Decimus Junius Silanus (107 – after 62 BC) was a

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

. He may have been the son of Marcus Junius Silanus, consul in 109 BC. He was the stepfather of

Marcus Junius Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

, having married Brutus' mother, Servilia.

Biography

Early life

Born in 107 BC, Decimus Junius M. f. D. n. Silanus was the son of a Marcus Junius Silanus, presumably Decimus had an elder brother named Marcus, but he might have died young.

Marriage

Silanus married Servilia, after her first husband died. Together they had four children, a son, Marcus Junius Silanus, and three daughters,

Junia Prima Servilia ( 101 BC – after 42 BC) was a Roman matron from a distinguished family, the Servilii Caepiones. She was the daughter of Quintus Servilius Caepio and Livia, thus the half-sister of Cato the Younger. She married Marcus Junius Brutus, ...

Junia Secunda Junia, called Junia Secunda by modern historians to distinguish her from her sisters, was an ancient Roman woman who lived in the 1st century BC. She was married to the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Biography Early life Junia Secunda was dau ...

, and

Junia Tertia Junia Tertia, also called Tertulla, (c. 75 BC – 22 AD) was the third daughter of Servilia and her second husband Decimus Junius Silanus, and later the wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus. Biography Early life Through her mother she was the younger ...

. Tertia was rumoured to be the daughter of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

, who had been Servilia's lover. (Servilia's oldest child by her first marriage, Marcus Junius Brutus, was also rumoured to be Caesar's

illegitimate child Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

.) Silanus may also have been the father of a Decimus Junius Silanus.

Political career

He was

aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...

in 70 BC, but he lost the election to be a consul of 63. He was successful the following year, and so in consequence of his being ''consul designatus'' was first asked for his opinion by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

in the debate in the senate on the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators. At first he spoke in favor of "the supreme penalty" for the conspirators, but when

suggested life imprisonment, Silanus insisted that was what he had really meant. As such, it was left to

Cato the Younger Marcus Porcius Cato "Uticensis" ("of Utica"; ; 95 BC – April 46 BC), also known as Cato the Younger ( la, Cato Minor), was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the pr ...

to force through the decision to actually execute them. He was consul in 62 with Lucius Licinius Murena. They proposed the ''

lex Junia Licinia The ''lex Junia Licinia'' or ''lex Junia et Licinia'' was an ancient Roman law produced in 62 BC that confirmed the similar ''lex Caecilia Didia'' of 98 BC. The ''lex Junia Licinia'' was a consular law of Decimus Junius Silanus and Lucius Lici ...

'', which provided that a ''

rogatio :''See Rogation days for usage pertaining to the Christian calendar of the Western Church.'' In Roman constitutional law, ''rogatio'' is the term (from Latin ''rogo'', "ask, place a question before") for a legislative bill placed before an As ...

'' (a proposed law) must be promulgated three

nundinae The nundinae (), sometimes anglicized to nundines,. were the market days of the ancient Roman calendar, forming a kind of weekend including, for a certain period, rest from work for the ruling class (patricians). The nundinal cycle, market w ...

, or market-intervals, before the people voted on it. It also confirmed the

lex Caecilia Didia The ''lex Caecilia Didia'' was a law put into effect by the consuls Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos and Titus Didius in the year 98 BC. This law had two provisions. The first was a minimum period between proposing a Roman law and voting on it, and th ...

.Cicero, ''The correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero'', Note V p. 429. See also ''

''.

Family

Footnotes

References

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

, ''Bellum Civilum'', ii.5. *

, ''de Officiis'', ii.57; ''ad Atticum'', i.1, ii.9, iv.16, xii.21.7; ''in Catilinam'', iv.4; ''pro Sestio'', 64; ''in Vatinum'', 14; ''Philippics'', ii.5. *

, ''The correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero'', Volume 1, Edition 2 1885 (Google Books) *

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

, ''Naturalis Historia'', ii.35. *

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, ''Cicero'', 20, 21; ''Cato Minor'', 22. *

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisan o ...

, ''Bellum Catilinae'', 50. *

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

, ''Caesar'', 14. {{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Silanus, Decimus 100s BC births 1st-century BC deaths 1st-century BC Roman consuls Decimus Family of Servilia (mother of Brutus) Senators of the Roman Republic