Marcus Didius Falco: Curriculum Vitae
 Family:
Born AD41, Rome, Italy, to M. Didius Favonius (aka Geminus) and
Junilla Tacita. Plebian rank, father an auctioneer. Brother M.
Didius Festus, legio XV Apollinaris, killed AD68, Bethel,
Judaea; awarded Palisaded Crown.
Marriage: Helena Justina, d of D. Camillus Verus, senator, and
Julia Justa. d Julia Junilla Laeitana, b AD73 Barcino, Hispania
Tarraconensis; d Sosia Favonia, b AD75.
see
Falco Family Tree (PDF file)
Career:
cAD59, legio II Augusta, service in Britain (legion disgraced,
AD69); subsequently a speculator, location unknown; discharged
on ? medical grounds, cAD66. Active as an informer (delator) in
Rome; few details survive. Recorded engagements as imperial
agent: Britain, AD71/2 and AD75 (conjectural sightings at
Fishbourne Palace and Londinium); Magna Graecia/Campania, AD71;
Germania/Germania Libera, AD71; Nabataea/Syria AD72; Baetica/Tarraconensis,
AD73; Tripolitania/Cyrenaïca, AD74. Sighting in Greece, AD76,
now thought to have been a private visit.
Ascendancy believed to date from AD74, possibly after work on
the Great Census, ? due to influence of Antonia Caenis, though
she is known to have died in that period. Recorded as holding a
procuratorial position at Temple of Juno Moneta, conjecturally
identified as associated with the Sacred Geese and Augurs'
Chickens (though this is contested on grounds of improbability).
A period of relative prosperity almost certainly followed, when
he may have dabbled in literary pursuits and the law. Took up
with the Camillus brothers, relatives of his wife; they were
subsequently notorious for political intrigue.
Connections:
Vespasian and Titus thought well of Falco and used him for
missions requiring discretion; Domitian loathed him, reason
unknown. Camillus Verus was a supporter, but had awkward family
background. Falco formed friendships with influential members of
the Flavian court, notably Julius Frontinus (for whom he worked
under cover in Britain) and Rutilius Gallicus with whom he
shared an interest in poetry (putative joint recital, AD74 and
murky link, ? related to captured Veleda, in late AD77). There
are recently identified links with élite informers Paccius
Africanus and Silius Italicus, against whom he spoke in the
Basilica Julia, in AD76 or 77.
Publications:
(Fragments only) The Spook Who Spoke, a Plautine comedy,
tentatively identified as the prototype for Hamlet; known to
have been performed in Palmyra in AD72. Love poems (the Aglaia
sequence) have not survived. Contemporaries deemed his Satires
his best work, the favourite being a contemplation on parrots
addressed to his personal friend L. Petronius Longus. Speech
against Paccius Africanus, In re Calpurnia, appears to have been
suppressed for political reasons. |
