Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix

Pallas and the Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus are in 56, two years after Nero’s accession, accused of conspiring to have Faustus Sulla declared emperor.

Seneca is accused of having relations with Agrippina and embezzlement.

The conspirators are put on trial, but Faustus does not appear to have been implicated.

Seneca succeeds in having himself, Pallas and Burrus acquitted.

According to Cassius Dio, at this time, Seneca and Burrus reduce their role in governing from careful management to mere moderation of Nero.

Nero, however, begins to watch his brother-in-law closely, afraid of his connection to the imperial family.

Nero had begun taking on a more active role as an administrator in 55; he will serve as consul four times between 55 and 60.

During this period, some ancient historians speak fairly well of Nero and contrast it with his later rule.

Another imperial freedman had falsely accused Faustus of plotting to attack Nero, possibly at the latter's instigation, in 58.

Nero treats Faustus as proven guilty.

Faustus is exiled in 59 and confined to Massilia (modern Marseille, France).

In this year, Nero becomes romantically involved with Poppaea Sabina, the wife of his friend and future emperor Otho.

The parents of Poppaea Sabina were Titus Ollius of Picenum (modern Marche and Abruzzo, Italy), a quaestor in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, and Poppaea Sabina, called the Elder to distinguish her from her daughter.

Ollius' friendship with the infamous Imperial palace guardsman Lucius Aelius Sejanus had ruined him, before gaining public office.

A unknown minor character in Imperial politics, Titus Ollius dies in 31.

Poppaea's mother remarried Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio (I), who was a divisional commander in 22, consul in 24 and later a senator.

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio (II), who is most probably Poppaea's stepbrother, had served as a consul in 56 and will later serve as a senator.

Poppaea Sabina was a distinguished woman, whom Tacitus, describing her as ‘the loveliest woman of her day’, praises as a wealthy woman and a woman of distinction.

In 47, she had committed suicide as an innocent victim of the intrigues of the Roman Empress Valeria Messalina, having been charged with committing adultery with former consul Decimus Valerius Asiaticus.

Poppaea Sabina's first marriage was to Rufrius Crispinus, a man of equestrian rank.

They married in 44, when Poppaea was fourteen years old.

He was the leader of the Praetorian Guard during the first ten years of the reign of the Emperor Claudius, until 51, when Claudius's new wife Agrippina the Younger, regarding him as loyal to the deceased Messalina's memory, removed him from this position and replaced him with Sextus Afranius Burrus.

During their marriage, Poppaea had given birth to his son, a younger Rufrius Crispinus.

Poppaea next married Otho, who is seven years younger than she.

Nero falls in love with Poppaea and she becomes his mistress.

According to Tacitus, Poppaea divorced Otho in 58 and focused her attentions solely on becoming empress of Rome and Nero's new wife.

Otho is ordered away to be governor of Lusitania.

Suetonius places these events after 59.

According to Tacitus, Poppaea was ambitious, ruthless, and bisexual.

He reports that Poppaea married Otho to get close to Nero and then, in turn, became Nero's favorite mistress.