Marcus Cocceius Nerva (5 BC-33 AD) was a celebrated jurist of the Roman Empire and a close friend of Roman emperor Tiberius. He killed himself in 33 AD due to depression, as he was angry at Tiberius' descent into madness, as well as being afraid of the prophecy that Praetorian Guard prefect Naevius Sutorius Macro would kill him on Tiberius' death.
Biography[]
Nerva's death
Marcus Cocceius Nerva was born in 5 BC, the son of Roman politician and former consul Marcus Cocceius Nerva. The younger Nerva befriended the future Roman emperor Tiberius, who made him a member of the three-man commission responsible for Rome's water supply in 24 AD. By 33 AD, Nerva lived with Emperor Tiberius, his nephew Claudius, and his great-nephew Tiberius Gemellus in Capri, southern Italy, and Nerva made the acquaintance of Tiberius' nephew Caligula, whom he disliked. Nerva eventually decided to bleed himself to death, as he feared the prophecy that the Praetorian Guard prefect Naevius Sutorius Macro would kill him when Tiberius died. Nerva also stated that he wanted to trick fate, and that he did not want to go on living with the "reptile" Caligula. He slit his wrists in a bath as Caligula and Tiberius confronted him, and he said that he wanted to escape the evils of past and the evils yet to come, telling Tiberius that he had watched him kill all of his friends and family, and that he was disappointed with what he had become. It took Nerva a while to die, and Caligula asked him if he could see the goddess Isis as he drifted away. However, Nerva told Caligula that he saw nothing but sleep, and Caligula called him a liar, shoving him under the water, finishing him off.