Background
His mother was the great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus.
politician Ancient Roman senator Roman consul
His mother was the great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus.
Marcus Junius M. f. M. n. Although he was honoured with a consulship by the Emperor Claudius in 46, according to Cassius Dio (601), and he served his proconsulship as Governor of the Province of Asia, Torquatus did not survive the death of that Emperor, whom the historian Tacitus hints was speeded on his way to Godhood by consuming funghi porcini doused with a dose of poison —said to have been administered at the instigation of the emperor"s fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger. (Annales 1257; cf Suetonius, "Deified Claudius" 44).
Although Tacitus exonerates the young Emperor Nero of Torquatus" death, the "first crime of the new principate," (Ann 131), the historian casts Agrippina, Nero"s mother, as the architect of the murder, on the grounds that she feared that Torquatus would act as the avenger of his brother"s death, of which, Tacitus implies, she was the perpetrator (Agrippina fratri eius L Silano necem molita ultorem metuebat ).
The pair committed the crime openly, and the Province of Asia eventually prosecuted Celer for this deed, among others Moreover, according to Tacitus, Nero saw to it that the prosecution was delayed to such an extent that Celer died of old age (Ann 1333).
Upon being exiled to Bari, he was set upon by a centurion and some guards. Young Silanus, however, did not open his veins, when invited to do southern
He went down fighting with his fists, and Tacitus notes that the centurion was forced to run him through with his sword.
His fatal wound, according to the historian, was in front.
As a member of the imperial family, Silanus could therefore be considered a possible candidate for the succession.