Gaius Septicius Clarus (''
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
'' 2nd century CE), 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' ...
of the
Roman imperial
bodyguard
A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...
(better known as the
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...
) and influential as a friend and supporter of famous
Silver Age
The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation.
Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...
authors
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and e ...
and
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
.
Praetorian prefect
Little is known of Septicius Clarus' early career but soon after
Hadrian
Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
became emperor he was considered capable and experienced enough to be appointed to the position of Praetorian Prefect, replacing
Servius Sulpicius Similis in c. 119 CE. This was one of the most powerful positions in the Roman administration. However, a few years later (c. 122 CE) Septicius was dismissed from his post as prefect after Hadrian alleged he had been treating the empress
Vibia Sabina "in a more informal fashion than the etiquette of the court demanded." His friend the imperial secretary Suetonius was dismissed for the same reason.
Literary connections
In the first letter of his famous collection of correspondence, the ''
Epistulae'',
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and e ...
credits Septicius’ constant urgings for motivating him to publish his letters. The intimate friendship between the two is evident in another letter where Pliny playfully chides Septicius for not appearing at a lavish dinner party. In another letter, to Apollinaris, Pliny writes of Septicius Clarus: "I never met anyone more sterling, simple, frank, and trustworthy."
Septicius Clarus was also a friend of the historian Suetonius who dedicated his famous collection of biographies of the early emperors, ''
The Twelve Caesars
''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'' or ''The Lives of the Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman Emperor, emperors of the Roma ...
'', to him.
Family
Septicius’ family was prominent in 2nd Century CE Rome. His brother
Marcus Erucius Clarus was
suffect consul in 117 CE and conquered and burned the city of
Seleucia
Seleucia (; ), also known as or or Seleucia ad Tigrim, was a major Mesopotamian city, located on the west bank of the Tigris River within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. It was founded around 305 BC by Seleucus I Nicator as th ...
during Trajan's eastern campaign. His nephew
Sextus Erucius Clarus was twice
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 thro ...
and also
City Prefect.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Septicius Clarus, Gaius
2nd-century praetorian prefects
Clarus, Gaius Septicius