Cornelius Laco (died 69) was a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

imperial bodyguard, known as the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

, under

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Galba from 68 until his death on 15 January of AD 69. Laco acceded to this office upon the suicide of the previous emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

, replacing Gaius Ophonius Tigellinus as head of the Guard. Galba's rule proved to be short lived however. His advanced age had destroyed his energy, and he was entirely in the hands of favorites. Laco, together with

Titus Vinius Titus Vinius (12 – 69) was a Roman general and one of the most powerful men in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Galba. Stories Plutarch has a number of stories of Vinius' early life, all to his discredit. He says that when, as a young ...

, who became Galba's colleague as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

, and Galba's freedman

Icelus Martianus Icelus Martianus (died 69 CE) was a freedman of and adviser to the Roman Emperor Galba. Icelus had been imprisoned and released during the revolt against Nero and was present at Nero's suicide where he granted Nero's request that his body would b ...

, were said to virtually control the emperor, even being called "the three pedagogues" because of their influence on him. All this made the new emperor gravely unpopular, and on January 15 69, Marcus Salvius Otho was proclaimed Emperor in his place. Galba was assassinated; Laco was banished to an island where he was later murdered by soldiers of Otho.

References

69 deaths 1st-century Romans Praetorian prefects Year of birth unknown Cornelii Ancient Roman exiles Ancient Roman murder victims {{AncientRome-bio-stub