A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SILANUS. SILANUS. 821
Tl ese consuls gave their name to the Lex Junia appear that App. Silanus married Aemilia Lepida,
Nlorbana, which enacted that slaves manumitted the proneptis or great-granddaughter of Augustus.
without the requisite formalities should, in certain The genealogy would therefore stand thus:cases, have the status of Latini: such persons were
called Latini Juniani (see Diet. of Antiq. p. 693, a, 2. Julia, filiau
2d ed.). Tacitus speaks of Silanus as pre-emi- m. M. Agrpp.
nently distinguished by his high nobility and elo- 3. elia, nepts,
quence. In A. D. 20 he obtained from Tiberius. L. Aeilius Paulus,
the recal of his brother [No. 9] from exile. Like m. L. Aemilius Paulus
the other senators he endeavoured to gain the m. App. Junius Silanus.
favour of the emperor by flattery. He proposed in
A. D. 22 that all public and private documents Aemilia Lepida, the wife of App. Silaluus, was at
should not bear in future the names of the consuls, an early age betrothed to the emperor Claudins
but the names of those who possessed the tribuni- long before his accession to the throne, but w;es
cian power, that is, of the emperors. In A. D. 33 divorced soon afterwards [LEPIDA, No. 3, where
his daughter Claudia, or Junia Claudilla, as she her subsequent marriage to App. Silanus ought to
is called by Suetonius (Cal. 12), was married have been stated]. By his second wife Domnitia
to C. Caesar, afterwards the emperor Caligula. Lepida, the mother of Messalina, App. Silantus of
Silanus was governor of Africa in the reign of course had no children. Suetonius (Claud. 29)
Caligula; bhut the suspicious tyrant feared his calls App. Silanus the consocer of Claudius, because
father-in-law, and accordingly first deprived him of his son L. Silanus was betrothed to Octavia, the
all power in the province by compelling him to daughter of Claudius.
share the government with al imperial legatus, and 12. M. JUNIvs SILANUS, a son of No. 1 1, was
afterwards compelled him to put an end to his life. consul under Claudius A. D. 46 with Valerius
Julius Graecinus, the father of Agricola, had been Asiaticus. He was born in the same year in
ordered by Caligula to accuse Silanus, but he de- which Augustus died, A. D. 14, and it is mentioned
dined the odious task. (Tac. Ain. ii. 59, iii. 24, by Pliny as a singular fact that Augustus lived to
57, vi. 20, Ilist. iv. 48, Aygr. 4; Dion Cass. lvii. see his great-great-grandson. Silanus was pro18, lix. 8; Suet. Cal. 12, 23.) consul of Asia at the succession of Nero in A. D.
9. D. JUNIUS SILANUS, a brother of No. 8, was 54, and was poisoned by command of Agrippina,
one of the paramours of Julia, the granddaughter of who feared that he might avenge the death of his
Augustus, and voluntarily withdrew into exile when brother [No. 13], and that his descent from Anthe adulteries of Julia were discovered. Tiberius gustus might lead him to be preferred to the youthful
allowed him to return to Rome in A. D. 20 on the Nero (Dion Cass. Ix. 27; Plin. H. IV. vii. 11; Tac.
intercession of his brother Marcus, but did not Ann. xiii. 4). Tacitus relates (1. c.) that Silanus
advance him to any of the honours of the state. was so far from being ambitious, that Caligula used
(Tac. Ann. iii. 24.) to call him his "pecus aurea," but Dion Cassius
10. C. JUNIUS SILANus, described as Flamen (lix. 8) with more probability refers this epithet to
Martialis in the Capitoline Fasti, was consul the father in-law of Caligula [No. 8].
A. D. 10, with P. Cornelius Dolabella. Judg- 13. L. JuNIvs SILANUS, likewise a son of
ing from his praenomen we may suppose him to No. 11, was betrothed to Octavia, the daughter of
have been a son of No.7; but this is opposed to the emperor Claudius, in A. D. 41. The emperor
the Capitoline Fasti, in which he is described as conferred upon him the triumphal ornaments when
C. F. M. N. Silanus was afterwards proconsul of he was still a boy, and exhibited in his name
Asia, and in A. D 22 was accused of malversation magnificent gladiatorial games. But as Agrippilna
by the.provincials. To this crime his accusers in had resolved to marry Octavia to her own son
the senate added that of treason (muajestas), and it Domitius, afterwards the emperor Nero, it Awas
was proposed to banish him to the island of necessary to put Silanus out of the way. It was
(varos; but Tiberius changed the place of his easy to persuade the foolish emperor of any thing,
exile to the less inhospitable island of Cynthus, and he therefore readily believed the charges
which his sister Torquata had begged might be the brought against Silanus. Accordingly in A. D. 48
place of his punishment. (Tac. Ann. iii. 66-69, Silanus, who was then praetor, though he had not
iv. 15.) yet attained the legal age for the office, was ex11. App. JUNIUS SIIAN S, was consul A. D. 28 pelled from the senate by Vitellius, as censor, on
with P. Silius Nerva. He was accused of majestas the ground of incest with his sister Julia Calvinla
in A. D. 32, but was saved by Celsus, one of the [CALVINA]; and he was further compelled by
informers. Claudius soon after his accession re- Claudius to resign the office of praetor. At the
called Silanus from Spain, of which he was at that same time the marriage between himl anld Octavia
time governor, gave him in marriage Domitia was dissolved. At the beginning of the following
Lepida, the mother of his wife Messalina,' and year Octavia was married to Nero; and Silalsms,
treated him otherwise with the greatest distinction. who knew that he would not be allowed to live
TBut shortly afterwards, having refused the em- much longer, put an end to his life on the day of
braces of Messalina, he was put to death by their marriage. (Tac. Ann. xii. 3, 4, 8; Suet.
Claudius on the accusations of Messalina and Nar- Claud. 24, 29; Dion Cass. lx. 5, 31.)
cissus, both of whom said that they had in their 14. D. JUNIus TORQUATUS SILANJUS, probably
dreams seen Silanus attempting to murder the also a son of No. 11, was consul under Clatidils
emperor. (Tac. Ann. iv. 68, vi. 9, xi. 29; Suet. A. D. 53 with Q. Haterius Antoninus. He was
Claud. 29, 37; Dion Cass. lx. 14, who calls him compelled by Nero in A. D. 64 to put an end to his
GCaius Aippius Silanus.) One of the sons of Appius life, because he had boasted of being descended
is called by Tacitus (xiii. I) the abnepos or great- from Augustus. Tacitus says that he had boasted
great-grandson of Augustus. It would therefore of Augustus being his atavzus; but if he was really
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