Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

during the first century. He held the

consulship A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

Background

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 ...

reports that Passienus was born at Visellium, an obscure town whose location has been lost.Suetonius, "The Life of Passienus Crispus". He was the grandson of

Lucius Passienus Rufus Lucius Passienus Rufus was a Roman senator and a ''novus homo'' of some oratorical talent. He was consul in 4 BC as the colleague of Gaius Calvisius Sabinus. He inherited the name, the wealth, and the influence of his uncle Sallust. Rufus is also ...

, consul in 4 BC. His father, who died in AD 21, was a grandnephew of the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (

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 ...

), who had no children of his own, and therefore adopted his sister's grandson as his heir. The elder Passienus assumed his uncle's names, in accordance with Roman custom, and in turn these names were passed to his son.Tacitus, ''Annales'', iii. 30.

Early career

Passienus was a regular pleader in the court of the

Centumviri The centumviral court (''centumviri'') was the chancery court (court of equity) of ancient Rome. It was a court of justice dealing with private law (what is referred to in common law systems as civil law). Evolution The term ''centumviri'' lite ...

, which met in the

Basilica Julia The Basilica Julia ( it, Basilica Giulia) was a structure that once stood in the Roman Forum. It was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the Roman Empire. Its ruins have been excavated. What is lef ...

. Suetonius mentions a statue of Passienus, which had been set up in the Basilica. He made his first speech in the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

during the reign of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

, whom he addressed politely, and whose favour he won, although Suetonius maintains that the emperor's praise was insincere. Passienus was consul for the first time in AD 27, being named ''suffectus'' from the Kalends of July, as the colleague of Publius Cornelius Lentulus, and serving out the remainder of the year. Despite his rank and wealth, Passienus affected a humble manner in order to remain in favour with the emperors. During the reign of

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

, he accompanied the emperor on his travels, following on foot as a token of subservience. Caligula is said to have asked him once, in private, if Passienus had ever had intercourse with his own sister, as he himself had done. Realizing that answering either in the affirmative or the negative might be dangerous, Passienus replied, "not yet", thereby avoiding the emperor's displeasure.

Connections with the imperial family

Passienus' wife, Domitia, was the sister of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, and thus the sister-in-law of Agrippina. Domitia's first husband, Decimus Haterius Agrippa, consul in AD 22, had died in 32 after advocating the condemnation of

Lucius Fulcinius Trio Lucius Fulcinius Trio (died AD 35) was a Roman senator who came from a plebeian family. Trio was an active prosecutor (''delator'') during the reign of Tiberius who developed a reputation for making accusations. He was governor of Lusitania from ab ...

and

Publius Memmius Regulus Publius Memmius Regulus (died AD 61) was a Roman senator active during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. He served as consul ''suffectus'' from October to December AD 31 with Lucius Fulcinius Trio as his colleague, governor of Achaea from AD 35 ...

, the feuding consuls of the previous autumn, thus drawing the public ire on himself. Passienus married Domitia the following year, and became the stepfather of

Quintus Haterius Antoninus Quintus Haterius Antoninus or known as Antoninus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Claudius and Nero. Life He was suffect consul in the year AD 53 as the colleague of Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus. Antoninus was the only ...

, who would become consul under Claudius in AD 53. According to

Christian Settipani Christian Settipani (born 31 January 1961) is a French genealogist, historian and IT professional, currently working as the Technical Director of a company in Paris. Biography Settipani holds a Master of Advanced Studies from the Paris-Sorbo ...

, the marriage between Passienus and Domitia took place earlier, c. 20-25. Furthermore, he suggested that Domitia and Passienus had a daughter who married a son of Quintus Junius Blaesus, suffect consul of 26. Shortly after his accession in 41, the emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

asked Passienus to divorce his wife, and marry Agrippina, for her husband Domitius Ahenobarbus had recently died. Agrippina was a sister of Caligula, and had married a man with a reputation for needless cruelty, who had nearly been put to death by Tiberius, and been saved only by the emperor's death. She herself had been exiled by Caligula in AD 39, due to her supposed involvement in a plot against the emperor, with her brother-in-law and alleged paramour, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. After her husband's death, Caligula had seized the inheritance that rightfully belonged Agrippina's young son,

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

. Caligula was assassinated shortly thereafter, and his uncle, Claudius, eager to restore the appearance of respectability to the imperial family, recalled Agrippina from exile, restored her son's inheritance, and hoped to provide her with a worthy husband. Domitia was also the emperor's cousin, but it was more important to rehabilitate Agrippina's image, so Passienus acquiesced to Claudius' wishes, divorcing Domitia and becoming the husband of Agrippina, as well as the stepfather of the future emperor Nero.

Downfall and legacy

For the term June 42 through June 43, the

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

selected Passienus

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ar governor of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

once described this office as "of the highest dignity in the senatorial career." Then in 44, Passienus was consul for the second time, but this time as consul ordinary, with

Titus Statilius Taurus Titus Statilius Taurus was the name of a line of Roman senators. The first known and most important of these was a Roman general and two-time consul prominent during the Triumviral and Augustan periods. The other men who bore this name were hi ...

as his colleague. His second consulship was a special honour, but partly symbolic, as he was expected to resign before the expiration of six months, and probably did so on the Ides of January. He was followed by

Publius Pomponius Secundus Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passien ...

, who held the

fasces Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...

with Statilius until the Kalends of July. By now, Passienus was the most prosperous of men: twice consul, the grandson of a consul, the heir of Sallust, he had twice married into the imperial family. His fortune was valued at two hundred million sestertii. He was persuaded by Agrippina to name her as his heir; this proved to be his undoing, for he died by his wife's treachery, probably poisoned, about AD 47. This would not be the end of Agrippina's villainy, for Claudius' wife,

Messalina Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...

, correctly perceiving the threat from Agrippina, attempted to have Lucius assassinated, in order to ensure the succession of

Britannicus Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. For a time he was considered his father's heir, but that ...

, her own son by the emperor. The attempt failed, and, after procuring Passienus' death, Agrippina worked to bring about the downfall of Messalina. She then seduced her uncle, the emperor, becoming his wife, and persuaded Claudius to adopt Lucius, naming him his heir in preference to his own son. Agrippina then procured the emperor's death, placing her son, now the emperor Nero, on the throne; he soon disposed of Britannicus. Agrippina met her end in 59, when Nero had her murdered. Her predecessor, Domitia, died later that year, and there was a rumour that Nero had poisoned her as well. Gaius Passienus Crispus was an intelligent, humble, and witty person, famous for his epigram to the effect "that the world never knew a better slave, nor a worse master", referring to the future emperor Gaius (Caligula) and his grandfather, Tiberius.Tacitus, ''Annales'', vi. 20 (J. Jackson, trans.).

Notes

References

Bibliography

Publius Cornelius Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

, ''

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

''. * Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, ''

De Vita Caesarum ''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The g ...

'' (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars), ''De Viris Illustribus'' (Lives of Famous Men)
"Vita Passienus Crispus"
(The Life of Passienus Crispus). * Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

), ''Roman History''. * Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, ''

Prosopographia Imperii Romani The ', abbreviated ''PIR'', is a collective historical work to establish the prosopography of high-profile people from the Roman empire. The time period covered extends from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC to the reign of Diocletian. The final vol ...

'' (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated ''PIR''), Berlin (1898). * Paul A. Gallivan, "The ''Fasti'' for the Reign of Claudius", in ''

Classical Quarterly The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are de ...

'', vol. 28, pp. 407–426 (1978). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sallustius Crispus Passienus, Gaius 47 deaths Ancient Roman adoptees Ancient Roman murder victims Family of Nero Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Asia Husbands of Agrippina the Younger Poisoned Romans Passienus Crispus, Gaius Year of birth unknown