1. M.SalviusOtho, the grandfather of the emperor Otho, was descended from an ancient and noble family of the town of Ferentinum, in Etruria. His father was a Roman eques, his mother was of low origin, perhaps even a freedwoman. Through the influence of Livia Augusta, in whose house he had been brought up, Otho was made a Roman senator, and eventually obtained the praetorship, but was not advanced to any higher honour. (Suet. Otho 1; Tac. Hist. 2.50.)