A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

or FE'NIUS, was appointed by Nero praefectus annonae in A. D. 55, and gained the favour of the people by his discharging the duties of this office without any view to private emolument. He was in consequence appointed praefect of the praetorian cohorts along with Sofonius Tigellinus, in A. D. 62, as Nero wished, by the elevation of Rufus, to counterbalance the unpopularity of the latter appointment. But Rufus never obtained much influence with the emperor, and all the real power was in the hands of his colleague Tigellinus, whose depraved mind was more akin to Nero's own. In addition to this, his friendship with Agrippina had rendered him an object of suspicion to Nero; and he was therefore the more easily induced to take part in the conspiracy of Piso, A. D. 65. On the detection of the conspiracy he was compelled to put an end to his own life, which he did not do with the same firmness as most of his accomplices. His friends shared in his fall, and one was banished simply on account of his intimacy with him. (Tac. Ann. 13.22, 14.51, 57, 15.50, 53, 61, 66, 68, 16.12; D. C. 62.24.)