Lucius Nonius Asprenas was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Senator 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 ...

active during the

Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

. He was notorious for being prosecuted for poisoning a number of people at a dinner party.

Biography

The son of Lucius Nonius Asprenas, the

suffect consul 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 ...

of 36 BC, Asprenas was a member of the ''

nobiles The ''nobiles'' ( ''nobilis'') were members of a social rank in the Roman Republic indicating that one was "well known". This may have changed over time: in Cicero's time, one was notable if one descended from a person who had been elected Roman c ...

'' and an intimate friend of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

. In around 9 BC, Nonius Asprenas was brought to trial after a number of his guests (reportedly some 130 people) died after attending a party which he hosted.

Cassius Severus Titus Cassius Severus (died in 32 AD) was an ancient Roman rhetor from the ''gens Cassia''. He was active during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Cassius Severus, a fearless fighter for freedom of speech, was sharply eloquent against the new g ...

brought the charges against him, alleging that Asprenas had poisoned them. His defence was conducted by

Gaius Asinius Pollio Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Polli ...

. Augustus expressed his concern over the charges 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 ...

and made an appearance at court, but did not make any statement while present. Nevertheless, the emperor's ''

auctoritas ''Auctoritas'' is a Latin word which is the origin of English "authority". While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the 20th century e ...

'' was sufficient to win an acquittal for Asprenas. That charges had been brought against him was enough to ruin his political career; not only did he forfeit his seat as one of the ''

Septemviri epulonum The (Latin for "feasters"; sing. ''epulo'') arranged feasts and public banquets at Roman festival, festivals and games ''(ludi)''. They constituted one of the four great collegium (ancient Rome), religious corporations (''quattuor amplissima co ...

'', but he also was prevented from contesting the consulship.

Marriage and children

Nonius Asprenas married Quinctilla, a sister of

Publius Quinctilius Varus Publius Quinctilius Varus (Cremona, 46 BC – Teutoburg Forest, AD 9) was a Roman general and politician under the first Roman emperor Augustus. Varus is generally remembered for having lost three Roman legions when ambushed by Germanic tribes l ...

. They had at least two sons. The first was Lucius Nonius Asprenas, the

of AD 6. The other was

Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus (fl. 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator. He was appointed consul in AD 8 as the colleague of Marcus Furius Camillus. Biography Nonius Quinctilianus was probably the son of Lucius Nonius Asprenas, who was the son of the ...

, consul of AD 8, who might have been a biological son of Varus and his wife

Vipsania Vipsania Agrippina (; 36 BC – 20 AD) was the first wife of the Emperor Tiberius. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Pomponia Caecilia Attica, thus a granddaughter of Titus Pomponius Atticus, the best friend of Cicero. Biogr ...

.Levick, p. 36

References

Sources

* * * Levick, Barbara, ''Tiberius the Politician'' (1999) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nonius Asprenas, Lucius 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans Epulones Asprenas, Lucius Senators of the Roman Empire Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown