Subrius Flavus was a tribune of the Praetorian Guard who was heavily implicated in the Pisonian conspiracy against the emperor Nero and was executed in 65 CE for his involvement.
Tacitus observes that Flavus' hatred for Nero arose suddenly while he was watching him perform on stage but failed to attack him in front of the audience because he would not have had a chance to escape.
[3] Tacitus also observes that it was rumoured that, after the success of the conspiracy, Flavus intended to murder Piso and give control over the empire to Seneca the Younger, a fellow conspirator, because "it mattered not as to the disgrace if a harp-player were removed and a tragic actor succeeded him."
[4] Questioned by Nero as to the motives which had led him on to forget his oath of allegiance, "I hated you," he replied; "yet not a soldier was more loyal to you while you deserved to be loved.
"[5]Flavus, like Seneca the Younger, is presented as a bastion of traditional morality by Tacitus, as in the above quote, because of his stand against Nero's excesses.