Decimus Junius Silanus (consul)

Decimus Junius M. f. D. n. Silanus (fl. 70 BC-62 BC) was a consul of the Roman Republic. He may have been the son of Marcus Junius Silanus, consul in 109 BC. He was the stepfather of Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, having married Brutus' mother, Servilia.

He was aedile in 70 BC, but he lost the election to be a consul of 63. He was successful the following year, and so in consequence of his being consul designatus was first asked for his opinion by Cicero in the debate in the senate on the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators. At first he spoke in favor of "the supreme penalty" for the conspirators, but when Julius Caesar suggested life imprisonment, Silanus insisted that that was what he had really meant. As such, it was left to Cato the Younger to force through the decision to actually execute them.

He was consul in 62 with Lucius Licinius Murena. They proposed the lex Junia Licinia, which enacted that a rogatio, a discussionary meeting, must be promulgated three nundinae, or market-intervals, before the people voted on it. It also confirmed the lex Caecilia Didia.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 

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