Decimus Junius Silanus (consul)

Decimus Junius M. f. D. n. Silanus (fl. 70 BC-62 BC) was a consul of the Roman Republic. He may have been the son of Marcus Junius Silanus, consul in 109 BC. He was the stepfather of Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, having married Brutus' mother, Servilia.

Biography

Marriage

Silanus married Servilia, the mother of Brutus, after her first husband died. Together they had four children, a son, Marcus Junius Silanus, and three daughters, Junia Prima, Junia Secunda, and Junia Tertia. Tertia was rumoured to be the daughter of Julius Caesar, who had been Servilia's lover.[lower-alpha 1]

Political career

He was aedile in 70 BC, but he lost the election to be a consul of 63. He was successful the following year, and so in consequence of his being consul designatus was first asked for his opinion by Cicero in the debate in the senate on the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators. At first he spoke in favor of "the supreme penalty" for the conspirators, but when Julius Caesar suggested life imprisonment, Silanus insisted that was what he had really meant. As such, it was left to Cato the Younger to force through the decision to actually execute them.

He was consul in 62 with Lucius Licinius Murena. They proposed the lex Junia Licinia, which provided that a rogatio (a proposed law) must be promulgated three nundinae, or market-intervals, before the people voted on it. It also confirmed the lex Caecilia Didia.[2]

Notes

Servilia's oldest child by her first marriage, Marcus Junius Brutus, was also rumoured to be Caesar's illegitimate child.[1]

Footnotes

Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 5.2.
Cicero, The correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero, Note V p. 429. See also rogatio.

References

Appian, Bellum Civilum, ii.5.
Cicero, de Officiis, ii.16; ad Atticum, i.1, ii.9, iv.16, xii.21.7; in Catilinam, iv.4; pro Sestio, 64; in Vatinum, 14; Philippics, v.3.
Cicero, The correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero, Volume 1, Edition 2 1885 (Google Books)
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, ii.35.
Plutarch, Cicero, 20, 21; Cato Minor, 22.
Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, 50.
Suetonius, Caesar, 14.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Silanus, Junius (5)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 3. pp. 819–20.

Political offices
Preceded by Gaius Antonius Hybrida and Marcus Tullius Cicero	Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Licinius Murena 62 BC	Succeeded by Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi Calpurnianus

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[2] Servilia's oldest child by her first marriage, Marcus Junius Brutus, was also rumoured to be Caesar's illegitimate child.[1]

[1] Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 5.2.

[3] Cicero, The correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero, Note V p. 429. See also rogatio.