Few details of Velleius' life are known with certainty; even his
praenomen is uncertain.
Priscian, the only ancient author to mention it, calls him "Marcus", but the title page of the
editio princeps, printed in 1520, calls him "Publius", probably due to confusion with a Publius Velleius mentioned in
Tacitus. Elsewhere, the same volume calls him
Gaius. Some modern writers use the latter name, based on an inscription found on a milestone at
El Harrouch in
Algeria, once part of Roman
Numidia; but the inscription identifies this Gaius Velleius Paterculus as
legatus Augusti, an office that the historian is not known to have held, and it is thought to date from the reigns of
Claudius or
Nero, by which time he is thought to have been dead. The
Gaius Velleius Paterculus referred to may be the same man who was
consul in AD 60, and a
Lucius Velleius Paterculus was consul in the following year; but it is not apparent how either of them were related to the historian. Our remaining information comes from Velleius' own brief description of his life, included in his history. He was born into a noble
Campanian family about 19 BC, although the place of his birth is unknown. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Minatus Magius of
Aeculanum in
Samnium, who received the
Roman franchise for his actions during the
Social War. Several of his ancestors in subsequent generations held important
magistracies or military commands, including his uncle, Capito, who was a member of the
Roman Senate. As a young man, Velleius served as a
military tribune in Rome's eastern provinces. In AD 2, he was with the army of
Gaius Caesar, and personally witnessed the meeting between the young general and
Phraates V of
Parthia on the banks of the
Euphrates. Two years later, Velleius was a cavalry
prefect serving in the command of
Tiberius in
Germania, having already held the office of
praefectus castrorum. He continued as a senior member of Tiberius' staff until the future emperor's return to Rome in AD 12. While serving under Tiberius, Velleius was also elected
quaestor, an important step on the
cursus honorum, filling that office in AD 7. Before his death in AD 14, the emperor
Augustus designated Velleius and his brother, Magius Celer, for the
praetorship. The emperor died before the
comitia could be held, and so the two brothers were formally elected under Tiberius, serving their year of office in AD 15. Few other particulars of Velleius' life are known; he dedicated his history to
Marcus Vinicius, and from his description of events during the latter's consulship in AD 30, Velleius must still have been alive that year. But Velleius was among the friends of
Sejanus, whom he praises in his writing, and as there is no evidence that the historian survived his friend's downfall by any great length of time, it seems likely that he shared his fate. ==History==