41 AD - Ab epistulis In January 41, he reportedly had great influence over the emperor and amassed a great deal of money. He is said to have conspired with Claudius' third wife
Valeria Messalina to manipulate him into having several men executed, although this is unproven. However, the sources admit that Narcissus, as Claudius' own former slave, was extremely loyal to the emperor, and so entrusted with more responsibility than the others.
43 AD - Invasion of Britannia In 43, during the preparations for the
Roman conquest of Britain, he headed off a mutiny by addressing the troops. Seeing a former
slave in their commander's position, they cried "
Io Saturnalia!" (
Saturnalia was a Roman festival when slaves and masters switched places for the day) and the mutiny ended. It was through his influence that the future emperor
Vespasian was appointed
legate of the
Legio II Augusta in
Germania.
48 AD - Silius Affair In 48, when Messalina married
Gaius Silius, it was Narcissus who warned Claudius about Messalina, and seeing the emperor hesitate, he gave the order for her execution himself. Narcissus may have feared that
Britannicus, Claudius's son with Messalina, would hold a grudge against him for this role. When the time came for the emperor to select his fourth wife, Narcissus suggested to Claudius to remarry
Aelia Paetina, the emperor's second wife. Anthony Barrett suggests that Narcissus' intention was to allow Claudius reason to pick
Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, the husband of Claudius and Aelia's daughter
Claudia Antonia, as his successor rather than the hostile Britannicus. It would also have given Claudius an adult heir, for which he was looking to shore up his position.
49 AD - Agrippina the Younger In 49 AD, after Claudius chose
Agrippina the Younger in order to consolidate the Julio-Claudian family, and picked her son, the future Emperor
Nero, to fill the role of temporary older heir, Narcissus allied with Britannicus' circle in order to secure his future. Claudius still trusted Narcissus, and had him named
praetor. He was charged with overseeing the construction of a canal to drain
Fucine Lake, but Agrippina, now Claudius's fourth wife, accused him of embezzling funds from the project, possibly as punishment for his support of Britannicus. According to Tacitus, Narcissus hoped to bring down Agrippina by revealing her affair with the freedman
Pallas, which would also have destroyed her son. He supposedly told Britannicus of his plans in front of others, and was brazen in his intentions, promising to right all wrongs against him. It has been suggested that this last detail is an example of Tacitus altering facts to make Claudius a passive character in his reign. Suetonius and Dio report that, after reconciling with Britannicus, Claudius, not Narcissus, openly planned to bring Agrippina down.
54 AD - Execution In any case, Agrippina was suspicious of Narcissus and had him sent away to
Campania, ostensibly to take advantage of the warm baths there to relieve his
gout. This was probably intended to remove him as an obstacle of the assassination of Claudius and the accession of Nero. Agrippina ordered Narcissus' execution within weeks of Claudius' death in October, 54. Shortly after the announcement Narcissus returned to Rome. Just before his imprisonment and execution, he burned all Claudius' letters to prevent Nero from using their contents for nefarious ends.
Marriage One extant funerary inscription records one Claudia Dicaeosyna as the "affectionate and frugal wife" of one Tiberius Claudius Narcissus, but whether he is identical to the emperor Claudius's freedman is uncertain. Her name suggests a Greek origin. == As a character in literature ==