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SUMMARY: Very little information survives about the career of M. Cocceius Nerva before he became Roman Emperor in A.D. 96. His importance by the end of Nero's reign is demonstrated by the rewards bestowed on him in 65 after the suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy; thereafter he became ordinary consul with Vespasian in 71 and with Domitian in 90. In this paper the attempt is made to explain by plausible hypothesis why Nerva was so highly regarded by both Vespasian and Domitian, and also how and why he succeeded Domitian in 96.
ALTHOUGH THE FUTURE EMPEROR NERVA Was of distinguished background, with a consular ancestor during the triumviral period and a grandfather and father who were both distinguished jurists,1 our information about him before his accession in A.rD. 96 is decidedly sparse. There is one inscription, one mention of him in the Annals of Tacitus, two short epigrams addressed to him by Martial, and entries in the Fasti indicating that he was consul ordinarius (member of the first pair of consuls in any year, usually as colleague to the Emperor) first in 71 and then again in 90.2 I have discussed his involvement in the suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy elsewhere (Murison forthcoming); here it is the two ordinary consulships and the questions they raise for the period from the fall of Nero to the latter part of the principate of Domitian which are under consideration.
For the year 71 the consular Fasti reveal that, in this first year when Vespasian was actually in Rome on 1 st January and most of the tumult arising from the troubles of 68-70 had died down, the ordinary consuls were the Emperor Vespasian and M. Cocceius Nerva-this being the only time during his principate when Vespasian as consul did not share the office with his elder son Titus. We must ask-why Nerva?
In 90, after the suppression of the revolt of L. Antonius Saturninus in Upper Germany at a time when Domitian had many supporters to honour and reward for their loyalty to himself and the regime (in fact, there were 13 consuls that year), the ordinary consuls were the Emperor Domitian and M. Cocceius Nerva. Once again...