Marcus Cocceius Nerva (jurist)

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Marcus Cocceius Nerva (born before 5 BC – died AD 33) was a Roman jurist and a trusted member of Emperor Tiberius’s circle. He was the son of Marcus Cocceius Nerva and the grandfather of the later emperor Nerva.

In AD 24, Tiberius appointed him to lead the curatores aquarum, a three‑man commission that oversaw Rome’s water supply.

In AD 33 he starved himself to death, despite pleas from Tiberius. Tacitus writes that he, understanding the state’s misery more clearly, chose an honorable death in anger and fear while he was still safe. This is often seen as a protest against tyranny and concern for his own safety.

In popular culture, Nerva is portrayed in the film Caligula by Sir John Gielgud and played by Donald Eccles in The Caesars (1968). He is mentioned in Robert Graves’s I, Claudius, though he does not appear in the 1976 BBC adaptation.