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 Caepionis.

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 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 enacted that a rogatio, a discussionary meeting, must be promulgated three nundinae, or market-intervals, before the people voted on it. It also confirmed the lex Caecilia Didia.

See also

• Junia (gens)

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.

Family tree

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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