Lucius Fulcinius Trio

Lucius (or Gaius) Fulcinius Trio[1] (died 35 CE) was a Roman senator who came from a plebeian family. Trio was an active prosecutor (accusator) during the reign of Tiberius who developed a reputation for making accusations. He held the office of consul suffect with Publius Memmius Regulus in 31.[2] His friendship with Sejanus would lead to allegations that ended with his suicide in early 35.

Career

Trio had a reputation as an accusator, that is, for making accusations (lit. accuser). The first accusation he made was in 16: he had joined the prosecution against praetor Marcus Scribonius Libo and his brother Lucius Scribonius Libo, that they had been conspiring against the emperor.[3] The other accusators were Firmius Catus, Fonteius Agrippa, and Gaius Vibius. Among the accusations were Libo consulting persons to see whether or not he would have enough money to build the Appian Way (Via Appia) as far as Brundisium, which Tacitus describes as "absurd".[4] In fact, Tacitus' opinion on the whole matter was that the prosecution was "senseless and idle" with its accusations.[4]

The trial was taken to Senate and the Scribonii brothers were tried by Tiberius himself. On the defence was a maternal relative, Publius Sulpicius Quirinus.[4] Tiberius wanted to investigate Libo's slaves but there was a senatorial decree preventing confessions by tortured slaves from being used in trials against their own masters. To get around this Tiberius had Libo's slaves sold to the treasury agent, then the accusations made against Libo were considered confirmed by Libo's ex slaves.[4] Libo killed himself on 13 September 16 AD as a result and his property was divided among his accusers – including Trio.[5]

Trio is an accusator again in 20 CE. This time he brought charges against Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso concerning his governance of Spain. Tiberius gave the prosecution two days to bring forward charges against Piso and, after a six-day interval, the defense was to occupy three days. Trio began with "old and irrelevant" charges of intrigues and extortion.[6] The other prosecutors – Servaeus, Veranius, and Vitellius – were more successful in their prosecution of Piso. He was charged with: corrupting the soldiers of his rival Germanicus and that his province had been at their mercy, that he had been abusive to the friends and companions of Germanicus, that he had insulted his chief, and finally that he had poisoned Germanicus during a banquet. Only the charge of poison had been cleared. [6] Piso later committed suicide as a result of the charges brought against him.[7]

During the consulship of Tiberius and Sejanus on 21 January 31, Trio offered shared client status to several freemen of the Stertinia family.[I 1] Their names were: Q. (Quintus) Stertinius Bassus, Q. Stertinius Rufus, and Lucius Stertinius Rufinus. Bassus was the father of Rufus and the grandfather of Rufinus.

On 1 July 31, Trio became consul suffect, and from 1 October he shared the consulship with Regulus.[I 2] His term ended in December as usual.

Downfall

During his consulship in 31, Trio indirectly censured his colleague Regulus as having acted half-heartedly in crushing the subordinates of Sejanus who had attempted a play for power earlier that year. For the accusation, Regulus was for bringing Trio to trial as an accomplice in Sejanus' conspiracy, but the trial was postponed by Quintus Sanquinius Maximus as to not give anxiety to the emperor.[8]

In 35, Trio was accused and thrown in prison as a friend of Sejanus and for allegedly supporting his cause. He would have been brought to trial if he had not taken his own life first.[9] He left a will insulting Tiberius and Macro which his sons tried to suppress, but the emperor had made public in a display of tolerance of free speech in others.[10]

Inscriptions

  1. ↑ AE 1953, 88
  2. ↑ CIL X, 1233

References

  1. ↑ PIR F 349
  2. ↑ Alison E. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy (Cambridge: University Press, 2012), p. 460
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 2.27-32
  4. 1 2 3 4 Tacitus, Annales 2.30
  5. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 2.32
  6. 1 2 Tacitus, Annales, 3.13-14
  7. ↑ Tacitus, Annales, 3.15
  8. ↑ Tacitus, Annales, 5.11; 6.4
  9. ↑ Cassius Dio, Roman History, 58.25.2
  10. ↑ Tacitus, Annales, 6.38

Sources

  • Dessau, Hermann (1897). Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec I. II. III. Berlin. p. 91.
Political offices
Preceded by
Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus,
and Sextus Tedius Valerius Catullus
as Consul suffectus		 Suffect Consul of the Roman Empire
31
with Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus,
followed by Publius Memmius Regulus		 Succeeded by
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus,
and Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus
as Consul ordinarius
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