Aulus Cremutius Cordus

Aulus Cremutius Cordus (died 25 AD) was a Roman historian. There are very few remaining fragments of his work, principally covering the civil war and the reign of Augustus. In AD 25 he was forced by Sejanus, who was praetorian prefect under Tiberius, to take his life after being accused violating the lex maiestas. Life and death Cordus was accused of treason by Satrius Secundus for having eulogized Brutus and spoken of Cassius as the last of the Romans. The Senate ordered the burning of his writings. Seneca the Younger, however, tells us that he most likely incurred Sejanus' displeasure for criticising him, because Sejanus had commissioned a statue of himself. We also know from this source—a letter to Cordus' daughter Marcia—that he starved himself to death. She was also instrumental in saving his work, so that it could be published again under Caligula. Apart from Seneca, he is mentioned by Tacitus, Quintilian, Suetonius and Dio Cassius. Even though Cordus committed suicide, his work survived. The charge was, according to Tacitus, "a new charge for the first time heard" (novo ac tunc primum audito crimine). According to Mary R. McHugh, no one had been charged with maiestas (treason) for writing a history (editis annalibus). Tacitus wrote of him: A few years after Cordus's death, Seneca the Younger wrote Ad Marciam in order to console Marcia, Cordus's daughter, on the occasion of her son Metilius's death. Even though Ad Marciam is not primarily about Cordus, Seneca indicates that the works of Cordus had been re-published. Suetonius unequivocally asserts that the works of Cremutius Cordus were put back into circulation during the reign of Gaius [Caligula].