Herennius Senecio (d AD 93)
editRoman senator allied with the so-called 'Stoic opposition' to the emperors of the second half of the first century. Senecio (his praenomen is unknown) was born in Hispania Baetica and served as quaestor in the same province. In 93 he joined Pliny the Younger in prosecuting Baebius Massa for extortion (a repetundae case) as governor of Baetica. Massa was condemned, but made a counter-charge of impietas (disloyalty) against Senecio. Mettius Carus successfully concluded the case against him, in a climate of deep distrust between the majority of the senate and the emperor Domitian. Against Senecio was urged a deliberate refusal to hold any office higher than the quaestorship, and his authorship of a book about the well-known champion of senatorial freedom Helvidius Priscus. At the same time, prosecutions were launched against Helvidius' son, also Helvidius Priscus, and Q. Iunius Arulenus Rusticus; all three were condemned to death, and the books of Senecio and Rusticus were burned. Helvidius' widow Clodia Fannia, who had supplied Senecio with documents for his work, was exiled, along with her mother, the younger Arria, widow of Thrasea Paetus, and the brother and (probably) wife of Rusticus, Iunius Mauricus and Gratilla.
References
editPliny, Letters
Cassius Dio 67.13.2