Relatives
Plautius was a (probably distant) relative of Claudius's first wife, Plautia Urgulanilla. Quintus Plautius, who was consul in 36, was probably his younger brother. His sister married Publius Petronius; their (adopted?) son, Publius Petronius Turpilianus, was later consul and governor of Britain.
Plautius's wife, Pomponia Graecina, after the execution of her kinswoman Julia Drusi Caesaris by Claudius and Messalina, remained in mourning for forty years in open, and unpunished, defiance of the emperor. In 57 she was charged with a "foreign superstition", interpreted by some to mean conversion to Christianity. According to Roman law, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and was acquitted.
Plautius was probably the uncle whose "distinguished service" saved Plautius Lateranus from the death penalty in 48 after his affair with Messalina. By the time Lateranus was eventually executed, in 65 for his part in a conspiracy against Nero, his uncle was probably dead and could no longer help him.
Read more about this topic: Aulus Plautius
Famous quotes containing the word relatives:
“The relatives of a suicide hold it against him that out of consideration for their reputation he did not remain alive.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Every milestone of a firstborn is scrutinized, photographed, recorded, replayed, and retold by doting parents to admiring relatives and disinterested friends. . . . While subsequent children will strive to keep pace with siblings a few years their senior, the firstborn will always have a seemingly Herculean task of emulating his adult parents.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“The poor in bustling towns aren’t called upon, but the rich deep in the mountains have relatives visiting them from afar.”
—Chinese proverb.