Aulus Cremutius Cordus

Aulus Cremutius Cordus (c. ? - 25 AD) was a Roman historian. There are very few remaining fragments of his work, that covered the civil war and the reign of Augustus Caesar. In 25 AD he was forced by Sejanus who was praetorian prefect under Tiberius to take his life. He was accused for having eulogized Brutus and spoken of Cassius as the last of the Romans, which was considered an offence under the lex majestatis, and the senate ordered the burning of his writings. Seneca, however, tells us that he most likely incured Sejanus' displeasure for critizising him, because he 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, Suetonius and Dio Cassius.