Sejanus

Family: Roman · Role: imperial adviser · First appears: Annals I (19)

In Annals I, Sejanus was an enemy of Agrippina, deliberately intensifying Tiberius’s hostility toward her by supplying grievances. He stood in an elder-kin relationship with Junius Blesus, while Augustus and Tiberius had shown him repeated favour. His influence made Satrius Secundus and Pinarius Natta his creatures, and Junius Gallio served as his mercenary; he was also an enemy of Caligula.

By Annals IV, Sejanus was married to Apicata and had arranged the poisoning of Drusus, Tiberius’s son; Apicata later exposed the plan, with Eudemus and Lygdus revealing its details under torture. He then plotted to destroy Agrippina’s household and the sons of Germanicus, inciting Livia the elder and Livia the younger against her and pursuing Nero as a successor: “he assumed the office of a judge against the offspring of Germanicus”. His patronage of Tiberius grew into friendship, and he sought to marry Livia, though Tiberius withheld approval. At Spelunca, he shielded Tiberius from the collapsing cave, after which the Emperor listened to his bloody counsels with blind credulity. Sejanus remained an enemy of Drusus and Nero, and he long hated Lucius Arruntius.

In Annals V, Sejanus was executed for conspiracy, along with his friends and dependents. Macro was employed to destroy him, while Tiberius was described as loving or fearing him; Sejanus’s later connections included Macro as an enemy and Junius Gallio as a mercenary’s employer.