Gaius Silius (died AD 24) was a Roman senator who achieved successes as a general over German barbarians following the disaster of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
[1] Although this reading was endorsed by Ronald Syme,[2] it was considered as only a possibility until Diana Gorostidi Pi showed an inscription she called Fasti consulares Tusculani proved these were two distinct individuals.
[4][5] Once the mutiny was suppressed, Silius continued to serve loyally under Germanicus, participating in the Roman retaliation campaign (between AD 14 and 16) against a Germanic alliance in the aftermath of the disaster at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
[11] In the Senate, Lucius Visellius Varro (consul in 24) accused Silius of being complicit in Sacrovir's revolt, and of misappropriating money from the provincial government in Gaul.
Refusing to submit a plea or to defend himself, Silius declared that had he not personally kept the legions on the Rhine from avenging the murder of Germanicus, Tiberius would have lost his position as Princeps.