View source for Marcus Ostorius Scapula (consul 59)

{{short description|1st century Roman soldier, senator and consul}}
'''Marcus Ostorius Scapula''' (died AD 65) was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Roman senate|senator]], who was active during the [[Principate]]. He was [[Roman consul|suffect consul]] in the second half of the year 59 as the colleague of [[Titus Sextius Africanus]].<ref>Paul A. Gallivan, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/638490 "Some Comments on the Fasti for the Reign of Nero"], ''[[Classical Quarterly]]'', 24 (1974), p. </ref> He was the son of [[Publius Ostorius Scapula]], governor of [[Roman Britain]] (47-52).<ref name=Tacitus-31>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annales (Tacitus)|Annales]]'', XII.31</ref>
Scapula first appears in history as a soldier in one of the units stationed in his father's province of Roman Britain. During a battle against the [[Iceni]], the younger Ostorius Scapula saved a fellow soldier's life and was afterwards awarded the [[civic crown]].<ref name=Tacitus-31/> It is possible he had been commissioned a [[military tribune]]; in any case, his career after this point until he achieved the consulate is unknown.  In 62, Scapula was involved in a legal suit where the [[praetor]] [[Antistius Sosianus]] was accused of violating the ''[[lex maiestas]]'' by composing verses mocking [[Nero]] which Sosianus recited at a large gathering at Scapula's house. Although Scapula claimed he had heard nothing, several witnesses present at the time were produced who attested Sosianus had recited the verses, and the accused was found guilty and punished with exile.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'', XIV.42</ref>
When Sosianus was recalled from exile three years later, according to [[Tacitus]], he learned that the occupation of ''[[delator]]'', or informer, was favored by the emperor Nero, and Sosianus accused Scapula of seeking to make himself emperor. Nero readily believed him. At the time Scapula was living on a remote estate on the [[Liguria]]n border, whence a [[centurion]] was dispatched to ensure Scapula's death. Thus pressured, Ostorius Scapula killed himself.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'', XVI.14f</ref>
== References ==
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{{s-bef|before=[[Gaius Vipstanus Apronianus]],<br/>and [[Gaius Fonteius Capito (consul 59)|Gaius Fonteius Capito]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of early imperial Roman consuls|Suffect consul]] of the [[Roman Empire]] |years=59 |regent1=[[Titus Sextius Africanus]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Nero]] IV,<br/>and [[Cossus Cornelius Lentulus (consul AD 60)|Cossus Cornelius Lentulus]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostorius Scapula, Marcus}}
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]
[[Category:Ancient Romans in Britain]]
[[Category:65 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Suicides in Ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Ostorii|Scapula]]