Page "Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus" Paragraph 1

According to Dio, Thrasea belonged to a distinguished and wealthy family.

It is certain that this family came from Patavium, but it is not known whether he was born there or in Rome.

Certainly he maintained close links with Patavium, in later life taking an important part in the city's traditional festival.

Nothing is known for certain of his early career, nor through whose influence he succeeded in entering the senate.

By 42, however, he was married to Caecinia Arria, daughter of Caecina Paetus ( suffect consul in 37 ).

In that year Caecina was implicated in the revolt of Scribonianus against Claudius, probably with the aim of restoring the republic.

According to his daughter Fannia, whose account is preserved in a letter of Pliny, Thrasea attempted unsuccessfully to prevent his mother-in-law Arria from killing herself along with her husband.

It was probably after the death of Caecina Paetus that Thrasea added the name Paetus to his own, a very unusual step for a son-in-law and one which advertised his connection with an enemy of the emperor.