He served as an ordinary consul in 53 with Quintus Haterius Antoninus as his colleague.
[1] Decimus was the second son born to Aemilia Lepida and Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, a member of the Junii Silani, a family of Ancient Rome.
[2] Through his maternal grandparents, the princess Julia the Younger and Lucius Aemilius Paullus, consul AD 1, Decimus was related to Emperor Augustus, his second wife, Scribonia, the statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and the consul Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (brother of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus).
Julia was the daughter of the consul Marcus Julius Africanus.
Decimus allegedly boasted of his descent from Augustus, and as a result, Emperor Nero forced him to commit suicide.