the husband of Agrippina, and consequently the step-father of the Emperor Nero. He was a man of great wealth and distinction, and in A. D. 42 he was raised to the consulship. He is praised both by Seneca the philosopher (Quaest. Nat. iv. Praef., de Benef. 1.15), and by Seneca the rhetorician (Controv. 2.13) as one of the first orators of the time, especially for his acuteness and subtilty. Quintilian too (6.1.50, 3.74, 10.1.24) speaks of him with high esteem and quotes passages from his orations.