Silanus, Junius

12. M. Junius Silanus, a son of No. 11, was consul under Claudius A. D. 46 with Valerius Asiaticus. He was born in the same year in which Augustus died, A. D. 14, and it is mentioned by Pliny as a singular fact that Augustus lived to see his great-great-grandson. Silanus was proconsul of Asia at the succession of Nero in, A. D. 54, and was poisoned by command of Agrippina, who feared that he might avenge the death of his brother [No. 13], and that his descent from Augustus might lead him to be preferred to the youthful Nero (D. C. 60.27; Plin. Nat. 7.11; Tac. Ann. 13.4). Tacitus relates (l.c.) that Silanus was so far from being ambitious, that Caligula used to call him his " pecus aurea," but Dio Cassius (59.8) with more probability refers this epithet to the father in-law of Caligula [No. 8].