B. C. E.) Tribune of the Plebs in 52 b. c.e. and the brother of Lucius Munatius Plancus
Titus was involved in the politics of 52 and had a hand in the burning of the Curia following the death of clodius PULCHER. Put on trial, he was condemned despite the help of POMPEY THE GREAT. Banished, he nevertheless returned in time to fight for Marc Antony at the battle of MUTINA in 43.
Platonism See neoplatonism; philosophy.
Plautianus, Gaius Fulvius (d. 205 c. e.) Prefect of the praetorian guard during the reign of Septimius Severus
Coming from Africa, Plautianus possibly was related to S e v e ruts and thus gained a favorable position in the Praetorians. He was eventually named co-prefect, with Aemil-ius Saturninus, but murdered him sometime around 197
C. E. or earlier. Henceforth he ran the Guard by himself, jealously watching for any possible rivals. As with the prefects who preceded him, Plautianus made himself indispensable to the emperor and so acquired both influence over his master and control over every element of government. The historian Dio condemned his corruption by writing that he wanted everything, demanded every th i n g and took everything, leaving no province or city unplundered. Severus surre n d e red sway over the empire to him, and the consular insignia as well, giving him a consulship in 203, with Geta, the emperor’s younger son.
In 202, Plautianus became attached officially to the imperial family through the marriage of his daughter Plautilla to Geta’s brother, caracalla. As a gift to his child he had 100 Romans, of all classes, castrated to act as her private eunuchs. Caracalla, however, resented the prefect, loathed the daughter and was probably responsible, in 205, for organizing the plot to destroy Plautianus. Accused of conspiring to murder the emperor, Plautianus was stripped of his offices and put to death.
Nothing until 48, when the empress married another paramour, Gaius Silius, in a mock ceremony, an act that brought her indiscretions to light. Because of his uncle, Lateranus was spared by Claudius but was ousted from the Senate. In 65, he became one of the ringleaders in a plot to assassinate Emperor Nero. He despised the tyrant, despite the emperor’s restoration to him of his rights lost in the Messallina affair. When the plot was uncovered, the punishment of death was hurried in his case. Later-anus reportedly met his fate (at a site in the modern Porta Maggiore) with bravery and silence. Tacitus described him as a big man, firm and resolute in character. Juvenal wrote of his luxurious palace on the Caelian Hill as an example of fallen wealth.
Plautilla (d. 211 c. e.) Wife of Caracalla, from 202 to 205 Daughter of the Praetorian Prefect G. Fulvius plautianus, she was betrothed to Caracalla in 200, she wed him in 202, their union proving unhappy, for the imperial heir loathed her and resented Plautianus. The perfect fell from power in 205, and she learned of his death when bits of his beard were given to her. She and her brother Plautius were banished to Lipara, where they lived in constant dread. In 211, Caracalla came to the throne and they were slain. Although her father lavished many gifts upon her, the stories of her wanton habits and adulteries were probably untrue.
Plautius (d. 211 C. E.) Son of Plautianus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard
When his father fell from power in 205 and was executed, Plautius and his sister Plautilla were exiled to Lipara. In 211, he and Plautilla were put to death by order of Caracalla, newly ascended to the throne.
Plautius, Aulus (fl. first century c. e.) Consul in 29 c. e. and the conqueror of Britain for Emperor Claudius in 43 Aulus Plautius had served as the governor of Pannonia, when Claudius chose him in 43 to lead the Roman invasion of Britain. Using superior Roman legions, he defeated the British and Belgic tribes in southern Britain, capturing the capital of Camulodonum. Over the next four years he systematically pacified the old kingdom of Cunobellinus, returning to Rome to accept a deserved OVATIO. According to the historian Tacitus, in 57 he sat in judgment on his wife, Pomponia Graecina, to determine her guilt or innocence on charges of believing in foreign cults (externa superstitio); he found her innocent.
Plautius Lateranus (d. 65 c. e.) Nephew of Aulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain in 43 c. e.
In his time, became embroiled in two major scandals, with Empress messallina in 48 c. e. and in the pisonian CONSPIRACY in 65. Claudius’s chief secretary was aware that Lateranus had become Messallina’s lover but did
Plautius Silvanus, Marcus (fl. early first century c. e.) Consul in 2 b. c.e. and a successful general in the service of Augustus
Marcus Plautius Silvanus held the post of proconsul of Asia before becoming the legate of Galatia. There he possibly fought with the local tribesmen, perhaps the Isauri-ans. In 6 c. e. he marched to the aid of Tiberius in Pannonia with badly needed reinforcements, spending the next three years campaigning in Pannonia and Illyricum. For his victories he received the ornamenta tri-umphalia in 9. Plautius’s two children achieved notoriety. His son, Plautius Silvanus, committed suicide in 24 rather than face condemnation for shoving his wife out of a window. A daughter, Plautia urgulanilla, married Claudius. His mother, Urgulania, was a friend of Livia.
Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, Tiberius (d. 62 c. e.) Consul suffectus in 45 and ordinarius in 74 c. e. and a successful general and governor
Plautius was a legate during the invasion of Britain in 43 C. E., where Claudius showed him favor, possibly because Plautia Urgulanilla, a relative, had once been married to the emperor. Appointed legate of moesia by Nero, Plau-tius achieved success along the lower Danube, despite the limited number of troops at his disposal. Much of the Danube was pacified under his administration, as more than 100,000 tribesmen were relocated to the south bank of the river. Treaties were made with local chieftains, and a massive corn supply was made available to Rome. Nero was typically unwilling to give him any honors, an oversight that Vespasian corrected. The new emperor gave him a second consulship in 74, the ornamenta triumphalia and the governorship of Hispania Tarraconensis. Upon his return to Rome after serving as governor in Spain (c. 74), Vespasian made him prefect of the city.
Plebeians Also called Plebs; the general populace of Rome, separate from the elite class of the patrician s. Although tradition stated that Romulus divided the Roman people into two distinct classes, the differences between the Plebeians and the Patricians were not actually felt until the time of the early Republic. According to law and custom, the Plebs could not enter the priestly colleges, hold magistracies or marry into the class of the patricii. They did command certain rights, including positions in the arm y. The status of the Plebeians was greatly aided by increased organization, to the extent that they could challenge the Patricians as a legitimate ord e r. The plebeius ordo soon had its own assemblies, magistrates, and officials, including tribunes and aediles. As the Patricians dwindled in number by the end of the Republic, the Plebeians filled the vacuum. In the imperial epoch “Plebeian” actually referred to those of the lowest social strata.
See also social classes.
Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) (c. 23-79 C. E.) Writer, cavalry commander, and one of the greatest encyclopedists in Roman history
Pliny was born at Comum, the son of an Equestrian, and received his education probably at Rome. Pursuing an Equestrian career, he helped create the harbor at Ostia for Claudius, drained the Fucine Lake and spent 12 years with the legions, mainly in Germany Leader of a cavalry squadron, he later (54-68 c. E.) wrote on cavalry tactics.
On the accession of Vespasian in 69, he found an imperial patron, first in the new emperor and then in his son Titus, whom he had known from his days in Germania. He was given a procuratorship, and he also served as an adviser to Vespasian and Titus. Awarded the prefect-ship of the fleet at Misenum, he was there in the summer of 79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted. On August 24, he sailed from Misenum to stabiae to observe the volcano. Poisonous gases killed him as he attempted to gather more information for his scientific works. His death was recorded by his nephew and adopted son, pliny the YOUNGER.
As a writer, Pliny used his vast energies and insatiable curiosity to author numerous histories and studies. Regrettably, only the Natural History survives. Other works included: De iaculatione equestri, the analysis of horse tactics; De vita Pomponi Secundi, a biography of Pomponius Secundus, a friend and patron; and Bella Ger-maniae, a 20-volume history of the wars between Rome and the German tribes down to 47 c. E., later used by Tacitus in both his Annals and Germania. Pliny also wrote Studiosi, a three-part guide on oratory; Dubius Sernio, an eight-volume treatise on suspect or doubtful language or linguistic forms; and A fine Aufidi Bassi, or From Where Aufidius Bassus Left Off, a continuation of the Roman history of Bassus in 30 books, covering possibly the reigns of Claudius and Nero with the civil war of 69, composed in the more liberal times of the Flavians, from 71 to 77.
While knowledge of these works comes only from descriptions by Pliny the Younger, Pliny’s masterwork survived: the Naturalis Historia, 37 books with a preface, index and collections pertaining to the cosmos, geography, humanity, zoology, botany, medicine, mineralogy, art, and architecture. in his preface, Pliny wrote that he consulted 100 authors and 2,000 volumes, having amassed 20,000 individual facts. But as Pliny enlarged his work with each new discovery, the total number of books listed is over 4,000, and the facts were correspondingly higher. Although his approach was unscientific, he nevertheless succeeded in compiling a stunning array of data on the important, the trivial and even the absurd, and helped preserve many fragments of ancient works that would otherwise have been lost.
World History
