in Capua but now in the museum in Naples. [2] Based on the fact his father's praenomen was Marcus, Ronald Syme suggested that he was born an Eprius M.f. who was adopted by a T. Clodius; the only two praenomina for the rare nomen Eprius are Marcus and Lucius. Despite that many Marci Clodii are known, Olli Salomies finds this theory "very likely". [3]
He may have benefited from the patronage of the Emperor Claudius's powerful minister Lucius Vitellius, who caused him to be made praetor for a day – the last day of the year 48. [4] According to an inscription recovered at Paphos, [5] in the earlier part of his career he commanded a legion, was legate of Lycia et Pamphylia (in the period 53–56) and proconsul of Cyprus. He was noted as a skilful but fierce and angry orator who "blazed with his eyes, countenance and voice". [6] Eprius was suffect consul for the nundinium of September–December 62 as the colleague of Quintus Junius Marullus. [7]
At the trial of Thrasea Paetus on a trumped-up charge of treason Eprius was the principal prosecutor, asserting that Thrasea was a traitor to Roman tradition and religion. [6] This was held against him by Thrasea's son-in-law Helvidius Priscus, who in 68 impeached Eprius, but later dropped the charge, as the condemnation of Eprius would have involved a number of other senators. In December 69, when Vespasian had just gained victory in the civil war of that year, Helvidius, as praetor-elect, attacked Eprius's former conduct in the Senate; Eprius defended himself vigorously as one of those loyal servants "who had striven to serve the State under bad Emperors". It was, he said, "all very well to emulate Brutus and Cato in fortitude: but one was only a senator, and they had all been slaves together." [8]
In the sequel Eprius rose to become one of Vespasian's closest friends and advisers. He could boast of membership in two of the most prestigious priesthoods of Imperial Rome, the sodales Augustales and augur . [2] In 70–73 he held the Proconsulate of Asia, anomalously extended to three years, [9] then returned to Rome for his second suffect consulship in 74 as the colleague of Quintus Petillius Cerialis. [10] At this time Helvidius Priscus was banished and later murdered, supposedly against Vespasian's wishes; some saw the hand of Eprius in this murder. In 79 he was apparently involved in plotting with the former Vitellian general Aulus Caecina Alienus against the Flavian dynasty. Arraigned before the senate and condemned, Eprius cut his own throat with a razor. [11]
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Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus, Roman senator, who lived in the 1st century AD. Notable for his principled opposition to the emperor Nero and his interest in Stoicism, he was the husband of Arria, who was the daughter of A. Caecina Paetus and the elder Arria, father-in-law of Helvidius Priscus, and a friend and relative by marriage of the poet Persius. Thrasea was the most prominent member of the political faction known today as the Stoic Opposition.
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
Helvidius Priscus, Stoic philosopher and statesman, lived during the reigns of Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian.
When Vespasian sent for Helvidius Priscus and commanded him not to go into the senate, he replied, "It is in your power not to allow me to be a member of the senate, but so long as I am, I must go in." "Well, go in then," says the emperor, "but say nothing." "Do not ask my opinion, and I will be silent." "But I must ask your opinion." "And I must say what I think right." "But if you do, I shall put you to death." "When then did I tell you that I am immortal? You will do your part, and I will do mine: it is your part to kill; it is mine to die, but not in fear: yours to banish me; mine to depart without sorrow." Epictetus, Discourses, 1.2.19–21
Quintus Petillius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, otherwise known as Quintus Petillius Cerialis, was a Roman general and administrator who served in Britain during Boudica's rebellion and went on to participate in the civil wars after the death of Nero. He later crushed the rebellion of Julius Civilis and returned to Britain as its governor.
Aulus Didius Gallus Fabricius Veiento was a Roman senator who played a major role in the courts of several Roman emperors during the first century AD. For his usefulness, Veiento was rewarded with the office of suffect consul three times in a period when three consulates were very rare for non-members of the Imperial family.
The gens Aelia, occasionally written Ailia, was a plebeian family in Rome, which flourished from the fifth century BC until at least the third century AD, a period of nearly eight hundred years. The archaic spelling Ailia is found on coins, but must not be confused with Allia, which is a distinct gens. The first member of the family to obtain the consulship was Publius Aelius Paetus in 337 BC.
Quintus Junius Arulenus Rusticus was a Roman Senator and a friend and follower of Thrasea Paetus, and like him an ardent admirer of Stoic philosophy. Arulenus Rusticus attained a suffect consulship in the nundinium of September to December 92 with Gaius Julius Silanus as his colleague. He was one of a group of Stoics who opposed the perceived tyranny and autocratic tendencies of certain emperors, known today as the Stoic Opposition.
Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus was a Roman senator, and member of the gens Caesennia and Junia, who held several offices in the emperor's service. He was consul ordinarius for the year 61 as the colleague of Publius Petronius Turpilianus. Judith Ginsburg notes this made him the first novus homo to reach the ordinary consulship since Quintus Veranius 12 years before.
Lucius Junius Quintus Vibius Crispus was a Roman senator and amicus or companion of the Emperors, known for his wit. He was a three-time suffect consul.
The gens Caecinia was a plebeian family of Etruscan origin at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Cicero, and they remained prominent through the first century of the Empire, before fading into obscurity in the time of the Flavian emperors. A family of this name rose to prominence once more at the beginning of the fifth century.
Cossutianus Capito was a Roman senator and delator, often acting on behalf of the contemporary Roman emperor during the Principate. Tacitus offers a hostile portrait of Capito in his Annales, describing him as a "man stained with much wickedness", and as having "a heart eager for the worst wickedness".
Lucius Funisulanus Vettonianus was a Roman general and senator during the reigns of the Flavian emperors. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of September to October 78 with Quintus Corellius Rufus as his colleague.
Quintus Julius Cordinus Gaius Rutilius Gallicus was a Roman senator who held several posts in the emperor's service. He was twice suffect consul: for the first time in the nundinium of September to October 70 AD; and the second time in 85 with Lucius Valerius Catullus Messalinus as his colleague, succeeding the Emperor Domitian.
Lucius Neratius Priscus was a Roman senator who held several posts in the emperor's service. He was suffect consul for the nundinium September–December AD 87 as the colleague of Gaius Cilnius Proculus. Priscus is known almost entirely from inscriptions recovered from Saepinum.
Aulus Ducenius Geminus was a Roman senator active in the first century AD. Geminus is best known as Galba's appointment as Urban prefect of Rome during the Year of Four Emperors.
The Stoic Opposition is the name given to a group of Stoic philosophers who actively opposed the autocratic rule of certain emperors in the 1st-century, particularly Nero and Domitian. Most prominent among them was Thrasea Paetus, an influential Roman senator executed by Nero. They were held in high regard by the later Stoics Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Thrasea, Rubellius Plautus and Barea Soranus were reputedly students of the famous Stoic teacher Musonius Rufus and as all three were executed by Nero they became known collectively as the Stoic martyrs.
Lucius Duvius Avitus was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of November to December 56 with Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus as his colleague. Avitus is the only known member of his family known to have held the consulship.
The gens Sentia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in history toward the end of the Republic. The first of the Sentii to obtain the consulship was Gaius Sentius Saturninus, in 19 BC.
Arria was a woman in ancient Rome of a prestigious family notable in political affairs -- though often on the bad side of the emperor -- throughout the first century CE.
