Manius Aemilius Lepidus (consul 11)

Manius Aemilius Lepidus was a Roman senator who was active during the Principate. He was ordinary consul in AD 11 as the colleague of Titus Statilius Taurus.[1] Tacitus reports that Augustus, while discussing possible rivals for the Roman Emperor Tiberius on his deathbed, described him as worthy of becoming emperor (capax imperii), but "disdainful" of supreme power.[2]

Biography

Early life

Lepidus has been assumed to be the son of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger and his wife Servilia Isaurica, but modern-day historians believe he was more likely the nephew of Lepidus the Younger. He had a sister named Aemilia Lepida.

Career

After 5 BC, but prior to acceding to the consulship, Lepidus was co-opted as an Augur.[3] He defended his sister at her trial in AD 20. At the trial of Clutorius Priscus, he argued without success that the proposed death sentence was excessively harsh.[4][5] In AD 21, he achieved the pinacle of a Senatorial career, the proconsular governorship of Asia.[6]

Ronald Syme has argued, very cogently, that it was not Manius but Marcus Lepidus, consul in 6 BCE, who defended Clutorius Priscus, see Syme, R. (1955). Marcus Lepidus, Capax Imperii. The Journal of Roman Studies, 45, 22–33. https://doi.org/10.2307/298740

Personal life

He had a daughter also called Aemilia Lepida who married Emperor Galba.[7]

Family

v t e Brutus family tree
Salonia (2) Cato the Elder Licinia (1) Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus Marcus Livius Drusus Marcus Porcius Cato (2) Livia Quintus Servilius Caepio (1) Marcus Livius Drusus Atilia (1) Cato the Younger Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adopted son Marcus Junius Brutus (1) Servilia, mistress of Julius Caesar (see AUGUSTUS below) Decimus Junius Silanus (2) Servilia Gnaeus Servilius Caepio Lucius Appuleius SATURNINUS Marcus Porcius Cato Porcia Marcus Junius Brutus† Junia Prima Junia Tertia Gaius Cassius Longinus x Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 78 BC) Appuleia, daughter of SATURNINUS Junia Secunda Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir) Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 50 BC) Descendant of POMPEY MAGNUS and Lucius Cornelius SULLA son Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Minor (the Younger) Servilia Isaurica, daughter of Junia Prima (see above) and Publius Servilius Isauricus Emperor AUGUSTUS (possibly, see JULIO-CLAUDIANS for descendants) Paullus Aemilius Lepidus Cornelia, daughter of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Scribonia, wife of AUGUSTUS and mother of Julia the Elder Manius Aemilius Lepidus Aemilia Lepida II Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 1) Julia the Younger, daughter of Julia the Elder and Marcus Vispanius Agrippa, see AUGUSTUS and Cornelia above Aemilia Lepida Servius Sulpicius GALBA Aemilia Lepida CLAUDIUS, see AUGUSTUS above and JULIO-CLAUDIANS Lucius Vitellius (consul 34) Junia Calvina Lucius Vitellius (consul 48) Aulus VITELLIUS (for Otho's relation, in terms of the Year of the Four Emperors, he married Poppaea Sabina, who married NERO, see AUGUSTUS and CLAUDIUS above)
(1): 1st spouse (2): 2nd spouse †: assassin of Caesar
Notes:

References

1. Attilio Degrassi, I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952), p. 7
2. Tacitus, Annales, 1.13
3. Martha W. Hoffman Lewis, The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians (Rome: American Academy, 1955), p. 43
4. Shotter, D. C. A. (April 1969). "The Trial of Clutorius Priscus". Greece & Rome. 16 (1): 14–18. doi:10.1017/S0017383500016260. JSTOR 642891.
5. Rogers, Robert Samuel (January 1932). "Two Criminal Cases Tried before Drusus Caesar". Classical Philology. 27 (1): 75–79. doi:10.1086/361432. JSTOR 265249.
6. Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), pp. 192
7. Barrett, Anthony A. (2002). Agrippina: Mother of Nero. Roman Imperial Biographies. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 9781134618637.

Political offices
Preceded by Servius Cornelius Lentulus Maluginensis, and Quintus Junius Blaesus as Suffect consuls	Consul of the Roman Empire AD 11 with Titus Statilius Taurus	Succeeded by Lucius Cassius Longinus as Suffect consul