Crispi'nus, Ru'fius
a Roman eques and contemporary of the emperors Claudius and Nero.
He was praefectus praetorio under Claudius, who employed him in arresting and dragging to Rome Valerius Asiaticus. For this service he was rewarded by a large sum of money and the insignia of the quaestorship. In A. D. 52 he was removed from his office at the instigation of Agrippina, who believed him to be attached to the children of Messalina. Crispinus was married to the notorious Poppaea Sabina, who had a son by him, bearing the same name as his father.
She afterwards became the mistress of Nero, and the circumstance, that she had once been the wife of Crispinus, was a sufficient reason for the tyrant to send Crispinus into exile to Sardinia, A. D. 66, under the pretext of his being an accomplice in aconspiracy. Shortly after when Crispinus received the sentence of death, he put an end to his own life. (
Tac. Ann. 11.1,
4,
12.42,
13.45,
15.71,
16.17; Senec.
Octavia, 728 &c.; Plut.
Galba, 19.) His son, Rufius Crispinus, was likewise put to death by Nero. (
Suet. Nero 35.)
[
L.S]
